Colombia-Numismatics · Santander
50 centavos coin, 1902
50 centavos · Santander · 1902
A 1902 brass necessity piece of the State of Santander. The obverse carries SANTANDER, 50, and the date; the reverse is incuse and reversed.
Catalog facts
- Reference
- KM# A3 · Restrepo 412 · Hernández Cód. 326 · Numista N#30954
- Year
- 1902
- Metal
- Brass (type specification)
- Mint
- Bucaramanga (type; no mint mark on the disc)
- Condition
- Circulated, unslabbed. SANTANDER, 50, and 1902 read on the obverse; the reverse is incuse and reversed. Green and brown patina, uneven strike. Photographs do not authenticate the metal (private collection)
Obverse
Reverse
The piece
In 1902 the State of Santander issued a one-faced brass necessity coin. This disc shows, on the obverse, SANTANDER in an arc, 50 inside a circle — the type’s large “C” — and the date 1902. The reverse has no die of its own: the blow passes through the sheet, and the legend is left incuse and mirrored, so that 50 reads as 05 and 1902 as 2001. It is type KM# A3, Restrepo 412, and Hernández Cód. 326 (8th ed. 2023), Numista N#30954. The catalogue lettering is SANTANDER 50 C 1902. Numista gives brass, 1.45 g, a diameter of 23.1 mm, a thickness of 1.1 mm, a plain edge, and medal alignment. Those are type figures: this specimen was not weighed or measured. General Ramón González Valencia, civil and military chief of the department, authorized the issue on 19 July 1902. The notes place the work in the workshop of the Penagos brothers, in Bucaramanga, using rifle-cartridge cases gathered after Palonegro (11–25 May 1900). The same series includes the 10 and the 20 centavos; each is on another record. It is not the national silver 50 centavos of 1902, KM# 192, struck at Philadelphia, nor the exclusive coin of the lazarettos. Unslabbed. The green and brown patina and the uneven strike belong to cartridge brass. The photographs do not authenticate the metal.
Scarcity
CoinVarieties records the mintage as unknown. The notes “Las monedas sangrientas”, already cited on the coscojas page, give 684,000 pieces of 50 centavos — 342,000 pesos face value — within the 750,000 pesos authorized. That is not a Banco de la República figure: BanRep’s coin tables begin in 1987. This record publishes neither prices nor a slab census.
Sources
- Numista — 50 centavos, State of Santander, 1902 (N#30954) (opens in a new tab)
KM# A3, Hernández 326, Restrepo 412. Brass, 1.45 g, 23.1 mm, and 1.1 mm; plain edge; medal alignment. Lettering SANTANDER 50 C 1902, the value inside a large “C”. Value columns are not cited.
- Pedro Pablo Hernández — Coins and Banknotes of Colombia, 8th ed. 2023 (Numista L100183) (opens in a new tab)
Numista cites Hernández 326 for this 1902 50 centavos. Price columns and plates are not published.
- CoinVarieties — Santander 1902 50 centavos (opens in a new tab)
KM A3, brass, uniface. It records the mintage as unknown. Prices are not published.
- Numista — silver 50 centavos, Colombia, 1902 (N#18276) (opens in a new tab)
KM# 192: .835 silver, 12.5 g, 30 mm, Philadelphia mint, legend REPUBLICA DE COLOMBIA. That is the national coin of that year, not this disc. Value columns are not cited.
- El numismático1975, “Las monedas sangrientas” (opens in a new tab)
The Penagos workshop and 684,000 pieces of 50 centavos. Not a weighing of this specimen.
Related pieces
Other records from the same issuer or era in this case.
