The coscojas of Santander

A country without coin

The War of a Thousand Days ran from 17 October 1899 to 21 November 1902, when the Treaty of Wisconsin was signed. By 1902 the conflict had emptied the public treasuries, and the regions lacked the small change used for daily purchases and for paying the troops. Both sides had already turned to paper: Rafael Uribe Uribe’s liberals put into circulation notes of the «Gobierno Provisional Liberal», printed in black ink on notebook paper, and also the so-called Peralonso notes in the zones they controlled. The government overprinted private-bank notes in red to make them legal tender.

Santander was the hardest theatre. Peralonso was fought on 15 and 16 December 1899. Palonegro, beside Bucaramanga, lasted from 11 to 25 May 1900: fourteen days of trenches. The government held the ground, and the field was left covered with cartridge cases.

The metal of the battle

In Santander the answer was more material. General Ramón González Valencia, governor and civil and military chief of the department, decreed a fractional metal coinage on 19 July 1902. El Tiempo speaks of copper for small transactions. The decree, according to the numismatic notes, authorized 750,000 pesos, forced tender only inside Santander, to pay the troops and keep small trade moving.

There were no silver, copper, or nickel blanks. The raw material came from Palonegro. The notes say detachments were sent to gather rifle cases — chiefly Mauser or Gras — and that the final tonnage points to about 300,000 casings. That is the other nickname: “bloody coins.” The work was done in Bucaramanga, in the workshop of the Penagos brothers, an agro-industrial machinery shop that then served as an improvised mint. Cartridge brass, copper and zinc, was melted, cleaned of slag, and rolled by hand.

A handmade piece

There were no industrial dies and no screw press. The punches were cut by hand. Each coin carries on the obverse the denomination inside a large «C». On the 50 centavos the legend is «SANTANDER 50 C 1902»; on the 20, «SANTANDER C 20 1902»; on the 10, «SANTANDER 10 C». There is no bust, arms, or portrait. The reverse is not engraved separately: the blow sinks the obverse relief, which is read from the back. The alignment is medal. The edge was slightly rounded so the sheet would not cut. The dies broke and left legend varieties. That irregular workmanship is what sets the pieces apart from an official striking.

Of the 750,000 pesos authorized, the same notes record 393,100 put into circulation: 684,000 pieces of 50 centavos, 130,500 of 20, and 250,000 of 10. The measurements are catalogue figures. This case did not weigh or measure a specimen.

Why «coscojas»

People in Santander named them that for their tiny size, and the nickname displaced any official denomination. El Tiempo records the authorization of 750,000 pesos in low-denomination pieces.

In saddlery, a coscoja — also called a pontezuela — is the small metal ring on a horse’s bit, the one that tinkles as the horse walks. The name transferred to these pieces because of the rough brass, the thin sheet, and that same tinkling. The nickname was used later, and in another sense, for the exclusive coin of the lazarettos.

The exchange and the melting

The Treaty of Wisconsin ended the war on 21 November 1902. On 29 January 1903, José Manuel Marroquín, vice president in charge of the executive, signed decree 102. The numismatic notes give it three steps: it recognized González Valencia’s pieces for a time, still only inside Santander; it ordered the Treasury Ministry to open windows where they could be exchanged for national paper; and it ordered the exchanged metal melted. Most of what the Penagos workshop struck went back into the crucible. What stayed out of that melting is what survives today.

That withdrawal sits inside the monetary settlement after the war. Law 33 of October 1903 forbade further indiscriminate paper issues, fixed the gold peso as the unit, and created the National Amortization Board to retire the depreciated paper. At the Casa de Moneda Museum, and in Banrepcultural’s commented work, these pieces are shown beside the Peralonso notes.

A note on the sources

El Tiempo’s capsule speaks of copper; El Tiempo Colecciones and Numista, of brass. This page adopts brass, which is what the catalogue records with measured specifications. The Penagos workshop, the quantities struck, the estimated 300,000 casings, and decree 102 of 1903 come from the notes “Las monedas sangrientas.” They are not a weighing or a record of this collection.