Puerto Rico · Provincial coinage
20 Centavos coin, 1895
20 Centavos · Alfonso XIII · 1895 PGV
Silver 20 centavos of Puerto Rico’s provincial coinage, 1895, with the boy Alfonso XIII’s bust and the initials P·G·V. Struck in Madrid. No serial and unslabbed.
Catalog facts
- Year
- 1895
- Mint
- Madrid; no mint mark. Officials P·G·V
- Denomination
- 20 centavos of the provincial peso
- Composition
- Silver .835 (Numista / Greysheet type specification; not an assay of this specimen)
- Weight
- Not weighed. Type: 5 g (Numista, Greysheet).
- Diameter
- Not measured. Type: 23 mm (Numista, Greysheet).
- Edge
- Reeded (Greysheet type specification). This specimen’s edge was not photographed.
- Condition
- Unslabbed. Circulation wear to the hair and arms; fine hairlines in the fields. Legends and date readable. Not a numerical grade.
- References
- KM#22 · Numista N#17451 · PCGS#976911
Obverse
Reverse
The coin
This piece is a silver 20 centavos of Puerto Rico’s provincial coinage, dated 1895. The obverse shows the bust of the boy Alfonso XIII facing left, with the legend ALFONSO XIII P.L.G.D.D. REY C. DE ESPAÑA and the date 1895 between stars below the neck truncation, where the initials B·M of engraver Bartolomé Maura y Montaner also sit. The reverse carries the crowned arms of Spain between the Pillars of Hercules, with the PLUS ULTRA ribbon, the legend ISLA DE PUERTO RICO above and 20 CENTAVOS below, flanked by P·G· at left and ·V· at right. The disc carries no fineness legend. Krause catalogs it as KM#22; Numista as N#17451; PCGS under number 976911. Numista and Greysheet give .835 silver, 5 g, 23 mm, and a reeded edge as type figures; they were not measured on this specimen. The photographs are of the object, upright and uncropped; they do not establish die axis.
Legends
- Obverse
- ALFONSO XIII P.L.G.D.D. REY C. DE ESPAÑA · ★ 1895 ★ — “Alfonso XIII, by the grace of God, constitutional king of Spain.” Below the bust: B·M.
- Reverse
- ISLA DE PUERTO RICO · PLUS ULTRA · P·G· 20 CENTAVOS ·V· (officials Peiró, García, and Vega).
History
The royal decree of 17 August 1895 exchanged the island’s Mexican silver for the 1-peso exchange note, and that paper for provincial coin struck in Madrid. The 20 centavos was the only fraction of 1895; the 5, 10, and 40 centavos are dated 1896. After the 1898 Treaty of Paris the provincial silver ran beside the dollar until withdrawal; Numista records it as demonetized on 12 April 1900. No hammer and no slab census are published here.
Scarcity and type
The 1895 P·G·V is the only date of type KM#22, not a variety within a long run. Spanish Wikipedia and Greysheet record 3,350,000 pieces: the largest mintage of the provincial coinage after the peso. No rarity-index census and no auction prices are published.
Certification
The example is raw, with no NGC, PCGS, or other holder. Coins of this module carry no serial number. The identity of this record is the photographed object — boy Alfonso XIII bust, 1895, P·G·V — not a certificate. If it is later slabbed, the cert number will replace this note.
Sources
- Numista — 20 Centavos, Alfonso XIII, Puerto Rico 1895 (N#17451) (opens in a new tab)
KM#22; .835 silver, 5 g, 23 mm; legends and officials P·G·V; demonetized 12 April 1900. The price table is not republished.
- Greysheet — 1895-PG V 20c Puerto Rico (GSID 337554) (opens in a new tab)
KM-22, PCGS#976911; .835 silver, 5 g, 23 mm, reeded edge; mintage 3,350,000. Prices are not republished.
- Wikipedia (Spanish) — Puerto Rican provincial peso (opens in a new tab)
Mintages by value: 3,350,000 pieces of 20 centavos in 1895.
- Ruymán (archive) — Provincial Peso series of P.R., Alfonso XIII (1895–1896) (opens in a new tab)
P and G, assayers; V, weigh master; B·M, Bartolomé Maura y Montaner.