Puerto Rico · Numismatics
Hacienda Vega Redonda tokens
Three brass tokens of Hacienda Vega Redonda, in barrio Bucarabones, Las Marías. They are valued at ¼, ½, and 1 almud. They carry no date. Numista lists them as ND (1890). The two-almud piece of the same series is not in this case.
Series facts
- Place
- Barrio Bucarabones, Las Marías, Puerto Rico
- Issuer
- Hacienda Vega Redonda
- Unit
- The almud, a volume measure of coffee in the cherry. The disc does not convert it into pesos.
- Type metal
- Brass, per Numista. Not an assay of these discs.
- Date
- No date on the piece. Catalogue: ND (1890).
- In the case
- Quarter, half, and one almud. The two almudes is absent. There is no example of the incuse issue lettered VR.
Tokens in the collection
Three discs of the series lettered HACIENDA / VEGA·REDONDA. No serial and no slab. One face of each was photographed.
The hacienda
The farm is in barrio Bucarabones, Las Marías, in the coffee highlands of the west.
Haciendas de Puerto Rico gives the address: Bo. Bucarabones, Las Marías. Numista places Vega Redonda there and writes the owner as Francisco Baco, without the accent. A biography of the island’s wealth, citing Revista NumiExpo for 1983, uses Francisco Bacó and groups these tokens with those of Hacienda Engracia. This case does not fix the year of foundation or the family tie.
Almud and ril
The token names a measure of coffee, not a peso.
In the late nineteenth century official small change reached the interior poorly, and planters paid wages in their own tokens: riles. The almud is a volume measure. For coffee, it is the cherry. The box was not the same on every farm, and the disc carries no peso equivalent. Jorge L. Crespo Armáiz studies that payment from 1870 to 1934. The piece alone does not show how it was redeemed or what a day’s wage came to.
The struck series
These three tokens read HACIENDA above and VEGA·REDONDA below.
An earlier incuse issue has been described, with the letters VR and a value in almudes. There is no example here, and no catalogue number that fixes it. The series in this case carries the value in the center, the word ALMUD, the beaded circle, and the two stars. Numista lists the quarter, the half, and the one as ND (1890), brass, Rulau Lsm 18, Lsm 17, and Lsm 16. AB Philea, auction 30, lot 1118, describes a set of quarter, half, one, and two almudes as Rulau 15–18. The two almudes is not in the collection. This page does not republish that lot’s hammer.
The mint, still open
Germany and Barcelona both remain. The disc carries no workshop mark.
Numista says, on the half and the one almud, that they were struck in Germany, and attaches no document. The biography cited above reports the account attributed to Revista NumiExpo (1983, pp. 10–11): a workshop at Carrer de la Canuda 37, in Barcelona, for Vega Redonda and for Hacienda Engracia. The one in this case is a hooked 1. That shows in the photograph and does not name the mint. On Numista the quarter and the half are medal-aligned; the one is at 9 o’clock. A single face cannot check it.
After 1898
The provincial peso left circulation. These tokens do not say when the hacienda stopped using its own.
The provincial-peso case dates demonetization, with Numista, to 12 April 1900. In August 1899 the San Ciriaco hurricane crossed the coffee highlands. This page does not count deaths or losses. Crespo Armáiz follows wage payment in tokens into the 1930s, above all in sugar. Among the sources here, none says when Vega Redonda withdrew its own.
Catalogued values
| Value | Rulau | Numista | Published type | In the case |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ¼ almud | Lsm 18 | N#163262 | Brass, 18 mm, 2.0 g | Yes |
| ½ almud | Lsm 17 | N#524158 | Brass, 23 mm; weight unpublished | Yes |
| 1 almud | Lsm 16 | N#570378 | Brass, 27 mm; weight unpublished | Yes |
| 2 almudes | Lsm 15, within the 15–18 set | Not cited here | Not measured in this case | No |
Sources
- Numista N#163262 — Hacienda Vega Redonda token (opens in a new tab)
Quarter almud. Brass, 18 mm, 2.0 g, plain edge, Rulau Lsm 18, TC#272359, ND (1890).
- Numista N#524158 — Hacienda Vega Redonda token (opens in a new tab)
Half almud. Brass, 23 mm, plain edge, no weight, Rulau Lsm 17, TC#344505. The comment says Germany, with no citation.
- Numista N#570378 — Hacienda Vega Redonda token (opens in a new tab)
One almud. Brass, 27 mm, no weight, Rulau Lsm 16, 9 o’clock. It writes Bucaramanga in error.
- Haciendas de Puerto Rico — Hacienda Vega Redonda (opens in a new tab)
Gives the place: Bo. Bucarabones, Las Marías. It does not name the owner or date the tokens.
- Biografía de las Riquezas de Puerto Rico — Coins (opens in a new tab)
It cites Revista NumiExpo, 1983, pp. 10–11, for a striking on Carrer de la Canuda 37 in Barcelona, and uses the name Francisco Bacó. It is not a mint archive.
- Jorge L. Crespo Armáiz — tokens and scrip as wage payment in Puerto Rico (1870–1934), OMNI no. 19 (opens in a new tab)
Studies how long wage payment in tokens lasted. It does not describe the Vega Redonda die.
- AB Philea, auction 30, lot 1118 — Rulau 15–18 set (opens in a new tab)
Describes a set of quarter, half, one, and two almudes as Rulau 15–18. This page does not republish the price.
- EnciclopediaPR — History of money in Puerto Rico (opens in a new tab)
The frame of island money, from foreign silver to the provincial peso. It does not catalogue these tokens.
The 1895 provincial peso, struck in Madrid, is in the island’s coin case. Puerto Rico · The provincial peso
The paper money, including the 1895 exchange note, is in the notaphily case. Puerto Rico · Colonial and transition issues