From Potosí cobs to the patacón and the Argentino de oro — Argentina’s coinage tracks the country’s monetary turbulence: a gold-standard peso in 1881, then peso ley, peso argentino, austral, and the convertible peso of 1992.
Currency history
- The Casa de Moneda (Argentine mint) was created September 29, 1875 by Law 733 under President Nicolás Avellaneda; the Buenos Aires mint began striking coins on February 14, 1881.
- The peso moneda nacional (m$n) was created by Law 1,130 on November 5, 1881, replacing the peso moneda corriente at 25:1. It ran from 1881 to January 1, 1970, subdivided into 100 centavos — with the argentino worth 5 pesos — and was theoretically on a gold standard with the peso oro as unit.
- Peso ley 18.188 replaced the peso moneda nacional on January 1, 1970 at 100:1.
- The peso argentino replaced the peso ley on June 1, 1983 at 10,000:1; the austral replaced it on June 15, 1985 at 1,000:1.
- The peso convertible (nuevo peso) replaced the austral on January 1, 1992 at 10,000:1, initially pegged 1:1 to the U.S. dollar (the peg ended in 2002). Cumulatively: 1 1992 peso = 10 trillion pesos moneda nacional.
Key series
- Colonial: Potosí cobs circulated in the Río de la Plata; the first patriotic coins were struck at Potosí in 1813.
- Patacón silver pesos (1881–1883): 1 peso, 50, 20 and 10 centavos in .900 silver, designed by Eugène Oudiné.
- Argentino de oro (1881–1896): the 5-pesos gold coin — 8.0645 g of .900 gold, the mint’s only official gold coin of the era.
- 20th century: nickel-clad coinage including commemoratives like the 1960 May Revolution 150th-anniversary peso.
What collectors hunt
- High-grade patacones — authentication runs through the legends "9 DOS FINO", "OUDINE", "LIBERTAD" and "UN PESO".
- The Argentino de oro — check the raised edge lettering "IGUALDAD ANTE LA LEY", which also deterred clipping.
- Heart-shaped Potosí cobs of the 17th–18th centuries — among the rarest Potosí issues.
- For every value question, work from live sold listings on the linked entries, not from printed price lists.
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