by James Hearn

Though Spain had a strong hold on Peru, there were many who desired to be free from Spanish control. Yet Peru’s 400 year dependence on Spain could not be easily broken by anyone within Peru itself. Such a leader had to be found beyond Peru and that person was Jose de San Martin. After getting military experience in the Spanish Army, he joined the struggle for independence in 1817. With a small force of 4300 men, they drove back a Spanish force. Though the battle was minor, it proved to the people that Spain could be challenged. On the 28th of July 1821, San Martin declared Peru’s independence from Spanish domination. The 2nd stage of the Peruvian revolution was the entrance of Simon Bolivar. He came to Peru’s aid so that Chile could be liberated later, Peru was the foundation of Spanish power in South America. If Peru was no longer under Spain’s control, then other "countries" could challenge and even defeat Spain. With Bolivar’s arrival, San Martin decided to retire from military service, thus allowing Bolivar a free hand in defeating the Spanish. He had already liberated Venezuela, Nueva Grenada (Columbia), and Bolivia. One should note that Bolivar did not join the struggle for Peru’s sake. He did fight for personal ambition and glory.

Once San Martin’s forces captured Lima, it was quickly decided to replace the hated symbols of Spanish royalty on its coinage. The result was the provisional design of the 8 Real of 1822-1823. The problem with the republic coin design was that it suffered from many technical problems stemming from its execution of Peru’s figure of liberty, La Patria. Unfortunately, the engravers were never able to execute the figure of Liberty appropriate to an important symbol of Peru’s national pride. The standing figure usually ended up being an unsuccessful cross between an Indian mountain girl and an Amazon warrior. In 1825 and again in 1826, coins were struck in an attempt to correct the artistic defect. Both of these attempts were not workable and were not adopted.

For years afterward the nation tolerated its unsatisfactory coinage. However, it was one that met both the needs of commerce and trade. Everyone knew that the nation needed improved coin designs as well as better machinery. However due to both financial and political considerations, Peru was unable to adequately address its deficient coin designs.

During this time period, the basic coinage consisted of reales and escudos. 8 Reales equaled the "Spanish Dollar", "Piece of Eight", or Peso, and 16 Spanish Dollars equaled 8 Escudos or "Doubloon Onza". The first issues of Peru were copper fractional Pesos, and counterstamped Spanish coins. Spanish coins were still used thru this time period.

ã Copyright Raleigh Coin Club   -  1997, 1998, 1999,2000,2001,2002

The RCC grants permission to reprint any articles not copyrighted by the author for non-profit educational purposes only, provided the Raleigh Coin Club and the author are cited as the original source.