Considerable numismatic
controversy surrounds the coins illustrated below. When, where and by whom they
were struck is not fully known. By some accounts, these coins were struck in
Brussels upon order of King Orelie-Antoine I for him to take during is ill-fated
1874 expedition to reclaim the kingdom.Others say that they were struck by coin dealers of Berlin.
These coins are quite rare, but do come up for auction occasionally. In 1996, a an auction house in Colorado had two one peso coins with a reserve price of $5,000 for the pair.
The Museum of the Kings of Araucania in Tourtoirac, France has one 19th century Araucanian coin in its collection.
Individuals who are interested in Araucanian numismatics can contact Webmaster for further informtion.
Click here for a high resolution scan of two coins with a O.A. overstrike, believed by some to be an early coinage created by Orelie-Antoine.
Another serie of different pieces is prestented here
coin a:
metal: dark copper
dot after "France"
height of the letters of "Nouvelle France": 1,7mm
height of the letters of "CENTAVOS": 2,2mm
diagonal bar of the "4" : open
This seems to be the first original coin, because it corresponds perfectly to the following drawings published in 1875 in the Revue belge de Numismatique.
coin b:
metal: clear copper
no dot after "France"
height of the letters of "Nouvelle France": 2,0mm
height of the letters of "CENTAVOS": 2,5mm
diagonal bar of the "4" : closed
coin c:
metal: clear copper
no dot after "France"
height of the letters of "Nouvelle France": 1,7mm
height of the letters of "CENTAVOS": 2,2mm
diagonal bar of the "4" : open
coin d:
metal: clear copper
no dot after "France"
height of the letters of "Nouvelle France": 1,7mm
height of the letters of "CENTAVOS": 2,2mm
diagonal bar of the "4" : open
This are the same coins as number c, but the tool was used and broken in the upper part. You can well see the progress of the break on these three pieces.
a very rare piéfort coin of "Un Peso" in silver, with the value in letters
another very rare piéfort coin of "UN PESO" in copper, with the value in letters
here another 1 PESO , the same as the piéfort above,
but with the value in number
Here another coin of "1 peso", with the value in number
but with much smaller number and letters and with separation "hyphen dot hyphen"
instead of only a "hyphen"
The last coin which appeared on the market is a copper coin of "Un Peso" with date "1860"
The origin ist totally unknown. It's probably a recent chilian production.
Revue belge numismatique, Vol. 31 1875
Prof. Nadrowski, Die Münzprägung Antoine I von Araukanien und Patagonien, en Numismatic Circular Vol. 12 , Londres 1902
A.Weyl, Die Jules Fonrobert'sche Sammlung überseeischer Münzen und Medaillen, Berlin 1878
Gazette Numismatique N° 10 juillet 1902
J.T. Medina, Monedas Chilenas, Santiago 1902
J.Schulmann, Salbach Collection, Amsterdam 1911
O.P.Eklund, Copper coins of central and South America, The Numismatist 1962
O.Mitchell, Bibliografia Numismatica del Reino de Araucania y Patagonia, en Cuadernos de Numismatica, Buenos Aires 1979
H.M. Puiggari, Nuevos aportes sobre las acunaciones de Orelie Antoine Rey de la Patagonia y Araucania
Kingdom of Araucania & Patagonia
