Argentine real
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The real was the currency of Argentina until 1881. Spanish colonial reales circulated alone until 1813, when Argentina began issuing its own coins. These were denominated in reales and soles, which were equal in value, together with escudos worth 16 reales.
Silver coins were issued in the name of the "Rio de la Plata Province" in denominations of ½, 1, 2, 4 and 8 reales and ½, 1, 2, 4 and 8 soles, whilst gold coins (87.5%) were issued in denomination of 1, 2, 4 and 8 escudos.
The state of Buenos Aires issued its own coins starting in 1822, denominated in reales and decimos, with 10 decimos = 1 real. Coins were issued in denominations of 1, 5, 10 and 20 decimos, together with ¼, ½ (actually shown as 5⁄10), 1 and 2 reales. They were all minted of copper. Other provinces issued coins denominated in reales (silver) and escudos (gold): Córdoba, Entre Ríos, La Rioja, Mendoza, Salta, Santiago del Estero and Tucumán.
Since these coins were scarce, it was common to use silver coins from other countries (especially Bolivian soles).
In 1854, coins were issued in the name of the "Confederation of Argentina" which were denominated in centavos. However, decimalization did not proceed beyond this one year issue of 1, 2 and 4 centavo coins. Decimalization did occur in 1881, when the real was replaced by the peso moneda nacional at a rate of 8 reales to 1 peso.
[edit] Sources
- Krause, Chester; & Mishler, Clifford (1996). Standard catalog of world coins, 19th century edition. Krause Publications. ISBN 0-87341-427-6.
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