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 Replies: 7 / Views: 1,313 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4778 Posts |
Anyone know if and where Colombia has any mint facilities? I think they may have a mint in Bogota but I'm not sure. Also, I read somewhere that Canada (and maybe other countries) produce coins for Colombia. Can anyone confirm this? Thanks.
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Moderator
 Australia
16817 Posts |
Colombia's mint is currently situated in Ibagué, a small city to the west of the capital Bogota. This Bank of the Republic of Columbia webpage has a pic. The Spanish text, when rammed through Google Translate, produces: Quote:
The Ibagué Mint began work in 1982 with the production of coin blanks which were transferred to Bogota for coinage in the Mint, founded in 1621. The need to integrate the process of producing coins in 1987 led to the transfer of the mint plant facilities of the Mint of Ibague, which [has since produced all our country's currency].
Our mint is pride of Colombia abroad thanks to the people whose deep knowledge of the management of non-ferrous alloys in the production of coins and strict commitment and integrity, innovative techniques have allowed a variety of specialties and also make blanks for other countries like Spain and Chile and currency for Costa Rica and Ecuador, at competitive prices and quality comparable to other world producers. The old mint facility in downtown Bogota, which the above article says was shut down in 1987 and featured on a coin struck in 1992, is now a museum. Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
4778 Posts |
Thanks a lot Sap. I have a ton of Colombian coins (including some old centavos) so naturally I wondered.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5362 Posts |
JangoFett - I just picked a lot of 6 books on Columbian coins by Restrepo. There are many very interesting die varieties I had never suspected. I am primarily interested in early issues but if you need to know if a specific die variety has been catalogued let me know. I may be able to help.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4778 Posts |
Thanks for the offer, swamperbob. I'm not very knowledgeable about such things, and if the need arises, would very much like your assistance on these coins. Even though I don't actively collect them, I too find them interesting as well. My oldest is an 1886 5 centavos. That's the year Colombia changed its name from the "United States of Colombia" to its current name, the "Republic of Colombia". So presumably I have one of the first coins to bear the new title. I think that is pretty cool.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4778 Posts |
Also, not sure about other countries at the time, but I think Colombia might have taken a leaf out of the U.S's book. The woman's bust that is on a lot of the coins has that band on her head that has the word "Libertad" like how our coins like the Morgan, Barbers, Liberty V nickel, etc have a band that say "Liberty" on their busts' heads. That's one of the things I find interesting about the old Colombian coins. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5362 Posts |
The 1886 5 Centavo is the first year of the new monetary system associated with the new constitution of 1886. These minor denominations struck in Copper-nickel are all referred to as "Waterbury" in Restrepo's catalog indicating they were made outside Columbia at least in the first years. This is fairly typical however with other early issues coming from Philadelphia, Denver, Brussels and Birmingham. The use of US symbols on coins is therefore kind of expected given where most were produced.
Most of the interesting and sometimes rare die varieties were locally produced coins that appear after mint facilities are developed locally in the period after 1910.
I think that the US influence in Columbia was much greater than you might expect. Read up about the history of that entire region and you will find references to the US both good and bad. Much of this stems from the Panama Canal interests and the strategic importance of that waterway. But even the export of bananas by United Fruit a US company looms as a dark chapter in Colombian history.
Anyway it is worth the study.
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Valued Member
United States
321 Posts |
Old N G Colombian coin are so cool. A highlight to any collection is the 16 pesos cold coin.
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Replies: 7 / Views: 1,313 |
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Posted 07/10/2011 1:38 pm
