The efficiency of counterfeiting in 19th century Peru

“The counterfeiter probably didn’t realize that that coin didn’t exist,” Dr. Ortega said.

He said that an influx of low-value coinage would have been welcomed in Peru at the dawn of the 20th century. The country’s economy was reeling from the recent War of the Pacific, and the government was focusing on printing larger-denomination paper bank notes to pay off international loans; in 1899, the Lima Mint produced roughly one-tenth the number of silver coins it produced just five years earlier.

As a result, people in Peru were using coins from neighboring nations or even cutting their own country’s coins in half to conduct small transactions. “Counterfeiters found a field of opportunity,” Dr. Ortega said.

Here is more from Katherine Kornei at the NYT, mostly about finding an old coin that should not exist and cannot be traced.