1972 Nicaraguan 1-cordoba

[villa66]

Sixteenth century Spanish conquistador Francisco Hernández de Córdoba (one of two conquistador contemporaries of that name) is given credit for founding what is now present-day Nicaragua, and his “founding father” status is reflected in the country’s currency.

This copper-nickel 1972 Nicaraguan 1-cordoba is the first of the denomination to appear in coin form since the first-year edition of 1912. (Which had been a large coin struck to the standard so familiar to students of the LMU: 25 grams of silver, .900 fine.)

Only 35,000 of the 1912 1-cordoba were struck, quite a contrast with the 20,000,000 of these copper-nickel 1972 1-cordobas that were coined for circulation. This particular piece, however, while of identical size and composition to the circulating coins, is instead one of the 40,000 1972 1-cordoba pieces struck as proof coins at Karlsruhe and was intended as a show-horse.

And a show-horse it is. Its good size (29mm) and sharp strike enables the “Sun Behind Mountains” design that so often appears on Nicaraguan coinage to really shine. In my mind anyway—and despite its sad subtext—it’s one of the happiest images in coins.

It’s an image that unfortunately isn’t completely consistent with the facts of Cordoba’s life, though. He ended up being beheaded as a result of internecine struggles with his fellow conquistadores. (In 2000, Cordoba’s remains were found when his tomb was discovered in the town of Leon Viejo, Nicaragua.)

And the “Sun Behind Mountains” is particularly anomalous on this 1972 1-cordoba—a couple of days before Christmas, 1972, a strong earthquake struck Nicaragua’s capital city of Managua, damaging much and killing many….

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[villa66]

After the 1972 coins, there would be no more 1-cordoba pieces struck for Nicaragua until the new type of 1980, coined in Mexico City (see the Mo mintmark).

The alloy is the same copper-nickel, and it’s of approximately the same size of the previous type, but it’s quickly apparent, even after the quickest of glances, that plenty has happened between the ’72 type and this 1980 type.

A long-running revolution had finally deposed the Somozas, and the triumph of the revolution is memorialized by the portrait of Augusto César Sandino—the greatest Nicaraguan revolutionary of them all. Sandino acquired his fame fighting the Americans in Nicaragua until they departed in 1933; the next year, in 1934, Sandino (in something of a throwback to Francisco Hernández de Córdoba of the ’12 and ’72 types) was killed by fellow Nicaraguans in an internecine power struggle.

At any rate, Sandino’s legacy had been borrowed by a later generation of revolutionaries, and these “Sandinistas”—as indicated by this 1980 1-cordoba piece—were ultimately successful.

I note the continued use of a construction very familiar to Americans, “EN DIO CONFIAMOS” (In God We Trust), but note also a new legend that may seem somewhat harsh to modern ears: “PATRIA LIBRE O MORIR” (A Free Country or Death). It’s a formulation familiar to students of Cuban coins, where the post-revolutionary coinage frequently bears the similar motto “PATRIA O MUERTE.”

Harsh to modern ears? Very probably. But not foreign—not to any American who remembers his or her grade school history, anyway. There is the famous Patrick Henry from our own Revolutionary War, and his memorable words, taught to generations of American schoolchildren: “Give me Liberty, or give me Death.”

“Patria Libre o Morir” indeed….

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[sigistenz]

Another wealth of background information. Thank you, villa66!
The New World is somewhat remote but the coins show up here, too, and lead to meditation.
I always enjoy reading your posts.
Sigi
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[villa66]

Danke, Sigi. You know, as an aside, I wish as a young collector I had made a serious effort to study (and acquire) the post-Spanish coins of Central America and South America. The area is still wide-open, though, and still loaded with chances for some real (and unscripted!) fun, I'll bet.

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[villa66]

Nicaragua’s 1987 1-cordoba, struck in aluminum-bronze, with a diameter of 24mm and a weight of 6.15g. A considerably smaller coin, and of cheaper metal, than the first “Sandinista” 1-cordobas dated 1980.

Nicaragua’s wartime 1980s—abundantly weaponized by both the USA and the USSR—were ugly and bloody, as civil wars often are. And as civil wars often do, Nicaragua’s destroyed its currency. The cordoba of 1912 was replaced early in 1988 by a new cordoba at the rate of 1,000 old to 1 new.

This 1987-dated cordoba is a first-year example of the new coinage—note the by now well-established iconography—no need now for Sandino’s name, or even his portrait. His unaccompanied hat was enough.

The redesigned ’87 coinage hadn’t originally been intended as part a currency reform, but Nicaragua’s accelerating monetary collapse forced the issue. The intended zeroes were lopped off and the new cordoba and its coinage made their appearance.

But they didn’t stand a chance. The 1987 1-cordoba pieces were quickly sidelined by the intensifying inflation and were demonetized 30 April 1991.

[villa66]

A Nicaraguan 1997 1-cordoba struck in nickel-clad steel with a diameter of 25mm and a weight of 6.20g. The country’s first mintage of 1-cordoba coins intended for circulation in a decade, and it’s clear from the look of this new type that the country’s fever had broken. Gone was Sandino’s hat, and Nicaragua’s traditional “Triangle” coin-iconography had returned. The motto “PATRIA LIBRE O MORIR” had disappeared.

But there’s far more going on with this 1997 1-cordoba than a simple change of appearance. Another Nicaraguan cordoba had been destroyed by inflation, and yet another new cordoba—the country’s third—had been introduced in 1991.

A half-dozen years passed before a new 1-cordoba appeared in coin form, and this is it.

The numbers are startling. This single 1997 1-cordoba--this one piece of plated steel--is the face-value equivalent of 5,000,000 of the 1987 (1988) coins, or 5,000,000,000 of the 1980 coins.

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[Mynter]

Thank you for displaying the cordoba- run.
What strikes me is that even under communist rule the coins are refering to the trust in God, wich reminds me of an english philosofer who once proposed that evry church should be equiped with a banner telling " Important, if true ". In case things would go wrong.

[villa66]

The "Trust in God" motto caught my eye too. I guess I got some comfort out of it--the comparative impulse that comes in so handy when collecting world coins can yield some real "war and fuzzies" sometimes. Recognizing something in a coinage that recalls something similar in your own (or in some other familiar coinage), well....it can make the world seem a little smaller at times.

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