2017-10-06 Fri

In September 1825, the government of La Rioja in Argentina sanctioned the statute creating the “Banco de Rescates y Casa de Moneda” (Bailout Bank and Mint). Many of the shareholders were political authorities or their relatives.

Problems were about to surface. In January 1826, Bernardino Rivadavia was named the first Argentine president and created “El Banco Nacional” (the National Bank) with an exclusive right to mint coins within the national territory, but talks with the province of La Rioja were not successful. La Rioja refused to recognize the new government and its institutions.

Under the command of Gregorio Araoz de Lamadrid, Rivadavia moved forward and sent allied troops to the interior. However, he was defeated several times by the Argentine caudillo (military strongman) of La Rioja, Juan Facundo Quiroga.

Rivadavia’s Unitarian regime was fighting against the Federalists, a union of the provinces, each retaining its own autonomy, but striving to achieve a concentration of power and thus gain the ability to fight against the Unitarians. The Federalists were caudillos and were of the opinion that each province should have its own government and make its own decisions, while the Unitarians maintained that the control should be given to a single nation-state with its capital in Buenos Aires.

In 1827, Rivadavia resigned and the presidential regime fell, while the provinces resorted to self-governance, delegating foreign relations to the Federal governor of Buenos Aires, Manuel Dorrego. In 1828 a peace treaty was signed with Brazil after a prolonged war by the “Banda Oriental” (the Eastern Bank of the River Uruguay, now known as just Uruguay). Returning from the war, General Lavalle overthrew Dorrego and assumed the role of Governor. The bloodiest civil wars began with Dorrego’s execution by firing squad without a trial.

Soon, Lavalle’s minister José María Paz defeated Juan Bautista Bustos in Córdoba, the second-largest city in the country, and with its allies, who occupied nine provinces. They formed the Unitary League of the Interior, where he was the chief. But, Bueno Aires was not included, where Lavalle signed a peace accord with Federalist Juan Manuel de Rosas, who became governor for the first time at the end of 1829.

Paz sent his second-in-command, Araoz de Lamadrid, to La Rioja to regain control of the government with the goal to mint coins. Quiroga ordered an exodus from the city and buried the tools and machines of the Mint in addition to much of his fortune in the now-famous tapados (hoards) in his region Los Llanos, today known as “Los Tapados de Quiroga“.

These hoards were retrieved by an assistant. By Lamadrid’s estimate the hoard consisted of 40,000 pesos; according to Quiroga, it was 93,000 pesos. Along with the coins were the dies used for coins minted in 1828. Lamadrid would go on to mint coins in 1830 and early 1831.

After participating in many battles, Paz was defeated and taken prisoner. Quiroga was defeated in Ciudadela in the province of Tucumán at the end of 1831 and returned triumphantly to La Rioja in March 1832. He was tagged as a national hero and an ally of Rosas and of another important caudillo, Estanislao Lopez, Governor of Santa Fe.

The Federalists had returned to La Rioja in February 1831 and continued minting 8 reales pieces for several years. While all of the same design as the pre-1831 issues, their fineness in silver varied, affecting their appearance and making them very hard to grade.