Ugly coin, ugly dictator - Bolivia Melgarejo 1865 coin

WillieBoyd2

Bolivia General Melgarejo 1865 coin:



Legends:
AL PACIFICADOR DE BOLIVIA F.P.
GRATITUD DEL PUEBLO POTOSINO EN 1865 AL VALOR DEL JENERAL MELGAREJO
666 Ms 400 Gs

"To the peacemaker of Bolivia gratitude of the town of Potosi in 1865 to the valor of General Melgarejo"

The initials "F.P." are of the mint assayer 'F' for Fortunato Equivar and 'P' for his unrecorded assistant.

Manuel Mariano Melgarejo Valencia (1818-1871) was dictator of Bolivia from December 28, 1864, to January 15, 1871.

Melgarejo was one of the most incompetent leaders of Bolivia.

He came to power by murdering his predecessor, then ruthlessly suppressed the opposition and assaulted the traditional rights of the country's population.

He also managed to give parts of Bolivia to Brazil and Chile.

Eventually opposition to Melgarejo succeeded in ridding the country of his tyranny. On January 15, 1871, he was toppled by the army commander, General Morales. He fled to Lima where he was assassinated later that year by his lover's brother.

Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariano_Melgarejo

newsman

<< <i>He also managed to give parts of Bolivia to Brazil and Chile. >>



He didn't actually give them, he lost them in wars. But he was such an incompetent general that one could be excused for believing the loss of territory was a gift.

OchoReales

My wife happens to be Bolivian and I have read up on this character. He used to get drunk in the Presidential palace and order his troops to march off the balcony. Definately a loose cannon (no pun intended)!


A pic. of my 1/2 Melgarejo to follow.

IloiloKano

<< <i>My wife happens to be Bolivian and I have read up on this character. He used to get drunk in the Presidential palace and order his troops to march off the balcony. Definately a loose cannon (no pun intended)! >>

So he was sort of like an early Hugo Chavez?

WillieBoyd2

If we must be political,
General Melgarajo would have stood in front of a "Mission Accomplished" sign.

OchoReales

My 1/2 Melgarejo as promised. Opinions? Still learning the ropes with my new photog skills. I didn't quite capture the luster that the actual coin displays (both sides). Kudos to my mentor, MajikJ!






Another angle/lighting!

WWW

There is no place here for political opinions and comparisons.

OchoReales

But what about my pics.? Do they stand up to you guys?

WWW

But what about my pics.? Do they stand up to you guys?
Very nice image and better than I can do. Cool looking coin too.

IloiloKano

I think you did a fine job (single light source?). What sort of lighting did you employ? It appears the coin was lit from the left side. If you get two gooseneck lamps and put small halogen floods in them, you can then light the coins from opposing sides to hopefully bring out the luster better. However, your images look great as they are.

OchoReales

Thanks Steve. I'm shooting with a Nikon D40. I'm saving my shekels for the Sigma 150mm AF. In the meantime, my mentor is graciously allowing me to shoot with his Nikor 60mm. The copystand is from B&M Photo ( as is the camera). I'm using the Dot Line CS-920 with accompanying dual light kit. The bulbs are CFL 100W 5000K. I'm going to try to shoot better pics of this coin and am considering using a third light. Any suggestions? Gary

Thanks Bill!

Blackhawk

They appear to be very humble.

IloiloKano

<< <i>Any suggestions? >>



Try to get the lighting angle from both lights as close to straight down as possible and position the camera directly between the two lights overhead. I usually turn on one light, look at the center "hot spot", setup the second light's hot spot to be in the same spot, place the coin in the middle of the combined hot spots and then snap the photo from overhead.

Gallienus

OchoReales: Excellent photographs and excellent half Melgarejo. If you don't mind my asking where did you get it?

lordmarcovan

Oh, yeah. That mongoloid, monkeyfaced guy.

I like the "rogues' gallery" aspect of collecting sometimes, though. The baddies are always interesting. (I always thought Darth Vader was the coolest of the Star Wars characters- guess that makes me a true Darksider, eh? For what it's worth, Obi Wan Kenobi was just as cool, but he took a dive awfully soon in the first movie- so much for the good guy, right?)

That "rogues' gallery" thing certainly comes into play quite a bit in my collection of Roman emperors. I just added Nero to my Twelve Caesars set. Now I need Caligula. There's two bad boys if ever there were any. (But I can't help but wonder how fair history was to Nero- maybe he might not have deserved ALL of his bad press.)

Cool coin. Thanks for the background info. That's what it's all about, this whole "history and coins" thing.

Jinx86

Atleast its an improvement on thier minting skills, Ive been doing a type set of eariler Bolivian coins 1830's-1850's. I like the coins because of how crude the minting was.

lordmarcovan

Hey, 8R- the luster and nice strike on your pieces make 'em almost look like modern tokens! Nice!

OchoReales

<< <i>OchoReales: Excellent photographs and excellent half Melgarejo. If you don't mind my asking where did you get it? >>



I aquired the coin from Jeff Zarit (he always contacts me when he aquires something high grade from Bolivia). Thanks for the compliment!

OchoReales

<< <i>Hey, 8R- the luster and nice strike on your pieces make 'em almost look like modern tokens! Nice! >>



Thanks Rob. I only look to buy the nicest coins available. Her are a few teasers for you...

1807 1/4 reale ( Finest known for date)


1833 8 Soles (Sueldos)

Jinx86

Very nice 8 Soles, currently looking for one to add to my type set. Hope I find one at FUN, however I like the XF/AU slightly circ pieces.