El Salvador: 5 centavos “1999”, km154 versus km154b

km154: N#10236

km154b: N#2508

I got a 5 centavos from 1999 as a km#154 in a swap, but it showed up to be a km#154b. I have now spent around 12 hours trying to find the km154 1999 on internet. Furthermore, I have redone my documentation, trying to find clear differences, the busts have different heights and the text lengths are also different.

Does any of you have the km154 from 1999?

Comments are as usual very welcome.

Ole

Here are the images of the coin I got in the swap, a km154b in my opinion.

Concerning your documentation:

- The difference between “Nose under/on U” is way too little, impossible to see with the naked eye.

- It's always difficult to compare coins with other dates, minor differences can happen between different dates.

Concerning your pictures:

- Very difficult to make a decision based on a picture. Stainless steel coins have a very distinct appearance, you should be able to see this when you have the coin in hand. But I understand the confusion, when the coin is supposed to be stainless steel and it doesn't look that way you start doubting.

Concerning 1999 KM#  154 - KM# 154a:

Schön doesn't mention the 1999 KM# 154, which explains your concerns:

Thanks for your help, I didn't much like the “nose line” either! As such, that documentation doesn't need to be, if the 1999 km164 doesn't exist, which I think is a strong possibility.

I'm a little confused here. Why do you think there is confusion with 1999 being KM# 154 or KM# 154a? Don't you mean KM# 154 and KM# 154b?

Of course. Sorry about that….

I had an opportunity to search through a large lot of El Salvador coins from this period a few months back. Of the 30+ 1999 5 centavos in the lot, all were very obviously made of stainless steel. Because of that, I'm inclined to believe that K154b does not exist for this date.