A friar who defended the Indigenous peoples, the tree of liberty, an ancient Maya monolith, the face of a real young woman from Santiago Atitlán, the national orchid and a dove of peace: these six Guatemalan coins, from 1 centavo up to 1 quetzal, add up to a short illustrated history of the country. The coins in the set carry different dates between 1982 and 2012.

The side they share is the national coat of arms: a quetzal bird perched on a scroll bearing the independence date «LIBERTAD 15 DE SETIEMBRE DE 1821», with crossed rifles and swords inside a laurel wreath. The reverses are another matter. The 1 centavo shows Bartolomé de las Casas, the 16th-century Dominican friar who became the first official «Protector of the Indians» and won over local chiefs in Guatemala’s Verapaz region without force of arms. The 5 centavos carries the tree of liberty and the old patriotic motto «LIBRE CREZCA FECUNDO» («May it grow free and fruitful»). The 10 centavos depicts a monolith from Quiriguá, a city of the ancient Maya.

The most personal coin in the set is the 25 centavos. The woman on it is no allegory: she is Concepción Ramírez of Santiago Atitlán, chosen in 1959, at the age of 17, to appear on the coin — and her profile has stayed with this denomination ever since. The 50 centavos features the white Monja Blanca orchid and the legend «MONJA BLANCA FLOR NACIONAL»; it was proclaimed Guatemala’s national flower in 1934.

The 1 quetzal is the youngest of the six, introduced in 1999. Its reverse shows a stylised dove, the word «Paz» and the date «29 de Diciembre de 1996» — the day the peace accord ending 36 years of civil war was signed — along with the words «Paz Firme y Duradera» («Firm and Lasting Peace»).

For a Latin American country collection, this is a ready-made cross-section of Guatemala’s quetzal-era small change across every denomination; for topical collections — flora, birds, notable people — it supplies several themes at once. Uncirculated (UNC) condition: the coins have never been in circulation, show no wear and keep their mint lustre; only minor marks from storage in bank bags are acceptable.

Collecting a date run? Look for the neighbouring years of this type in the VPcoins catalogue.