Argentine austral

The austral was the currency of Argentina between June 15, 1985 and December 31, 1991. It was subdivided into 100 centavos. The symbol was an uppercase A with an extra horizontal line (see image). This symbol appeared on all coins issued in this currency (including centavos), to distinguish them from earlier currencies. The ISO 4217 code is ARA.

History

The austral replaced the peso argentino at a rate of 1 austral = 1000 pesos argentinos. It was itself replaced by the peso at a rate of 1 peso = 10,000 australes.

Coins

In 1985, coins were introduced for ½, 1, 5, 10 and 50 centavos. The ½ centavo was only issued in 1985, whilst production of the 1 centavo ceased in 1987, 5 centavo ceased in 1988, and that of the other centavo coins ended in 1989. In 1989, 1, 5 and 10 australes coins were issued, followed in 1990 and 1991 by 100, 500 and 1,000 australes denominations

Centavo

Value	Obverse	Emission start date	Withdrawn	Composition	Diameter
½	Hornero	23 Sep 1985	31 Dec 1991	Copper-Aluminium (92/8)	19 mm
1	Rhea	23 Sep 1985	31 Dec 1991	Copper-Aluminium (92/8)	20 mm
5	Puma	23 Sep 1985	31 Dec 1991	Copper-Aluminium (92/8)	23 mm
10	Coat of arms	14 Oct 1985	31 Dec 1991	Copper-Aluminium (92/8)	21 mm
50	Liberty	14 Oct 1985	31 Dec 1991	Copper-Aluminium (92/8)	23 mm

Austral

Value	Obverse	Emission start date	Withdrawn	Composition	Diameter
1	Buenos Aires Cabildo	27 Mar 1989	31 Dec 1991	Aluminium	20 mm
5	House of Tucumán	22 May 1989	31 Dec 1991	Aluminium	22 mm
10	Casa del Acuerdo	26 Jun 1989	31 Dec 1991	Aluminium	22 mm
100	Coat of arms	28 Nov 1990	31 Oct 1993	Aluminium	21 mm
500	Coat of arms	1 Nov 1990	31 Oct 1993	Aluminium	23 mm
1000	Coat of arms	28 Nov 1990	31 Oct 1993	Aluminium	24 mm

Banknotes

In 1985, provisional issues were made consisting of 1000, 5000 and 10,000 pesos argentinos notes over stamped with the values 1, 5 and 10 australes.

Value	Comments	Portrait	Emission start date	Withdrawn	Image
1	Provisional	José de San Martín	31 Oct 1985	31 Oct 1991
5	Provisional	Juan Bautista Alberdi	31 Oct 1985	31 Oct 1991
10	Provisional	Manuel Belgrano	31 Oct 1985	31 Oct 1991

Between 1985 and 1991, the following notes were issued by the Banco Central:

Value	Comments	Portrait	Emission start date	Withdrawn	Image
1	Definitive	Bernardino Rivadavia	31 Oct 1985	31 Oct 1991
5	Definitive	Justo José de Urquiza	28 Feb 1986	31 Oct 1991
10	Definitive	Santiago Derqui	30 Dec 1985	31 Oct 1991
50	Definitive	Bartolomé Mitre	23 Jun 1986	31 Dec 1991
100	Definitive	Domingo F. Sarmiento	25 Nov 1985	1 Jun 1992
500	Definitive	Nicolás Avellaneda	2 May 1988	1 Jun 1992
1,000	Definitive	Julio A. Roca	30 Sep 1988	1 Jun 1992
5,000	Definitive	Juárez Celman	26 May 1989	1 Oct 1992
10,000	Provisional	José de San Martín	31 Jul 1989	31 Aug 1991
10,000	Definitive	Carlos Pellegrini	25 Aug 1989	1 Oct 1992
50,000	Provisional	José de San Martín	2 Jun 1989	31 Aug 1991
50,000	Definitive	Luis Sáenz Peña	8 Nov 1989	2 Jan 1993
100,000	Definitive	José E. Uriburu	21 May 1990	2 Jan 1993
500,000	Provisional	José de San Martín	2 Jul 1990	31 Oct 1991
500,000	Definitive	Manuel Quintana	1 Nov 1990	2 Jan 1993

All banknotes except the provisional types show on the back Liberty with a torch and shield. The provisional banknotes were produced from modified peso ley plates. On the obverses, the word PESOS erased, whilst the reverse designs substituted the picture with the denomination written in words without spaces in several rows. The denomination was shown on both faces in the form A 10 MIL (10,000 australes), A 50 MIL (50,000 australes) and A 500 MIL (500,000 australes).

References

• Silveyra, Jorge; Lozano, Sergio; & Díaz, Oscar (2001). Falsificación de moneda. Editorial Policial. ISBN 950-9071-66-8.

External links

• Official website of the Banco Central de la República Argentina (Argentine Central Bank)
• Argentine Notes