Sale: Triton VI, Lot: 1233. Estimate $400.  Closing Date: Monday, 13 January 2003.  Sold For $600. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ARGENTINA, Tierra del Fuego. 1889. AV Gramo (1.01 gm). TIERRA DEL FUEGO 1889, POPPER across granulated field / EL PARAMO UN GRAMO, granulated field representing a miner's pan, crossed pick and hammer, AU 864 AG132. KM Tn1; Friedberg 2. EF, slight scuff marks. ($400)

Julius Popper, a Jewish "merchant-adventurer" in South America, obtained a permit to mine gold in Tierra del Fuego, the southern tip of Argentina. The permit also permitted him to strike gold coins, in 1 and 5 gram weights. Popper ran his fief as a private empire, abusing the natives who worked for him and dealing harshly with intruders. Argentina eventually revoked his grant and confiscated his coining dies. The Popper coins struck on clean planchets are believed to have been struck in Buenos Aires, after the dies had been confiscated. A popular coin-token, as a territorial issue of Argentina and as Judaica.