Given the inability of previous governments to order enough coins from the mints in Paris, London, and United States to meet demand, many foreign and demonetised coins circulated that were prone to perforations, scratches, chipping, or smoothing beyond recognition. The monetary law of 11 May 1871 replaced the
peso (the only one of the coins in circulation that was legal tender) with the venezolano at par. Coins were minted by several banks including
la Compañía de Crédito (lit. The Credit Company) and
Estado de Guayana (lit. State of Guiana) following a pattern of copper, nickel, silver and gold. From 1 January 1872 all accounts had to be converted and expressed in venezolanos and centavos. Coins minted in conformity with the 1857 monetary law (centavos of pesos) were to continue in circulation, however, it would cease to be legal to accept payment in foreign currency. The new venezolano coins were introduced into circulation in June 1874. The Venezuelan coinage of 1858 had been very limited; the coinage of 1873-1877 marked the establishment of a true, modern national coinage. These coins are the first to use the
effigy of
Bolívar, the same one still in use in current coins. This design had already been contemplated as part of the monetary law of 12 June 1865 for coins that would be minted in gold and silver, but this was never carried out. Another innovation was in the 5 Venezolanos coin, which depicted Bolívar facing to the right. In 1879, The monetary law of 31 March 1879 replaced the venezolano and the outdated currencies as the single monetary unit with the
bolívar at 5 bolívares = 1 venezolano or 1 bolívar = 20 centavos de venezolano. ==Coins==