1978 GOLD COLOMBIA 15,000 PESOS OCELOT NGC MINT STATE 68 ONLY 490 MINTED

REPUBLIC OF COLOMBIA

WILD LIFE CONSERVATION SERIES - THE OCELOT // CENTENARY OF THE DEATH OF COLOMBIAN HERO TOMÁS CIPRIANO de MOSQUERA

GOLD FIFTEEN THOUSAND PESOS

CERTIFIED BY NGC MINT STATE 68 (1 OF 3 FINEST KNOWN)

OBV: UNIFORM COLLARED BUST OF TOMÁS CIPRIANO de MOSQUERA  LEFT.

REV: AN OCELOT LEFT STANDING ON A ROCK SURROUNDED BY WATER; DENOMINATION BELOW.

KM # 266

THE OBVERSE OF THIS COIN FEATURES THE IMAGE OF TOMÁS CIPRIANO de MOSQUERA (1798-1878), COLOMBIAN GENERAL AND POLITICAL FIGURE. BY THE AGE OF 16, MOSQUERA HAD JOINED THE ARMY UNDER THE COMMAND OF SÍMON BOLÍVAR "THE LIBERATOR" IN 1814. HE HAD BEEN PROMOTED TO THE RANK OF LIEUTENANT COLONEL BY 1824 AND WAS WOUNDED WHEN SERVING AGAINST THE ROYALIST SPANISH FORCES IN THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. HIS DEFACING WOUND WAS CAUSED BY A SHOT TO THE JAW, WHICH LED TO HIM TO USING A METAL JAW PROSTHESIS, WHICH AFFECTED HIS SPEECH BY MAKING WHISTLING AND BLOWING SOUNDS WHEN HE TALKED. ALTHOUGH NICKNAMED "MASCACHOCHAS" OR "GAGA-CHEW" BY HIS DETRACTORS, HE WAS UNDAUNTED, AND HIS COURAGE IN BATTLE LED TO HIS PROMOTION TO COLONEL SHORTLY AFTER BEING WOUNDED, AND THEN TO GENERAL IN 1829. MOSQUERA SERVED FROM 1845-1849 AS PRESIDENT OF NEW GRANADA (THE NATIONAL ENTITY THAT COMBINED PRESENT-DAY COLOMBIA AND PANAMA WITH PARTS OF ECUADOR AND VENEZUELA). DURING THE COLOMBIAN CIVIL WAR OF 1860-1862, HE LED LIBERAL FORCES AGAINST THE CONSERVATIVES. FOLLOWING THE CIVIL WAR, THE UNITED STATES OF COLOMBIA WAS FORMED (1863-1886), AND HE SERVED THREE TIMES AS PRESIDENT.  HE IS CONSIDERED AS THE MOST IMPORTANT COLOMBIAN HISORICAL FIGURE OF THE 19th CENTURY AND HIS LEADERSHIP AFFECTED MANY LIBERAL REFORMS. 1978 WAS THE 100th ANNIVERSARY OF HIS DEATH.

ON THE COIN'S REVERSE IS A DEPICTION OF THE SOUTH AMERICAN (WITH A RANGE THROUGHOUT CENTRAL AMERICA AND A QUESTIONABLE RANGE IN SOUTHWEST NORTH AMERICA) WILD CAT KNOWN AS THE OCELOT (LEOPARDUS PARDALIS) OR DWARF LEOPARD. IT HAS THE APPEARANCE OF A DOMESTIC CAT AND FUR RESEMBLING A CLOUDED LEOPARD OR JAGUAR. ONCE RAMPANTLY KILLED FOR THEIR FUR, FROM 1972 TO 1996 THE OCELOT WAS CONSIDERED A "VULNERABLE" ENDANGERED SPECIES, BUT BY 2008 WAS RECLASSIFIED AS OF "LEAST CONCERN".  THE MOSTLY NOCTURNAL OCELOT RANGES TYPICALLY FROM 18-40 POUNDS IN WEIGHT AND 27-39 INCHES IN LENGTH. OCELOTS HAVE BEEN KEPT AS PETS, NOTABLY BY FAMED SPANISH ARTIST SALVADOR DALÍ WHOSE PET BABOU EXTENSIVELY TRAVELLED WITH HIM. THE ANCIENT MOCHE PEOPLE OF PERU WORSHIPPED THE OCELOT AS A GOD.

CONTAINS 33.437 GRAMS OF .900  GOLD

(0.9675 OZ AGW)

35 MM IN DIAMETER

ONLY 490 MINTED!