Gresham's law
The 1840s found the currency still in a chaotic state. Monetary legislation perpetuated the problem by equating nominal value with intrinsic value and treating a peso .666 fine the same as a peso .903 fine. This guaranteed that Gresham's law would come into play, despite a law (1844) prohibiting the export of gold and silver coin. Customs houses accepted 16 pesos in silver as equal to a gold onza, whether the coins were .666 fine (= 245 g fine silver) or .903 fine (= 382 g fine silver). By 1846 newly minted coin had virtually disappeared from the province of Bogotá.