No coinage was produced in Ecuador until Simon Bolivar issued an executive order on July 28th 1823 to establish a mint in Quito. The mint wasn’t operational until August 30th 1832 when sample coinage was produced. Ecuador and many other countries left the confederacy of Gran Colombia in the late 1820’s to the early 1830’s to become their own states or republics. After this period of passed, South American and other colonial coins were countermarked with the MDQ stamp (Moneda de Quito) to circulate within the country.