World coins chat: Spain

8 posts
The Kingdom of Spain is a sovereign country in south-west Europe located in the Iberian Peninsula and borders Andorra, Portugal, France and Morocco (if included Ceuta and Melilla).

Flag of Spain

Coat of arms of Spain
History :::

The word Spain first derives from the Roman word "Hispania" and was a part of of the Roman Administration and was settled by the Celts and other tribal people around 350 B.C.E. The largest groups occupying the Iberian Peninsula before the Roman Rule were the Iberians and the Celts. During the Second Punic war, Roman Empire conquered parts of the Iberian Peninsula around 210-205 B.C. but it took pretty good age of 2 or more centuries to conquer the Iberian Peninsula fully. The cultures of Iberians and Celts were gradually Romaniased and the Iberian trades flourished in wood, minerals, olive, and gold. Emperors Hadrian, Trajan and Theodosios I from the Roman Empire were born in ancient Spain. The Roman Rule in Europe slowly declined because the Romans feared the north Germanic people. The Roman empire didn't have strong Emperors and the they didn't rule well. Moreover, the generals didn't have good armies. And the people were sad because they had to pay high taxes. The Visigoths, Franks, Vandals and Huns threatened the Roman Empire. They did have small armies but powerful people. They knew that to destroy the Roman Empire, they have to attack Rome first. And this was what they did. They attacked the opponent rulers by attacking their enemies before the enemies could recover or build stronger armies. The Roman Empire was attacked and attacked several times and not long after it would be in ruins. Similarly, the Iberian Peninsula was attacked by the Visigoths and fierce Germanic tribes. By the end of the Roman Rule, the dark ages began (actually the days were also bad and unsafe). Worst of all, nothing remained of Roman culture, rules, sculptures, and administrations in Hispania. Now the t Iberian Peninsula re-united by the Visigoths and the Franks.



Middle-ages and Moorish rule ::: 700 ~ 1400.


Not long after the Moorish Muslims arrived in the Iberian Peninsula and conquered nearly all of the Iberian Peninsula under the Ummayad Caliphate. Under Islamic Rule people, people converting to Islam, was increased at a great height. The Christians and Jews had to pay special taxes and were treated inferior to those of Muslims. The Islamic rule was slowly declining after the Battle of Covadonga, by the Don, Pelayo and led the Christian Kingdom of Asturias. In 739, Muslim forces were driven out of Galicia and Hispania or the Iberian Peninsula was in the control of the Christian Rule. The Muslims also approached near the French Kingdom, but were attacked by the Frankish people. And driven out as far as to the coast. The County and the Kingdom of Aragon entered in a dynastic and a personal union and gained territory of the part of the Iberian Peninsula and power in the Mediterranean. In 1229 Majorca was conquered, and in 1238, Valencia. Following the declining of Islam in the Iberina Penindsula in the 11th century, the Moorish people were converted back to Christianity. After 800 years of Muslim presence in Spain, the last Nasrid sultanate of Granada, a Muslim state finally surrendered in 1492 to the Catholic monarchs Queen Isabella I of Castile and King Ferdinand of Aragon. Starting from the 13th century, the Roman and Gothic cultures would be recovered and discovered from the past. Which is this the culture is still followed in Spain. In the late and the end of the dark and the middle-ages, people began interested again in studying history, translating, cultures, heritage, etc. etc. etc.


Imperial Spain.

After the marriage of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile, the crowns of these Christian kingdoms were united under a single crown in the Iberian Peninsula in 1469. And the Canary Islands were also captured in 1478 and the combined forces of Castile and Aragon attacked the Muslim Emirate of Granada from its last ruler Muhamet XII and the Emirate government had ended its 781 years in the land. In that year, many Jews and Muslims were converted. Anyway, this was the way the Iberians became victorious. The year 1492 was also the year of the voyage of Columbus to the New World funded by Isabella I of Castile. Though the marriage and the unification of the Iberian Peninsula, the culture, heritage, currency, etc. remained separate. Spain was the one of the leading powers of Europe in the 15th,16th and 17th century in maritime explorations, clashes with Other countries, wars with England, the issues and revolts against the Ottoman Empire and France and many other adventures and wars. Still, Spain was never in order and the wars with French Kingdom and the rapid conquest of the Ottoman and the Barbary invasion on the coasts, raiding and slaving tensioned the old Spain. The old Kingdom of Portugal had now separated from the crown of Spain and the Imperial Spain was not free from plagues carried by merchants.

Arms of Spain during Imperialism.

Kingdom of Spain.
In 1793, the Kingdom of Spain fought against the new French Republic as from the First Coalition allies. Following the defeat, Spain gave up two-third of the islands of Hispaniola. After the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, the Spanish Prime Minister Manuel Godoy and Napoleon had a secret treaty of attacking Portugal, and Portugal to Spain.
Eventually the French forces had occupied the major forts and castles and the Spanish king had abdicated in favour of Napoleon’s brother Joseph Bonaparte. Joseph Bonaparte was held with scorned monarch and a puppet ruler in Spain by the people. During this time, the guerillas and British armies had been defeated by Napoleon who were against Joseph Bonaparte. Before 1814, the British and Portuguese forces had taken a military action when Napoleon was preparing to invade Russia because of the political rivalry.
This, the rival forces had busted out the imperial French armies from Spain and the Spanish-bourbon lined ruler King Ferdinand VII had returned to Spain.
First Republic:
France’s conquest of Spain previously had destructed the country and the country’s economy fell and trades came to a standstill. However, after the recovery of the Bourbon Kingdom of Spain, 1830s and ‘40s was poorly developed. The revolution of Cuba and Philippine independence where the U.S. had allied with the Philippines and which led to the Spanish-American war had affected the maritime trades. In 1868, after The Glorious Revolution, the revolutionists established the short-lived First Republic of Spain, later when recovered by the royalists.
Genearal Franco’s rule.
In 1936, the Civil War broke out on Spain. Spain was in favour of Nazi Germany and the Fascist Italy opposing the Republicans; supported by the Soviet Union. During the Civil War, General Francisco Franco emerged victorious and became a dictator.
Franco’s government in the WW2 was neutral but sympathetic to the Axis powers.
After the Cold War, Spain was politically and economically isolated and cannot be entered in the UN. In 1955, the situation ousted and Spain was registered into the UN and US to needed the presence of their armies in Spain for resisting Soviet troops entering the Mediterranean.
Democrats.
In 1962, a group of nationalists in the European Movement in Munich had demanded democracy in Spain. General Franco died and Juan Carlos I succeeded him as the King of Spain with the new Spanish constitution of 1978. Juan Carlos I abdicated in favour of his son, Felipe VI who is now the king.

Coinage.
The coinage of Spain is dates back to 10th and 11th centuries and with a vast variety.
There were also the coinage of it’s territories.
From 1535, it issued several types of coins and the value chain was complicated in both Spain and it’s colonies 34 maravedíes = 1 real de vellón = 1/2 real de plata = 2/5 real de plata fuerte • 2 pesos = 1 escudo = 16 reales de plata.
The coinage in Spain and it’s colonies started during the reign and struck in the name of Felipe IV and Isabel I.
During this time, in Spain’s colonies, “cobs” were issued to convert the silver the Spainsh sailors had prospected, to be quickly converted.
This monetary system was followed from 1474 to 1850.
Also the “8 reales” coin or the “pillar dollar” is a popular coin among collectors.
Coins like Maravedis were struck in either copper or bronze,
Reales were struck in silver and Escudos in gold.

Real de véllon (1808-1848)
Real de véllons were used from 1808 and the monetary standard began to struck first coins during the reign of Joseph Bonaparte, Napoleon’s brother.
These reals were all struck in silver and 80, 160 and 360 real de vellons were struck in gold.

Real (1848-1864)
100 céntimos = 10 decimas = 1 real was the value of this monetary standard.
This standard was used only during the reign of Queen Isabel II.

Escudo (1864-1868)
100 céntimos = 1 escudo
½ , 1, 2 ½ , 5 centimo de escudos were struck in bronze and 10, 20, 40 centimos de escudos with 1 and 2 escudos were struck in silver. Another variety of 2 escudos, 4 and 10 escudos were struck in gold.

Peseta (1868-2001)

Decimalized and came in denominations of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50 centimos and 1, 2, 2 ½ , 5 , 10, 25, 50, 100, 200, 500, 1500, 2000, 5000, 10.000, 20.000, 40.000 up to 80.000 pesetas.

During this period, the LMU came in use by some countries in which Spain was a part of it. And so, 50 centimos, 1, 2, and 5 pesetas were struck in silver and 10, 25, and 50 pesetas were struck in gold.
After the LMU dissolved, common coins like 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 pesetas were struck in copper and aluminium. There were also the coinage of Provisional Government of Spain and the coins of the civil war. Many commemoratives coins were also issued, mostly struck in silver and gold.

Euro (2002 – date)
100 EUR cents = 1 EUR
1 to 5 Euro cents were struck in copper plated steel and had the image of the old and holy pilgrimage site and building of Compostella.
10 to 50 Euro cents coins were struck in Nordic gold and had an obverse image of Miguel de Cervants, the Spanish father of literature.
These coins had 1st and 2nd types and maps.
1 Euro coin had the portrait of King Juan Carles I of Spain.
There were silvers and gold coins;mainly commemorative euros upto 400 Euro coins.


https://en.numista.com/catalogue/spain-1.html
This is a definite improvement compared to your last Austria WCC!

As far as I remember the highest denomination issued for circulation in Spain was the 500 pesetas towards the end of the peseta's lifetime, and all denominations above were just commemoratives in silver and gold.

Spain also borders the UK.

Also worth mentioning might be Spain's colonial empire in the Americas, the First Carlist War in 1833 (effectively another Spanish Civil War) over the status of the infant Isabel II. You seem to have left out a lot between 1898 and 1936; Spain not only engaged in colonial crisis (Morocco) and even wars in the 1920s; which led to discontent with the monarchy. Alfonso XIII's abdication in 1931 led to the short-lived Second Republic (1931-36), which was torn apart by an unresolvable conflict between different groups in Spanish society.
The historical introduction is good, but the interesting part for us is the numismatic description from the point of view of Numista.

Spain in Numista starts with the Decree of Medina del Campo in 1497 (in Spanish Pragmática de Medina del Campo), issued to reform the monetary system of the Crown of Castile. The Crown of Aragon kept its own monetary system until the Nueva Planta decrees between 1707 and 1716. The previous coins that you say are from Spanish states and Islamic states.

The system is 1 Escudo (gold) = 16 Reales (silver), 1 Real (silver) = 34 Maravedis (billon), with Ducado (gold) in early years in the place of Escudo. The fineness and weight were decreasing with the centuries, and the billon was changed by copper. With this adjustments this system lasted until XIX century.

The system was semi-reformed in 1808 with the substitution of Real the vellon instead of Escudo and Real, copying the French Franco but without decimalization. The refom was completed in 1848 with the decimalization of Real (gold, silver and bronze) and the end of Maravedi. This new coin, the Real (decimalized) was debased in the lower denominations in silver and changed the name to Escudo (don't confuse with the gold Escudo) in 1864.

As you say in 1868 the Spanish system changed to the LMU model with the Peseta. And to the Euro in 2002.
Referee for Spain, Iberia (ancient), Suebi Kingdom and Visigothic Kingdom
Andalusia belonged in the Roman Empire for 700 years. That's amazing. I always wonder why so much Roman money went missing. I found a 1916 penny beneath the quarter round in my 1922 house. I wonder if a worker lost it, or it just found its way there much later. And my grandfather found a 1000 year old Roman coin during World War two, which I have. The research by the official site has found that it has little value because there has been so many of them found in recent times buried all over Europe. So these coins may not be as valuable as people think.
Quote: "sca1een"​Andalusia belonged in the Roman Empire for 700 years. That's amazing. I always wonder why so much Roman money went missing. I found a 1916 penny beneath the quarter round in my 1922 house. I wonder if a worker lost it, or it just found its way there much later. And my grandfather found a 1000 year old Roman coin during World War two, which I have. The research by the official site has found that it has little value because there has been so many of them found in recent times buried all over Europe. So these coins may not be as valuable as people think.
​Roman coins have value, though however if your coins fades on, it will only have a decreasing value.
Not only over Andalusia, all of Spain to southern England belonged to them. There are thousands of cobs and Romans laid by the Romans and Spanish Empire all through the country. Check for any detected coin of old to see if it is silver or gold. But yes, many of the govenments declare the detected thing found by a person to be claimed by them, there are rules, so detecting must be carried out safely but it;s a great thing to do.
Is Gibraltar part of the UK then? I always considered it a possession, territory...but did not think it was a part of the UK any more than Isle of Man, the Falklands, etc..
Library Media Specialist, columnist, collector, and gardener...
Quote: "Oklahoman"​Is Gibraltar part of the UK then? I always considered it a possession, territory...but did not think it was a part of the UK any more than Isle of Man, the Falklands, etc..
​It sure is. It’s part of the Union but not a member in the way England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are.
Good to know.
Library Media Specialist, columnist, collector, and gardener...

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