Spain 1812-M AI 80 reales
This Spanish eighty reales de vellon was struck in Madrid during the regime of José Napoleon, the French emperor's older brother. The "de vellon" coinage system, used 1808-50, set twenty reales = one peso instead of the traditional eight. The coins minted using that standard were not marked in any way different from the concurrent eight reales standard, a source of confusion for collectors today, It must have been a major irritant for the inhabitants of the time. The specimen shown was lot 235 in Aureo y Calicó sale 232 (Barcelona, March 2011), where it sold for 1,300 € (about US$2,145 including buyer's fee). The catalog description[1] noted,
"Dominación Francesa. 1812/1. Madrid. AI. 80 reales. Bella. Parte de brillo original. Escasa y más así. EBC-/EBC (French domination, eighty reales of 1812, Madrid mint, 1812/1 overdate. Handsome, some original luster, scarce thus, extremely fine.)"
This type was struck 1811-13 for Joseph Napoleon, Napoleon's brother and reluctant puppet king of Spain 1808-14. The gold coins of his regime are scarce to rare, likely because Napoleon was extracting large quantities of gold for the French war machine.
Recorded mintage: 238,000.
Specification: 6.77 g, .875 fine gold, .190 troy oz ASW.
Catalog reference: Cayón-14724 (overdate), KM 552, Cal. 10.
- Cayón, Adolfo, Clemente Cayón and Juan Cayón, Las Monedas Españolas, del Tremis al Euro: del 411 a Nuestros Dias, 2 volumes, Madrid: Cayón-Jano S.L., 2005.
- Calicó, Xavier, Numismática Española: Catálogo General con Precios de Todas las Monedas Españolas Acuñadas desde Los Reyes Católicos Hasta Felipe VI, 1474 a 2020, Barcelona: Aureo & Calicó, 2019.
- Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1801-1900, 9th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
- [1]Sisó, Teresa, Eduardo Domingo and Lluís Lalana, Selección de 500 Monedas, Medallas y Billetes, Barcelona: Aureo y Calicó Subastas, 2012.
Link to:
- 1811-M 80 reales
- 1812-Seg 8 maravedis
- 1812-M real
- 1812-C CI 2 reales
- 1812-C SF 2 reales
- 1812-M IJ 2 reales
- 1812-M AI 4 reales de vellon
- 1812-S 4 reales de vellon
- 1812-C 4 reales, Catalunya mint
- 1812-M 10 reales
- 1812-M 20 reales
- 1812-S 20 reales
- 1812-C 8 reales, Catalunya mint
- 1812-M 8 reales
- 1812-C 2 escudos
- 1812-M 2 escudos
- 1812-M 320 reales
- 1813-M 80 reales
- Coins and currency dated 1812
- return to Spanish pre-decimal coinage (maravedis, reales and escudos)