Spain 1813-M RN 4 reales
This specimen was lot 1451 in Aureo y Calicó sale 391 (Barcelona, June 2022), where it sold for €65 (about US$82 including buyer's fees). The catalog description[1] noted,
"1813. José Napoleón. Madrid. RN. 4 reales. Pequeña parte de brillo original. Escasa. MBC+/MBC. (kingdom of Spain, Joseph Napoleon, four reales of 1813, Madrid mint. Some luster remaining, scarce. Very fine or better.)"
This Spanish four reales de vellon was struck in Madrid during the regime of José Napoleon, the French emperor's older brother and reluctant puppet king of Spain 1808-14. 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. This type was struck 1810-13. 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: unknown but a better date.
Specification: 5.41 g, 0.903 fine silver, .157 troy oz ASW, this specimen 6,04 g.
Catalog reference: KM 540.1, AC. 22, Cayón-14683.
- 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 Juan Carlos I, 1474 a 2001, Barcelona: Aureo & Calicó, 2008.
- Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1801-1900, 9th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
- [1]Sisó, Teresa, Eduard Domingo and Lluís Lalana, Subasta Numismática 391, Barcelona: Aureo y Calicó, 2022.
Links to:
- 1812-M AI 4 reales de vellon
- 1812-S 4 reales de vellon
- 1812-C 4 reales, Catalunya mint
- Catalonia 1813 ochavo
- Catalonia 1813 3 quartos
- Barcelona 1813 5 pesetas
- Barcelona 1813 20 pesetas
- 1813-M IJ 2 reales
- 1813-M GJ 2 reales
- 1813-M 10 reales de vellon
- 1813-M IJ 8 reales
- 1813-M IG 8 reales
- Spain 1813-C SF 8 reales Palma de Mallorca mint
- 1813-M 20 reales
- 1813-C CJ 2 escudos, Cadiz mint
- Spain 1813-M GJ 2 escudos
- 1813-M 80 reales
- 1813-C SF 2 escudos, Cataluña mint
- Spain 1813-C SF 8 escudos Palma de Mallorca mint
- Coins and currency dated 1813
- return to Spanish pre-decimal coinage (maravedis, reales and escudos)