Spain 1883-MS M 25 pesetas (83)
The early coinage of Spain is familiar: eight reales = 1 peso; two pesos = 1 escudo. During the Napoleonic period, the real was devalued such that one peso = 20 reales de vellon. This was reformed in 1850 and again in 1864. In 1870, with the collapse of the monarchy, the reales, pesos and escudos were dropped in favor of centimos and pesetas conforming to the Latin Monetary Union.
The specimen shown was lot 436 in Aureo y Calicó sale 242 (Barcelona, March 2012), where it sold for 950 euros (about US$1,475 including buyer's fee). The catalog description[1] noted,
"Alfonso XII (1874-1885). 1883/2*1883. MSM. 25 pesetas. Rectificación de fecha muy clara. Bella. Brillo original. Rara y más así. S/C-. (Twenty-five pesetas of 1883, very clear overdate, nice, about uncirculated.)"
This type, struck 1881-85, is common enough to sell as a bullion coin but the 1883 is a scarcer date. After 1889, Spain struck twenty pesetas on the same module as French twenty francs d'or.
Recorded mintage: 669,000.
Specification: 8.064 g, 0.900 fine gold, .233 troy oz AGW.
Catalog reference: Fr-344, Cayón-17536 (overdate), KM 687, Cal. 17.
- 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.
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