Spain 1885-MS M peseta (85)
The early coinage of Spain is familiar: eight reales = one peso; two pesos = one escudo. During the Napoleonic period, the real was devalued such that one peso = twenty 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. This silver peseta, struck in Madrid in 1881-86, matches the contemporary French silver franc down to the odd .835 alloy. This type, with the whiskered portrait of the doomed Alfonso XII, is quite scarce in nice condition.
Recorded mintage: 3,336,000.
Specification: 5 g, 0.835 fine silver, .134 troy oz ASW.
Catalog reference: Cayón-17494, KM 686.
- 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.
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