Spain 1889-MP M 50 centimos (89)
This specimen was lot 1460 in Áureo y Calicó sale 346 (Barcelona, March 2020), where it sold for €300 (about US$396 including buyer's fees). The catalog description[1] noted,
"1889*89. Alfonso XIII. MPM. 50 céntimos. Bellísima. Brillo original. Escasa así. S/C. (kingdom of Spain, Alfosno XIII, fifty centimos of 1889, beautiful, mint luster, scarce thus, uncirculated.)"
The ouster of the monarchy in 1868 failed to bring stability to Spain. A short-lived republic yielded to the rule of Amadeo I, a prince from Italy who, finding nobody willing to listen to his suggestions, abdicated in 1873 and returned to Italy. In 1885, Isabel's son Alfonso died of tuberculosis, leaving a posthumous son, Alfonso XIII. His "baby head" portrait appears on the fifty centimos of 1889-92 but the 1892 is the only readily available date.
Recorded mintage: 537,260.
Specification: 2.5 g, 0.835 fine silver, this specimen 2,46 g.
Catalog reference: KM 690, Cayón-17593, AC. 27.
- 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, Eduard Domingo and Lluís Lalana, Subasta Publica 346: Colección Manuela Etcheverría, Colección Javier Verdejo Sitges, Barcelona: Áureo y Calicó, 2020.
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