Off and on I try to pick up Spanish 5 Pesetas from the late 1800's. My wife is Spanish and thought that at some point one of my three children may have an interest in them. I'm spending the hollidays in spain this year and some how found myself in a coin shop downtown. I picked these four coins out of the several the shop owner had. I don't have alot of them, I think this makes a dozen. Thus far I have been looking for examples of different years. I don't know much about the mints, variations, mintage, values, etc. If any one here collects these or has any knowledge on this series, my ears are open. thanks, MikeP
I leave Spain today so last night I walked down to the coin shop I had gone to last week to spend a little more time checking out his 5 pesetas. I looked at quite a few and picked out these two. This series is starting to grow on me. I'm pretty new to spanish coins and just realized that inside the small six pointed star on both sides of the date is another date. On many of the coins the star date is the same as the large date on the coin, but on some of them like the 1871 the star date is different. Example, the 1871 coins are the same issue in 72,73,74,75. The only thing that changed is the star date for the respective year, the large date on the coin did not change. These star dates are tiny and in many cases not legible due to wear. This is most likely old news to spanish coin collecters but to a newbie like me it was welcome information. Thanks, Mikep
Yes, these older coins usually have two dates, the "authorization" date (easily visible, four digits) and the "production" date (in general two digits in a star). With worn coins the latter can indeed be difficult to read. The mint stopped doing that about 30 years ago though. Christian
Sorry for my lack of terminology. The “Production” date is very tiny even when magnified it is hard to see sometimes. If the coin is worn much at all then it disappears. It is almost frustrating to find a coin that fits the hole in the series I am looking for only to be unable to clearly read the production date over the star.
Actually I am not quite sure what the official terminology is or was. It's just that many older Spanish coins have that "dual" system. This way it was easier for the mint; I believe that changing the "regular" (authorization) date would have required a new or adapted law. So with Spanish coins that are older than 30 years, you will often have an easily recognizable date "n", and tiny production dates (n+1, n+2, etc.). Deciphering those can be a pain in the derrière indeed, especially because, as you wrote, the grade of such older coins may make it impossible to determine the "actual" date. Why is the word "actual" in inverted commas? Well, your Amadeo I coin is a fine example: It is dated 1871 and can, in the stars, have the year 18|71, 18|73, 18|74 or 18|75. You may ask, no 18|72? No, in 1872 and during much of 1873, the mint simply continued using the 18|71 production date. Ah well, modern Spanish coins do not use the "dual date" system any more. Have a safe trip back home, and all the best for the new year! Christian
