Hey guys, I picked up a couple of 1957 Spain Pesetas today in XF-AU condition for extremely cheap just because they looked interesting. I was looking them up tonight and noticed that the star-63 turns out to be pricey. The star-65 isn't so pricey, but has huge doubling on the lettering of the lower half of the obverse. Attached a few quick shots with handheld and flash. Sorry for the quality, but my one-year-old won't let me set up the rig. Kind of interesting what you learn from world coins. Apparently these were 'commissioned' in 1957, but then they put the year minted in a little star on the reverse (63 or 65, etc...). Thoughts? Thanks, -snewman Close up on doubling on the 65: Reverse of 63: Obverse of 65:
It looks cool. Funny thing is that I lived in Spain during the time of the change from Pesetas to Euros. I have a few but they aren't worth that much.
I don't understand why the 63's are considered the key date and are worth $15-20 in XF range and $100+ in MS since they made 50 million of them (unless my guide was wrong).
The doubling is common mechanical doubling, doesn't add any value to a collector familiar with it. These coins circulated for long enough where lustrous uncirculated examples are hard to find. The market for mid-century Spanish coins in BU condition is surprisingly strong. Please note that XF-AU examples with numerous surface marks are only worth a couple of dollars.
I find the date system very frustrating because I don't have anything to magnify it, so I can never figure out what year they are really from.
Many of a Spanish coins with a portrait of Francisco Franco has the date "1957". But I don't know why.
The Brazilian coins from the latter 19th century have a similar thing - on one side it lists the year it was authorized, and the other lists the actual year it was minted. Fortunately they do their date prominently but some people still get confused.
Yeah, this is probably the worst system for dating coins. I have several Spanish coins from the late 19th century that cannot be accurately dated because the star has worn smooth. Aside from my bias and frustration as a collector with this system; I would like to know who dreamt this up and why this dating style was chosen.
1957 was the 20th anniversary of the end of the Spanish Civil War. In that year Franco gave himself the title "Caudillo" or leader of Spain. That is why the 1957 date remained on the coins. It is a commemorative date. The year of issue is in the star.
Makes sense for that particular issue for 1957, but what about the older issues? Do they also commemorate something? Like the king's ascension or the new year of the republic?
