Quote:
Wonder what was before and after 1870 since these are 1 year coins?
Prior to this Spain employed four different monetary systems over the tumultuous 25 year reign of Queen Isabel II. From 1864 to 1868 the monetary unit was the escudo and its fractions, centimos de escudo. Following Isabel's overthrow and flight from Spain in late 1868 a provisional government quickly approved another monetary reform, establishing the peseta as the monetary unit, with centimos de peseta as its fractions.
Although Isabel II was not a great leader, the true source of chaos both during her reign and for some years after were the many political factions that fought bitterly for control. The Spaniards who planned so carefully to overthrow Isabel II could not agree on what to do after she left. After some discussion, the Cortes (parliament) invited Prince Amadeo of Italy to become King Amadeo I of Spain in 1870. However, those many factions combined with the occasional assassination attempt ultimately proved too much. In 1873, after abdicating he famously proclaimed the Spanish people ungovernable.
In 1875 Alfonso XII, the son of Isabel II, became King of Spain and the coinage henceforth bore his likeness. Unlike his mother, Alfonso XII was well educated and proved to be a popular and productive king until his death at a relatively young age in 1885.
So there's the history surrounding these coins. I'm less familiar with the coinage itself after Isabel II than during her era, but I believe the short answer is that the Oeschger Mesdach & Co. workshops under contract with Spain minted the copper coinage of 1870 in large quantity without changing the date until 1875 when new coinage was issued for King Alfonso XII.
Edited by PatAR
08/31/2017 11:26 pm
Posted 08/30/2017 8:40 pm
