1 | Spanish Banknotes

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100 Pesetas. April 1, 1880. No series. (Edifil 2021: 278, Pick: 21). Extraordinarily rare, especially without any repairs. Good Very Fine. PMG20 encapsulation (to give us an idea of ​​the rarity, as of March 1, 2024, there are only two notes graded by PMG).

As was common during the 19th century and much of the 20th century, the Bank of Spain did not immediately put the banknotes it manufactured into circulation. Normally, in anticipation of the usual forgeries, the engravers were continually working on producing new and more perfect designs that they kept in reserve so that they could be put into the hands of the public immediately when the Bank's Council decided so. On this occasion, we had to wait a few years for this note to be put into circulation, more specifically until October 1883. In a strange monetary configuration, this note shared public life with the issues of 1876 and 1878 that were placed in the hands of the public (with exceptions) at even later dates.

At that time, this note represented the monthly salary of the clerks and collectors of the Bank of Spain. The tellers, auditors and branch directors received several of these per month, but the lowest positions on the ladder did not see a single one of these. The engravers of the Bank of Spain, a profession always fairly well paid, although not as much as in the United States, received two to five of these banknotes a month, but the workshop workers only one or two if they were lucky.

The entire 1880 broadcast, recorded by Federico Navarrete Fos from Alcoy, is of extraordinary beauty. It is difficult to choose one engraving more beautiful than another. From the collector's point of view, this complete series is even more difficult to obtain than the 1876 one, and, as on other occasions, it was also forged.