Via Stellae III online auction #110

25 Pesetas Unissued (only the reverse of this denomination is known). September 1937. Gijón branch. Block of four. (Edifil 2023: NE29Pb). Unusual. Unused.
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50 Pesetas. UNISSUED. September 1937. Gijón branch. Unsealed and with the die on the left. (Edifil 2023: NE33, Pick: S579). Very rare, especially in this exceptional quality, original sizing. Unused. Encapsulated PMG65EPQ.
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50 Pesetas. September 1937. Gijón branch. UNISSUED. Unguillotined pair. Unserialized and with the die on the left. (Edifil 2023: NE33b, Pick: S579r1). Extremely rare, especially in this exceptional quality, original sizing. Original. Uncut. Encapsulated PMG65EPQ. (To give an idea of the rarity, as of November 1, 2024, this is the only note certified by PMG in a pair.)
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100 Pesetas. September 1937. Unserialized, unnumbered, and with the die on the left. (Edifil 2023: 399a, Pick: S580r). Natural undulation from the manufacturing process (this is the only reason for removing the Uncirculated), original finish. Good Extremely Fine+. Packaged in PMG55EPQ.
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A beautiful collection of tests from the Generalitat of Catalonia, each one different from the other. A very interesting subject for scholars of this issue. Uncirculated/Uncirculated-.

In addition to the well-known issues issued by the Generalitat of Catalonia in 1936, engraved by Josep Obiols and Enric Cristófol Ricart Nin, there are also other unfinished and unissued banknotes prepared by both Catalan artists around the time of the first issue and later in the 1950s. The Generalitat's original plan was to supplement the fiduciary circulation of the Bank of Spain with its own issue in lower denominations (from 2.50 to 10 pesetas). The lower limit would fit the local issues, so deeply rooted in Catalan territory during the Civil War, in a certain sense as a political demand rather than pure necessity.

Regarding the 1950 issue, about which few details are known, the 50 and 500 peseta notes are the rarest. The 50-peseta note was engraved by Ricart Nin and the 500-peseta note by Obiols, using the same woodcut technique on boxwood and later transferred by heliogravure. The 50-peseta note depicts a matron with a caduceus (an allegory of Commerce) and another with a hammer (an allegory of Labor), while a ship and factory can be seen in the background. All of this represents the traditional industrial and commercial spirit of Catalonia. The reverse shows the Catalan coat of arms with the appellation's legend on a scroll and another at the bottom explaining its mandatory course in Catalonia. On an artistic level, the factory and ship motifs are repeated (and another steamship is added), and the entire piece is adorned with numerous fruits and plants, giving a sense of abundance. In other words, the message the banknote aims to convey is the prosperity of Catalonia thanks to trade and industry. An additional element of great interest is the bird that appears in the upper right corner of the reverse. It resembles a swallow or a swift and appears to be holding a key. Perhaps it was intended to express openness to a higher state, whether of collective consciousness, wealth, comfort, or similar, probably with an intentional and specific political meaning.

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25 Cents. 1937. Asturias and León. No series. (Edifil 2023: 394, Pick: S601). Unnumbered block of four, corner of sheet. Uncirculated-.
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50 Cents. 1937. Asturias and León. No series. (Edifil 2023: 396, Pick: S603). Unusual. Unused.
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1 Peseta. 1937. Asturias and León. No series. (Edifil 2023: 397, Pick: S604). Uncirculated.
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Reverse proof with large margins of the 25 Pesetas of 1938. Unissued. (Edifil 2023: NE28AP). Rare. Unused.
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100 Pesetas. March 11, 1938. Unissued color proof and number 0,000,000. (Edifil 2023: NE32Ma, Pick: 90cts). Extremely rare, with very few known examples, this note is undoubtedly one of the rarest banknotes in the Spanish banknote collection and undoubtedly one of the most iconic. Fine ++. Encapsulated in PMG58 (printer's annotation).

The intense inflation within the territory controlled by the Republic, whose origins can be attributed to many factors, both productive and related to the evolution of the war itself, as well as economic decisions, created a pressing need to produce more and more money to maintain the monetary supply required for the functioning of the economy. Thus, despite requests to Bradbury, the Bank of Spain decided to involve Thomas de la Rue from the beginning of the war. In 1937, they would enter into negotiations with them to produce a new 100-peseta banknote.

The English printing process was considerably slower than that of other competitors. Since one copy is dated July 1, 1937, it is assumed that this was the contract date, as it was common practice to use it on banknotes. We know of a proof with the adopted colors and a notation from February 18, 1938. That copy still bears the mark "Madrid, July 1, 1937," and shows the signature of the auditor, Adolfo Castaño. As a response to this proof, another copy is preserved in which the Bank of Spain corrected the signature to indicate that it should be Antonio Victoriano Martín, that the place of issue should be Barcelona, and the date should be March 11, 1938. We assume this reply was sent between late February and early March of that same year. Later, there is evidence of a proof with the corrections carried out and dated by hand on April 14, 1938. A couple of months later, on June 21, 1938, the Board of the Bank of Spain approved the specimen sent to them by Thomas de la Rue.

Aside from these proofs, samples, and approval notes, we find other examples of great interest for understanding the process and the time involved. There are several color proofs of this note, all alternatives to the combination finally chosen and with several notable characteristics. First of all, they have a notation in the lower right corner with numbers ranging from D701 to D713. Furthermore, they already have corrections to the auditor's signature and the place of issue. However, they all have two other surprising aspects in common: they all have orange or brown tones on their obverse, very different from the final colors, and they all lack the issue date, presenting instead a blank space, slightly different in each sample, which seems to indicate, along with other clues, that it was erased after printing. What was the purpose of these color proofs? When were they produced, and why did they not bear an issue date?

It's difficult to date these types of proofs, since the correct signature and place of issue should indicate that they date from after the Bank of Spain's reply of March 1938. However, they don't show the date of issue, even though it was already indicated on the reply note. Why? Perhaps the reply was accompanied or followed by a letter indicating that they would need to confirm this aspect. Or perhaps the printer forgot to correct this point and preferred to send the proofs with that part erased. But, in any case, why send samples of different color combinations when they were already working with one that was the final one? To this, we could respond that perhaps the printer worked on a model to confirm the design and then proposed alternatives, which is consistent with what we know of their workflows. It's conceivable that some of the unknown models sent (we have images of six proofs of the cited issues) were the same as the final colors. The fact is that the Bank of Spain didn't like these alternatives very much and opted to continue with the original colors. Given this, all these unique tests could be dated to the end of March 1938.

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100 Pesetas. August 15, 1938. Unissued 2-year provisional banknote from the Bank of Spain, Barcelona. No series. (Edifil 2023: NE36, Pick: 91). This banknote was planned to be issued by the Catalan branch in Barcelona and was printed at the Gráficas Reunidas workshops in Madrid. Due to the vicissitudes of the Civil War, it was never issued and was destroyed. Only a few examples are known. The Edifil catalog mentions three color combinations. Original sizing. Uncirculated. Encapsulated PMG63EPQ.
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25 Pesetas. October 12, 1926. Series B and dry stamp SPANISH STATE / BURGOS. (Edifil 2023: 402). VF.
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500 Pesetas. July 24, 1927. No series, numbering less than 1602000, and stamped "ESTADO ESPAÑOL / BURGOS." (Edifil 2023: 413). Extremely Fine-
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1000 Pesetas. July 1, 1925. No series, number prior to 3646000, and stamped "Estado Español / Burgos". (Edifil 2023: 416). VF+.
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10 Pesetas. November 21, 1936. Burgos branch. Without lithographic background and with blocked perforation. (Edifil 2023: 418P). Very rare and original finish. Uncirculated-.
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25 Pesetas. November 21, 1936. Series O. (Edifil 2023: 419a, Pick: 99a). The undulation does not break the grain; it retains all its original finish. Good Extremely Fine++.
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50 Pesetas. November 21, 1936. Series A. (Edifil 2023: 420, Pick: 100a). Very rare in this exceptional quality, original finish. Packaged PMG65EPQ.
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100 Pesetas. November 21, 1936. Series G. (Edifil 2023: 421a, Pick: 101a). Natural undulation from the manufacturing process (this is the only reason for "removing" the Uncirculated), original finish. Good Extremely Fine++.
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1000 Pesetas. July 18, 1937. Color proofs of the unissued coin, front and back. (Edifil: NE44P, Pick: 106Epd1, 106Ep2). Extremely rare and highly spectacular. Extremely Fine/Extremely Fine-. Encapsulated PMG50 (minor stains)/45 (minor stains).

The failed 1937 Cartevalori issue, with its many stories and anecdotes, is a cult object for notaphiles. The extremely few surviving pieces make any of these papers unique or nearly unique pieces of extremely difficult collection. On this occasion, we have one of the very few color samples of the front and back of the thousand-peseta banknote. In fact, we only know of three (beyond those showing the final colors), and with notable differences: speaking only of the front (the backs are all different and always in three colors), we have this proof offered to you: another monochrome one in green with a black vignette, and the third with a border in black tones, multicolored backgrounds in red and green, and a portrait in blue.

After correcting the unforgivable error in Marteen Pepijn's vignette, Cartevalori completely changed the design and incorporated a portrait of Emperor Charles V. This proof without backgrounds is undoubtedly the oldest of the proofs known to us. This is so for several reasons: first, the final design is indeed multicolored, as in one of the other proofs, but not like this one, where three different ones were used independently (greenish gray for the borders, green for the cartouche, and red for the denomination), in a certainly ill-advised combination; second, this proof lacks backgrounds, while the other known ones do, suggesting greater maturity in the design process; and third and finally, this proof uses a portrait of the Spanish monarch based on Titian's painting "Charles V at the Battle of Mühlberg," a closer look, without an oval border, and curiously more faithful than the one finally used on the banknote, and whose vignette coincides with the one used in the other two proofs. But there is also a very interesting detail that adds greater historical value to this color proof: the imprint reads "Coen & C Banconote Milano (Italia)," while the rest of the thousand-peseta proofs include the legend "C & C Banconote Milano (Italia)," as does the reverse of this and all the proofs. The Marteen Pepijn banknote proofs read "Calcografia Carte Valori Milano (Italia)," an earlier denomination. In fact, only the 1-peseta banknotes from 1937 are signed "Coen," which gives us an idea of the manufacturing and design sequence of all these proofs. This change was intended to conceal the Jewish origin of the owners of the Italian printing press because, following pressure from Nazi Germany, the Italian fascists began enacting anti-Semitic laws in 1938. The surname Coen (Cohen in other countries and other variants) comes from Hebrew, where "kohen" means priest; Curiously, the Coen partners were surnamed Sacerdoti, which is nothing more than another way in which the same surname was attempted to be concealed in Italy).

Thus, this example we offer is probably the oldest known example of this design on the front of this failed banknote, which makes it even more interesting if possible.

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5 Pesetas. July 18, 1937. No series. (Edifil 2023: 424, Pick: 106a). Unusual in this quality, it retains all its original finish. Unc.
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1 Peseta. October 12, 1937. Series A. (Edifil 2023: 425a, Pick: 104a). Retains all its original size. Uncirculated-.
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1000 Pesetas. November 21, 1936. Series A. (Edifil 2023: 423, Pick: 103a). Extremely rare in this exceptional quality, unbroken corrugation. Good Extremely Fine++. Encapsulated PMG58EPQ.
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1 Peseta. April 30, 1938. Series A. (Edifil 2023: 428, Pick: 108a). Retains some of its original size. Good Extremely Fine++.
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2 Pesetas. April 30, 1938. Series A. (Edifil 2023: 429a, Pick: 109a). Original size. Unused.
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25 Pesetas. May 20, 1938. Series B. (Edifil 2023: 430a, Pick: 111a). Unusual in this exceptional quality, original sizing. Uncirculated. Encapsulated PMG65EPQ.
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100 Pesetas. May 20, 1938. Series F. (Edifil 2023: 432a, Pick: 113a). Unusual in this quality, original sizing. Uncirculated. Encapsulated PMG64EPQ.
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1000 Pesetas. May 20, 1938. Series A. (Edifil 2023: 434, Pick: 115a). Extremely rare, especially in this quality. Original box. PMG64 encapsulated.
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5 Pesetas. August 10, 1938. Series A. (Edifil 2023: 435, Pick: 110a). Original size. Uncirculated-.
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1 Peseta. April 30, 1938. Series A. (Edifil 2023: 428A). AFRICA surcharge, in red. Extremely rare, it retains all its original finish, matching the one photographed in the Edifil catalogue and the one auctioned at the Caja Madrid Auction. Uncirculated-.

The differentiation of currency in circulation in certain territories of a country is a mechanism originally devised to prevent capital flight and maintain sufficient currency in that region. A simple mechanism for accomplishing this task is the use of stamps, either wet or dry. A Ministerial Order of April 22, 1939, called for the stamping of the word "AFRICA" on the 1938 Francoist issues, theoretically justified by preventing smuggling in the Protectorate of Morocco, estimated at approximately 300 million pesetas. Only these could circulate in the region, preventing their illegal entry into the rest of Spanish territory. The idea for this project came from Juan Beigbeder Atienza, then Spain's High Commissioner in Morocco.

There were never any official regulations on the matter, only two proposals from the Ministry of Finance, and they were never put into circulation for fear of the peseta's falling value in the Tangier region. Some dies were engraved with the stamp, and a diagonal typographical imprint was applied to the obverse of a series of banknotes. It is unclear whether this was simply a sample series or whether millions of pesetas were actually stamped, as the surviving banknotes are minimal.

There are also forgeries of these stamps made using wet stamp pads in modern times. The original plates, as mentioned for letterpress printing, feature a subtle pattern inside each letter precisely to make forgery difficult; modern stamp pads cannot reproduce this.

Needless to say, these authentic banknotes are extraordinarily rare, if not unique.

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50 Pesetas. May 20, 1938. Series E, last series issued. (Edifil 2023: 431a, Pick: 112a). AFRICA surcharge, in red. Extremely rare, it retains all its original finish and matches the one photographed in the Edifil catalog and the one auctioned at the Caja Madrid auction. Good Extremely Fine.
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1000 Pesetas. May 20, 1938. Series A. (Edifil 2023: 434). AFRICA typographical overprint in red. Extremely rare, with small tears on the right margin. It matches the one photographed in the Edifil catalog and the one auctioned at the Caja Madrid auction. VF.
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25 Pesetas. January 9, 1940. Proof of the obverse and reverse, in a non-final color, and numbered A1234567 (consecutive issues). (Edifil 2023: 438P, 438Pa). Extraordinarily rare, previously mounted on cardboard. Uncirculated--.
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25 Pesetas. January 9, 1940. UNISSUED. Obverse proof in a non-final color and unnumbered. (Edifil 2023: NE49P). Extraordinarily rare, previously mounted on cardboard. Uncirculated-.
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25 Pesetas. January 9, 1940. UNISSUED. Obverse proof in a non-final color and unnumbered. (Edifil 2023: NE49P). Extraordinarily rare, previously mounted on cardboard. Uncirculated-.
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25 Pesetas. January 9, 1940. UNISSUED. Obverse proof in a non-final color and unnumbered. (Edifil 2023: NE49P). Extraordinarily rare, previously mounted on cardboard. Uncirculated-.
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50 Pesetas. January 9, 1940. Series B. (Edifil 2023: 437a, Pick: 117a). Original size. Good Extremely Fine+. Packaged in PMG58EPQ.
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100 Pesetas. January 9, 1940. Series F. (Edifil 2023: 438a, Pick: 118a). Unusual. Unused. PMG64 encapsulated.
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500 Pesetas. January 9, 1940. Series A. (Edifil 2023: 439, Pick: 119a). Unusual in this quality. Good Extremely Fine+. PMG58 encapsulation.
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Proof of the obverse of the 500 Pesetas banknote issued on January 9, 1940, unnumbered, without the cashier's signature, and with a lithographic background. (Edifil 2023: 439Pa). Very rare and spectacular. Uncirculated-.
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1 Peseta. June 1, 1940. Series B. (Edifil 2023: 441a, Pick: 121a). Retains all original finish. Uncirculated-.
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500 Pesetas. October 21, 1940. No serial number. (Edifil 2023: 444, Pick: 124a). Unusual in this quality. Good Extremely Fine+. PMG58 encapsulation.
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500 Pesetas. October 21, 1940. Obverse and reverse proofs with non-final colors, unnumbered, and no cashier's signature. (Edifil 2023: 444P, Pick: 124p1, 124p2). Extraordinarily rare and highly spectacular. FINE/UNC-. Cased PMG55 (selvage included, pinholes) / 64 (pinholes).
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5 Pesetas. February 13, 1943. Series B. (Edifil 2023: 446a, Pick: 127a). Original size. Uncirculated-.
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1 Peseta. May 21, 1943. Series I. (Edifil 2023: 447a, Pick: 126a). Original size. Uncirculated--.
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5 Pesetas. July 15, 1945. Series F. (Edifil 2023: 449a, Pick: 129a). Original size. Unused.
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25 Pesetas. February 19, 1946. Series B. (Edifil 2023: 450a). Original size. Uncirculated-.
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100 Pesetas. February 19, 1946. Series B. (Edifil 2023: 451b, Pick: 131a). Unusual, original size. Uncirculated-.
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5 Pesetas. April 12, 1947. No series. (Edifil 2023: 454, Pick: 134a). Original size. Unused.
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5 Pesetas. March 5, 1948. No series. (Edifil 2023: 455, Pick: 136a). Original size. Unused.
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100 Pesetas. May 2, 1948. No serial number. (Edifil 2023: 456, Pick: 137a). Unusual in this quality. Unused. PMG64 encapsulated.
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