Letter from Cartevalori. December 9, 1971. Interesting historical document of the relationship of the Bank of Spain with Cartevalori, very possibly it must be included within the context by which the Bank of Spain in the seventies of the last century prepared the first banknote catalogs and which are the basis of commercial catalogs used today.
This letter was sent by the management of Calcografia & Cartevalori to the Bank of Spain on December 9, 1971, towards the final days of the Italian printing press before being absorbed by Metrotipo. It refers to a communication from just a couple of weeks earlier, in which the Bank of Spain would have requested on behalf of Jorge Alentorn Vilá archive copies, most likely for the preparation of the "Catalog of Spanish paper money", which it published in 1974. together with Florián Ruiz Vélez-Frías.
References are made in the letter to copies from the C&C archive of all the fronts of the 1940 issue, the backs of 500 and 1000 Pesetas of the same issue, as well as the front and back of 1000 Pesetas from July 18, 1937 and the back of 50 Pesetas of that issue.
Likewise, a “C&C” specimen is referenced, which is undoubtedly the 20 Pesetas specimen included in this sale.
Copies of proofs of front and back similar to those cited are known, although it is not possible for us to discern which specific copies were supplied in this letter by C&C.
Like any copy of Bank of Spain memorabilia, this communication is really interesting, and it is still a demonstration of what information the Italian printing press's archive contained and of the progress in terms of engraving that they achieved in the failed issue of 1937, as well as the first steps taken for the preparation of the commercial catalogs that we know today.
We thank Jose Antonio Castellanos Vargas for his collaboration in the historical contextualization of this historic piece of Spanish notafilia.
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