Spain - Gerona & Tarragona pieces

worldcoinguy

I have always been intrigued by a small niche of Spanish coins minted in the early 1800s for various provinces of Spain during the conflict with Napoleon. I recall one floated through the BST board within the year, but I did not jump on it. I am waiting for the following pieces to arrive this week in the mail.

Between approx 1808 and the 1840s, several Spanish provinces issued their own coins, including the Balearic Islands, Barcelona, Catalonia, Gerona, Lerida, Navarre, Tarragona, Tortosa, and Valencia. These coins were minted during the Peninsular War, which pitted the alliance of Spain/Portugal/UK against Napoleon's French forces between the years 1807 and 1814.

1808 - Gerona province - 1 Duro (5 Pesetas)
The Gerona (also spelled Girona) province is located in the NE corner of Spain. The aspect of this piece that I found to be the most interesting was the hand cut rim reading, whick Krause suggests makes each piece unique.


1809 - Tarragona province - 5 Pesetas
Tarragona is a seaport city located in the NE corner of Spain in the Calatonia region.

TwoKopeiki

I have always been a fan of these issues, as well as the Mallorcan "SALUS POPULI" ones. Nice pick-ups!

worldcoinguy

Thanks Roman! The rather crude strikes reminded me of some of the awesome 8 reales pieces you have posted from the early 1800s in Mexico.

dan8402

I find the Tarragona piece particularly interesting given that I was there in 2002. I don't know why, but that makes it more interesting to me

Here is what one of the main squares looked like back then:

globalcoin

Heres a picture of Tarragona from 2005
I love Spanish states coinage too. I also love Catalunya