The history of Spain’s currency system
THE PESETA (1869 - 2002)
The word ‘peceta’ (piececita, or small piece
or part), is a diminutive of peça (pieza, or piece),
first appears in the Catalan language of north-eastern
Spain many centuries ago, its origin unknown. In the 15th
century it referred to silver coin, and in the Middle Ages
it was used in the design of the silver two real coin (real,
plural reales, royal, referring originally to the value
of the silver used in the coin).
At the beginning of the 18th century, the word ‘peceta’ appeared
in Castilian Spanish, the dominant, official dialect
and distinct from regional Catalan and other dialects,
as ‘peseta’. An official document requiring
certification or identification, known as a pragmática,
dated 13 July 1718, is the first known use of the word
in a formal document.
The Diccionario de Autoridades, national dictionary,
of 1737 defined the peseta as “a coin with the value
of two reales of silver in the province’s currency,
shaped in the round.” This was its introduction to
the modern language.
The manner in which the phrase passed from one language
to another can be found during the war of succession to
the Spanish crown (1705-14) between the French pretender
to the throne, Philip of Borbon, and the archduke Charles
of Austria. Charles had based his military forces in Cataluña
(modern Catalonia), where he had minted a great quantity
of silver two reales coins. Later, the coins would flood
the Spanish economy, and from this began the popularisation
of the word ‘peseta’ written as a phonetic
approximation of the Catalan word. The Castilian ‘peseta’ also
became common usage in Catalan as ‘pesseta’,
a word still in use today.
The Castilian ‘peseta’ also became common
usage in Catalan as ‘pesseta’, a word still
in use today.
In September 1868, the revolutionaries behind the liberal
coup in Spain initiated a unified montary system in Spain,
using a metric, decimal system, to replace the real and
escudo (shield) currencies then in circulation throughout
the country.
A decree of 19 October 1868 established the peseta with
the intention of strengthening the economy and business,
and promoting a stable financial system.
Spanish currency, 10 pesetas 1983
The legislation for the peseta.- The
first coin denominated ‘peseta’, even before
it became the official national coin, was minted in Barcelona
during its occupation by French troops under Napoleon I (1808-1814),
who
made his brother Jose I the king of Spain. On one side
was its face value, on the other the coat of the Catalan
escudo. Curiously, this was in Catalonia in 1808, and it
was the first coin minted in Spanish and not in Latin,
shortly before the arrival of the French. The inscription
declared Fernando VII as king of Spain, and first appeared
in the city of Gerona, with its name in Castilian as the
place it was minted.
The first official peseta was minted in 1869 and stamped ‘Gobierno
Provisional’ (provisional government), referring
to the revolutionary committee led by general Francisco
Serrano (if one can say led, for the soul of the movement
against Queen Isabel’s monarchy was general Juan
Prim, leader of the coup). It was also stamped with the
name ‘Hipania’, a synonym for the more common
Roman ‘Hispania’. This was inspired by a coin
minted by the Roman emperor of Spain, Adrian, which featured
the figure of a reclining woman against the Iberian peninsula.
Until the Restoration, no further one peseta coins were
minted. During the reign of Alfonso II, further mintings
of the single peseta were circulated between 1876 and 1885,
the year of the king’s premature death.
The first minting under the Spanish Republic was during
1933-1934, and marked the reappearance of the female figure
of ‘Hispania’, this time with an olive branch
in her hand.
Popular imagination conferred the colour to the long mane
of hair in the feminine portrait figured on the coin. Coins
made of cardboard were also circulated when metals became
scarce later in the Civil War.
Paper denominations of the peseta were first printed during
the Civil War, a necessity when the war industry needed
scarce metals for bullet casings and other weaponry.
The paper denomination is a fiduciary currency, that is,
an agreement on paper between the State and the holder
that the paper represents the value in metal held in trust
by the State. The peseta note to the right is the first
peseta in paper form issued in Burgos by the Banco de España.
Franco continued to print paper pesetas after the Civil
War. The first Franco peseta note was dated in Burgos in
1938. The last peseta note carried the face of the Marqués
of Santa Cruz, the admiral of the Spanish Armada, who died
suddenly during the preparations to launch the Armada in
1588. It is dated 22 July 1953.
Until 1982, the peseta coin remained a copper-nickel alloy,
made largely of pure copper, as over time it had proved
resistant to wear.
The first one-peseta coin appeared in 1944, still without
the image of the general. The first profile portrait of
Franco appeared in 1947-1948, using a portrait by sculptor
Mariano Benlliure, which at first suffered from an over-emphasised
bas-relief effect lightened in later mintings.
The peseta of 1966, the last in the Franco era, was the
work of Jan de Avalos. It is curious to follow the evolution
of the general’s moustache on the coin, which grew
smoother and trimmer with the passage of time.
 With
the advent of a new monarchy in 1975 and the return to
democracy in 1978, the first pesetas with the face of the
new king, Juan Carlos I, appeared.
For the back view of the dictator, look to the left. The
minting of 1975, and the first of 1980, retained on its
reverse the old coat of arms.
In 1980 coins began to appear marking the football World
Cup, which was to be held in Spain in 1982. The reverse
of the coin featured the single value. That year the currency
actually and finally delivered the fiduciary promise of
the currency; now the 1944 peseta was worth more than the
metal it was made from.
In realising the relation between fiduciary value and
metal worth, the peseta also changed metals, and here was
made of aluminium, returning to the white colour (but not
of actual silver) of coins before the war. The last issue
retaining the traditional dimensions came into circulation
between 1982 and 1989. The final minting was in 1989 and
these coins remained in circulation until the euro replaced
the peseta exclusively on 1 June 2002. The euros appearing
from 1 January 2002 circulated along with the peseta for
six months until it was no longer legal tender.
The peseta continued to be made until December 2001, ceasing
production on 31 December that year
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