Artillery Mastery of the Cartagena Arsenal, Spain
| nome nella lingua locale | Maestranza de Artillería del Arsenal de Cartagena |
|---|---|
| Posto | Cartagena, Spain |
| Date di operazione | 1873 |
| Vedi anche |
Wikidata (Q4069935), Wikipedia [CA], [EN], [ES], [RU], [UK]  |
(en) On February 11, 1873, after the resignation of Amadeo of Savoy, the First Spanish Republic was proclaimed. The federal republicans try to establish a series of independent cantons (cities or confederation of cities). On July 12, 1873, a group of volunteers invaded the Cartagena City Council. Shortly after, the Junta raised the red flag and the Canton of Cartagena was proclaimed. One of the first problems encountered in Cartagena was the shortage of money. The revolutionary government decided to create paper money or vouchers, which were poorly received by the people in general. On August 4, vouchers of 2,000, 10,000 and 20,000 Reales were put into circulation. The mistrust towards this type of currency, increased by the revolutionary period in which it was produced, made its implementation impossible and on August 14 it was replaced by the cantonal silver coinage. The Revolutionary Junta approved the plan to mint silver coins of 5 pesetas and 10 reales, with the sole purpose of normalizing and cleaning up the economic situation of the city. All the silver that could be seized was used along with that produced in the nearby Mazarrón mines to strike coins in the boilermaking workshops of the Artillery Maestranza of the Cartagena Arsenal, adapting the naval machinery to the new needs. Those in charge of making the coins were the inmates of the Cartagena prison who were imprisoned for currency counterfeiting. The factory was operating until the end of the war and even had to be moved due to the bombings in January 1874 to the basement of the Arsenal's Quartermaster, where they worked until January 10.
