Question about Banknotes from Spain

Hello everyone, I have a question about the old banknotes of Spain that I would like to share and know your opinion.

In the 1860-1870s, Spain had three different monetary units:

• Real (decimalized, 1848-1864)
  
• Escudo (1864-1868)
  
• Peseta (1868-2001)
  

These are the equivalences between the different denominations:

1 escudo = 2 pesos = 1.088 maravedís = 10 pesetas = 40 reales de vellón

During these years, banknotes were issued in various denominations (Reales de vellon until the 1870s, when the Peseta was already the official currency, Pesos Fuertes, Escudos and Pesetas, with the first bills in this denomination in 1874).

The question is, if there is a banknote in Reales de Vellón or in Pesos Fuertes dated 1873, in what monetary unit should it be classified?

If it is in Reales de Vellón, it does not coincide in the date range, and if it is in Pesetas, it does not coincide in the monetary unit.

Please give me your opinion. Thank you.

It's a tricky one but, if these were regular issues, I'd suggest extending the dates of the currencies to cover them. It will probably cause confusion amongst the coin collectors but I can't see a better alternative.
By the way, the equivalencies you give refer to the earlier gold escudo (which was actually worth 1360 maravedís in the 19th century). For the later silver escudo, the correct values are:

1 escudo = ½ peso = 340 maravedís = 2½ pesetas = 10 reales de vellón

Oopssss, you are absolutely right in the equivalences, they are indeed the ones that you indicate.

 

As for your suggestion to extend the periods to cover these banknotes, it is an option, but it is not my favorite, since I think that the dates that exist now are the official ones, so I would not touch that.

 

The option that I would choose is to include the Reales de Vellón banknotes in his period, even if they are outside of it due to the date.

Do we have any of these notes listed yet? I couldn't see any and I didn't find any on Bank Note Museum.

There is none because I have entered all the Spanish Pre-Peseta banknotes and most Peseta of Alfonso XII and Alfonso XIII since I took charge of this section's referee. 

 

But for banknotes that were out of range (such as the one in the photo of 10 Escudos from 1973)

 or this one from the Bank of Barcelona ND 1868 (50 Pesos Fuertes, equivalent to 25 Escudos or 1000 Reales Vellon) 

I have preferred to wait to introduce them to be clearer where classify them.

I agree it saves work to wait until we can agree how to list them. Is there any significance that both are linked to Barcelona? Did Catalonia continue to use earlier currencies of account?

The history of Spanish banknotes is somewhat complicated and curious. The banks authorized to issue banknotes were:

 

BANCO DE ESPAÑA (their initial names were):

 

• Banco Nacional de San Carlos (1782-1829)
• Banco Español de San Fernando (1829-1856)
• Banco de España (1856-date)

 

AUTHORIZED PRIVATE BANK:

 

• Banco de Isabel II (1844-1847) Merged with the Banco Español de San Fernando in 1847

 

PROVINCIAL BANKS (1856-1873):

 

During this period, up to 21 Provincial Banks were authorized to issue banknotes in Spain. Their denominations were always in Reales de Vellón, except for the Bank of Barcelona, ​​whose denominations were in Pesos Fuertes.

 

BANCO DE ESPAÑA (1856-1873):

 

During this period, the Bank of Spain issued banknotes, many of which included the name of the bank branch (Barcelona, ​​Zaragoza, etc…) These banknotes were issued in Reales de Vellon (1856-1862) and Escudos (1866- 1873). Starting in 1874, the first Peseta banknotes were issued. From this date, only Pesetas denomination was issued.

PROVINCIAL BANKS AUTHORIZED:

 

• Banco de Barcelona
• Banco Balear
• Banco de Bilbao
• Banco de Burgos
• Banco de Cádiz
• Banco de La Coruña
• Banco de Jerez de la Frontera
• Banco de Málaga
• Banco de Oviedo
• Banco de Palencia
• Banco de Pamplona
• Banco de Reus
• Banco de San Sebastián
• Banco de Santander
• Banco de Santiago de Compostela
• Banco de Sevilla
• Banco de Tarragona
• Banco de Valladolid
• Banco de Vitoria
• Banco de Zaragoza

Many thanks for all that information. It sounds like the banks were just a few years behind the coins when it came to the currency reforms. How this worked in practice is interesting but, from a catologuing point of view, it sounds like we need to put them in their correct currencies and extend the end dates to cover them. Even if the government decreed a new currency, these banks clearly were allowed to continue using the previous one, so it's hard to argue 1864 or 1868 represent the true end dates for the real and escudo. What's also clear is we need to add the peso fuerte for the Bank of Barcelona. If the other Catalonian banks didn't use pesos, then perhaps we can set up Barcelona as a separate issuer within Spanish banknotes?

The one you propose is an option, but for me the most appropriate would be not to modify the official periods or their dates, and only include in the equivalences of each monetary unit the values ​​in which we can find coins or bills, in order to include the bills that by denomination they would not correspond.

Real (decimalized, 1848-1864)

1 Real = 10 Decimas = 100 Centimos • 1 Peso = 20 Reales de Vellón

 

On this period we can find: 

Coins: Real, Decimas and Centimos

Banknotes: Real de Vellón and Peso

Escudo (1864-1868)

1 Escudo = 100 Centimos = 1000 Milesimas • 1 Escudo = ½ Peso = 10 Reales de Vellón

 

On this period we can find: 

Coins: Escudo, Céntimos, Milésimas

Banknotes: Escudo, Peso and Real de Vellón

Peseta (1868-2001)

100 Céntimos = 1 Peseta • 1 Escudo = ½ Peso = 2½ Pesetas = 10 Reales de Vellón

 

On this period we can find: 

Coins: Peseta and Céntimo

Banknotes: Céntimo, Peseta, Escudo, Peso and Real de Vellón

 

What do you think?

It certainly leaves little room for error. The only things I'd change would be to add the maravedí equivalence for the real and to have “During this period, the following denominations were used:” instead of “On this period we can find: ”.

Can I suggest you get in touch with zegeri, the coin referee for Spain? This style of currency title could be very useful for earlier periods of Spanish coinage, where there is still a lot of confusion about the denominations and equivalencies.