20th Century

With the 20th century came electricity: in 1927 all the processes at the Mint had been adapted to this new energy source.

The Second Republic minted coins of all denominations up to 2 pesetas, but almost all of them came late, some in the midst of the Civil War. During the conflict, in Republican areas coins were minted at regional or local level, and there were even officially approved card pseudo-coins in circulation.

After his armed victory, General Franco ruled over Spain until his death. The Mint was reorganised in order not only to produce coins, stamps and stamped paper goods, but also to print banknotes issued by the Bank of Spain.

The effigy of Franco would not appear on coins until 1947, and was only modified in 1966. However, a number of numismatic curiosities, such as the 5 and 10 cent pieces that imitated the Iberian dinars with a lancer on horseback, the 25 and 50 cents with marine symbolism, or the minting in 1966 of silver 100 peseta coins.

The coinage of the reign of Juan Carlos I was uniform during the first few years, although with differing reverse faces. In 1980, to mark the Football World Cup being held in Spain in 1982, a number of commemorative reverses were issued. Subsequent issues saw the return of the crowned M, which had been the mark of the Madrid Mint during the time of the Bourbon dynasty until Isabel II. In 1990 a monetary system was established based on an increasing order of values based on size, weight and metallic composition. In 1993 our Mint introduced, for the first time in the world, the so-called ‘latent image’ with a hologram effect on the surface of the metal. Since 1989 commemorative series have been issued, separately from those produced for circulation, both in pesetas and euros.

In the cabinets displaying the last peseta coins there are also examples of the sports medals produced by the Mint to mark the Olympic Games held in Barcelona in 1992.