Item number: A4696

Reference number: KM#610

Year: AD 1861

Material: Gold

Size: 13.0 x 13.0 mm

Weight: 1.6674 g

Manufactured by: Royal Mint of Madrid

Provenance: Fuchin Coin 2026

This is a 20-reales gold coin issued by the Kingdom of Spain during the reign of Queen Isabella II.

The obverse features a left-facing, laureate portrait of Queen Isabella II, draped in a light fabric, surrounded by the Spanish inscription “ISABEL 2A. POR LA G· DE DIOS Y LA CONST”, meaning “Isabella II, by the Grace of God and the Constitution”. The year of issue appears below. Beneath the shoulder are the small initials “L.M.”, those of Luis Marchionni y Hombrón, then Chief Engraver of the Madrid Mint and designer of the coin.

The reverse bears the contemporary Spanish royal arms, whose composition follows the heraldic traditions of successive Spanish monarchs and incorporates emblems associated with various dynasties and territories, including Aragon, Sicily, Austria, Burgundy, Flanders, Tyrol and Brabant. At its centre is a quartered shield displaying the castle of Castile and the lion of León, with the pomegranate of Granada below. Superimposed upon the shield is an inescutcheon bearing three fleurs-de-lis, representing the House of Bourbon to which Isabella II belonged. The surrounding inscription, “REINA DE LAS ESPAÑAS”, means “Queen of the Spains”, while “20 Rṣ” below denotes the denomination of 20 reales. The six-pointed stars flanking the denomination serve as the mint mark of the Royal Mint of Madrid.

After the death of Ferdinand VII in AD 1833, the throne passed to his three-year-old daughter, Isabella II. Her uncle, Carlos, refused to recognise her right of succession, leading to the First Carlist War (AD 1833–1840). Thereafter, Spanish politics remained deeply affected by divisions among the liberals and recurrent military intervention. Three years after the war ended, Isabella II, then aged thirteen, was prematurely declared of age and began to rule in her own right. The Moderates, Progressives and, subsequently, the Liberal Union successively emerged as the principal political forces. By the 1860s, support for the Queen’s rule had steadily declined, while opposition groups increasingly joined forces. This growing opposition culminated in the Glorious Revolution (La Gloriosa) of AD 1868, which forced Isabella II into exile in France and brought her reign to an end.

During the reign of Isabella II, Spain underwent several reforms to its monetary system. In AD 1854, the government introduced another currency reform, issuing the Isabelina doblón, a gold coin denominated at 100 reales, together with lower-denomination gold coins of 40 and 20 reales. By AD 1861, the 40- and 20-reales gold coins were struck at rates of 68.57 and 137.15 pieces per mark respectively, to supplement the heavy silver coinage in circulation.

At the same time, the system used to identify individual mints was also reformed. The initials of mint names were progressively replaced by star-shaped mint marks with different numbers of points: a six-pointed star represented the Madrid Mint, a seven-pointed star the Seville Mint, and an eight-pointed star the Barcelona Mint. This change began in AD 1852 and was gradually applied to circulating coinage thereafter. The six-pointed star on the present coin therefore indicates that it was struck at the Madrid Mint.

In AD 1864, Isabella II, having already introduced several monetary reforms, implemented the final currency reform of her reign. The reform sought to establish stable decimal relationships among gold, silver and copper coinage within a bimetallic monetary system, but was soon interrupted by the outbreak of revolution. Thereafter, the real, formerly used as a unit of account for silver coinage, continued to serve as an accounting unit, while gold coins belonging to the escudo and doblón system were gradually superseded by the peseta-based monetary system established after the revolution. This transition formed part of Spain’s efforts to modernise its currency and bring it into closer alignment with contemporary international monetary practices.

物件編號: A4696

參考書目編號: KM#610

年代: 公元 1861 年

材質: 黃金

尺寸: 13.0 x 13.0 mm

重量: 1.6674 g

製造地: 馬德里皇家鑄幣廠

來源: 福君錢幣 2026

這是一枚西班牙王國於女王伊莎貝爾二世在位期間發行的20里爾金幣。

正面中央是女王頭向左側、頭戴桂冠且身披半紗的肖像，外圈以西班牙文銘刻「ISABEL 2A. POR LA G· DE DIOS Y LA CONST」，意思為伊莎貝爾二世，蒙上帝恩典及憲法而為女王，下方則為發行年份。肩部下方刻有小字「L.M.」，為時任馬德里鑄幣廠總雕刻師，該硬幣圖案的設計者，路易斯·馬爾奇奧尼·伊·翁布隆(Luis Marchionni y Hombrón)的署名。

背面中央為當時的西班牙王室紋章，其構成承襲歷代西班牙君主的紋章傳統，並融合與不同王朝及領地相關的象徵，包括亞拉岡、西西里、奧地利、勃艮第、佛蘭德斯、蒂羅爾及布拉班特。中央為一面四分盾，飾有象徵卡斯提爾的城堡與里昂的獅子，下方則為象徵格拉納達的石榴。主盾之上另覆有一面小盾，飾以三朵百合花，代表伊莎貝爾二世所屬的波旁王朝。外圈銘文「REINA DE LAS ESPAÑAS」意為「西班牙諸國女王」，下方「20 Rṣ」則表示其面額為20里爾。面額兩側的六角星為馬德里皇家鑄幣廠的鑄幣廠印記。

斐迪南七世於公元1833年去世後，年僅三歲的伊莎貝爾二世繼承王位，其叔父卡洛斯拒絕承認其繼承權，遂引發第一次卡洛斯戰爭（公元1833–1840年）。此後西班牙政局長期受到自由派內部鬥爭與軍事干政影響。戰爭結束三年後，13歲的伊莎貝爾二世被提前宣告成年並開始親政，溫和派、進步派及其後興起的自由聯盟先後成為主要政治力量。至1860年代，女王統治日益失去支持，反對勢力逐漸聯合，最終於公元1868年發動「光榮革命」（La Gloriosa），迫使伊莎貝爾二世流亡法國，其統治至此告終。

伊莎貝爾二世統治期間，西班牙多次改革貨幣制度。公元1854年，政府再次調整幣制，推出面值100里爾的「伊莎貝爾多烏隆」（Isabelina doblón）金幣，並發行40及20里爾等較低面額金幣。至公元1861年，40里爾與20里爾金幣的鑄造率分別為每馬克68.57枚及137.15枚，以補充厚重銀幣在流通上的不足。

同時，亦改革了鑄幣廠的識別方式，漸不再以鑄幣廠名稱的首字母作為印記，而改以不同數量角的星形符號加以區分，其中六角星代表馬德里鑄幣廠，七角星代表塞維利亞鑄幣廠，八角星則代表巴塞隆納鑄幣廠。這項變革始於公元1852年，並於其後逐步應用於流通貨幣之上。

公元1864年，已多次推行貨幣改革的伊莎貝爾二世，實施了其統治期間最後一次幣制改革。此次改革旨在金銀複本位制度下，建立金、銀、銅幣之間穩定的十進制換算關係，但不久便因革命爆發而中斷。此後，原作為銀幣計價單位的里爾仍以會計單位的形式繼續存在，而屬於埃斯庫多（escudo）與多烏隆體系的金幣，則逐漸被革命後建立的比塞塔（peseta）貨幣體系所取代；西班牙亦藉此推動貨幣制度現代化，使其更趨近當時的國際貨幣體系。