Catalog
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| Issuer | Ajuntament d'Olèstria (Municipality of Olèstria) |
|---|---|
| Year | |
| Type | Emergency banknote |
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| Obverse description | Plain light buff paper with a black letterpress border composed of repeating foliate and oval ornamental units enclosing the entire face. The central text block, printed in bold black type, carries the issuing authority and denomination, separated by a horizontal rule. A hand-stamped circular municipal seal in violet ink is applied over the centre, and a manuscript serial number appears at lower left beneath the "N°" prefix line. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Completely unprinted reverse on plain buff paper, bearing no text, ornamentation, or security devices. |
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| Comments |
Olèstria is the Catalan name for Olestre, a small municipality in the comarca of Pla d'Urgell, Lleida. This quarter-peseta note is one of thousands of emergency fractional issues produced by Catalan and Valencian municipalities during the Spanish Civil War, when Republican-zone coin shortages became so severe that local councils, cooperatives, and even individual businesses were authorized — or simply took it upon themselves — to print their own scrip. The Generalitat de Catalunya issued framework legislation in 1937 attempting to regulate the chaos, but by then hundreds of issues were already circulating.
Turró's catalog remains the primary reference for these local issues, and low serial numbers or single-municipality printings like this one frequently survive in very small quantities.