1/2 Groat - Martin I Barcelona

Martin I inherited the Aragonese crown in 1396 following the extinction of the main Barcelona dynastic line, and his reign proved to be the last of the House of Barcelona — he died in 1410 without a legitimate heir, triggering the Compromise of Caspe that handed the crown to the Castilian Trastámara dynasty. The monetary output of his Barcelona mint during these fourteen years thus marks a hard endpoint in a coinage tradition stretching back to the twelfth century.

Cru#514 specimens show some variability in flan preparation consistent with the Barcelona mint's practices in this period.