Catalog
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
| Issuer | Kiosco de periódicos Fontfreda (Lérida) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1936-1939 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Peseta (1936-1939) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Plain cream-white ground printed entirely in dark reddish-brown letterpress. The upper portion carries the debt acknowledgement legend in two lines of graduated type, with the numeral '10' set in a large bold face accompanied by the abbreviation 'cts.' A single horizontal rule separates the denomination from the issuer details below, which read 'Kiosco de periódicos / FONTFREDA. - Lérida' in smaller spaced capitals and roman type. No pictorial vignette or ornamental underprint is present; the design relies solely on typography. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Blank cream-white surface bearing a faint mirror impression of the obverse letterpress text visible as a ghost through the card stock, with a single handwritten ink signature applied in a free cursive hand across the lower-centre of the note. |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
Fontfreda's newsstand in Lleida issued this tiny square card during the Civil War years to address the chronic shortage of small change that paralyzed everyday commerce across Republican-held Spain from 1936 onward. Fractional coinage had effectively vanished — hoarded, melted, or simply absent — and the vacuum was filled by an extraordinary proliferation of emergency issues from municipalities, cooperatives, unions, and, in cases like this one, individual private businesses.
A newsstand issuing its own currency is about as far down the chain of monetary improvisation as it gets. AL#3481 is among the more obscure Catalan vales documented by Turró's census.