Catalog
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| Issuer | Spain |
|---|---|
| Year | 1995 |
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| Composition | Gold (.900) |
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|---|---|
| Obverse script | Latin |
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| Reverse description | A truncated draped bust of Don Álvaro de Bazán, the celebrated 16th-century Spanish admiral, faces three-quarters to the right, wearing a ruffled collar and ornate armour with engraved detailing at the shoulder. The portrait conveys a mature, bearded effigy with strong facial features rendered in high relief against a mirror-polished proof field. The curved legend 'DON ALVARO DE BAZAN' arcs along the upper left periphery. The date '1995' appears in the lower exergue, with the crowned 'M' mintmark of the Madrid Mint incorporated between the digits '19' and '95'. |
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| Additional information |
Don Álvaro de Bazán, 1st Marquis of Santa Cruz, is the only Spanish admiral to have never lost a fleet engagement — a record that held through Lepanto in 1571, the Azores campaigns of 1582–83, and his death in 1588 before he could take command of the Armada he himself had designed and assembled. Philip II wept upon receiving news of his death. The Armada, handed instead to the Duke of Medina Sidonia, sailed four months later.
This issue belongs to Spain's 1990s ECU commemorative program, struck in anticipation of European monetary integration and denominated in a unit that never achieved coin circulation.