100 Euros Gold Maravedí of Alfonso VIII

Alfonso VIII's gold maravedí — the original, struck in Toledo from the late twelfth century — was Spain's first domestically issued gold coinage, produced in deliberate imitation of Almohad dinars, complete with pseudo-Arabic script, because that was the currency Iberian merchants trusted. The coin existed not out of numismatic ambition but commercial necessity: gold had to look like what traders already accepted.

This 2012 commemorative from the Real Casa de la Moneda marks the 800th anniversary of the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa, where Alfonso VIII's coalition crushed the Almohad forces in July 1212 — one of the decisive engagements of the Reconquista.