Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
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!
12 Maravedis - Felipe IV countermark
| Issuer | Spanish Monarchy |
|---|---|
| Year | 1641-1642 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 12 Maravedis (6⁄17) |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | 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 | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | HISPANIARVM REX 1606 XII (Translation: King of the Spains) |
| Edge | Plain |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
The 1641–1642 countermark campaign was a fiscal emergency measure, not a minting operation. Facing chronic shortfalls from the costs of the Thirty Years' War and the ongoing Portuguese and Catalan revolts, the Spanish Crown ordered existing vellón coinage restamped and revalued upward rather than strike new metal — a faster and cheaper way to extract more nominal value from the existing money supply. The countermark effectively doubled or tripled the face value of the host coin overnight.
This kind of forced revaluation bred immediate distrust and widespread counterfeiting of the punch itself.