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20 Centimos Covelo

Issuer Ayuntamiento de Covelo (Pontevedra)
Year 1937
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Weight 0.5 g
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Obverse description A Spanish Republic postage stamp (20 Céntimos, Correos series) is affixed or printed centrally on the obverse, depicting the large numeral '20' within a circular frame against an ornate typographic background. The legend 'REPÚBLICA ESPAÑOLA' curves along the upper arc of the stamp's inner border, with 'CÉNTIMOS' below the numeral and 'CORREOS' along the lower edge. The stamp's perforated border is clearly visible against the plain grey cardboard disc. The overall design reflects the emergency wartime use of postage stamps as substitute currency.
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Reverse script Latin
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Covelo is a small municipality in the hills of Pontevedra province, and like dozens of Galician towns in 1937, it faced a total collapse of small-denomination coinage. The Nationalist zone's monetary supply had fragmented almost immediately after the July 1936 uprising, with the Republican government in Madrid withholding coin shipments and local hoarding doing the rest. Cardboard emergency issues — cartones — filled the gap, authorized at the municipal level with no central oversight and redeemable, in theory, only within the issuing township.

Most surviving examples show significant edge wear from handling, the cardboard medium offering almost no resistance to circulation damage.

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