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20 Escudos
| Issuer | Banco de España |
|---|---|
| Year | 1866 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Shape | Rectangular |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | 20 / VEINTE EL BANCO DE ESPAÑA pagará al portador VEINTE escudos en efectivo MADRID, 1º de Enero de 1866 EL GOBERNADOR / POR LA INTERVENCIÓN / POR LA CAJA (Translation: 20 / Twenty The Bank of Spain will pay the bearer Twenty Escudos in cash Madrid, January 1, 1866 The Governor / For the Intervention / For the Cash) |
| Reverse description | Printed in green on white paper, the reverse carries an elaborate guilloche border frame enclosing a large central field with a faint allegorical watermark-like impression visible through the paper. The left vertical band bears repeated "VEINTE" and "20" inscriptions within circular guilloche cartouches, while the right vertical border reads "BANCO DE ESPAÑA" vertically. The centre of the field bears the text "20 ESCUDOS" in mirrored letterpress, consistent with a back-printed denomination. |
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| Comments |
The Banco de España's 1866 20 Escudos note belongs to the brief window when Spain had abandoned the real-based system in favor of the escudo, a decimal currency introduced in 1864 under the monetary reform of that year. The escudo era lasted only until 1869, when the peseta replaced it following the Glorious Revolution of 1868 — meaning this entire denomination class had a lifespan of roughly five years in policy terms, and considerably less in practice.
Notes from this transitional period were printed in limited quantities and recalled promptly after the peseta's introduction, which drives scarcity today far more than age alone.