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!
25 Céntimos Onteniente
| Issuer | Unión de Comerciantes de Onteniente |
|---|---|
| Year | 1937 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 25 Centimos (0.25 ESP) |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | 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 | Typeset letterpress note printed in dark blue ink on plain white paper. The issuer's name 'Unión de Comerciantes. - Onteniente' is set in underlined type across the upper left, while 'Serie A' and a handwritten serial number appear in the upper right. The face value 'vale por 25 cts.' is set in large bold type at centre left, with the redemption conditions in smaller justified text to the right, below which appear two manuscript signatures over the printed designations 'Por el Secretario' and 'El Tesorero, Francisco Cambra'. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Unión de Comerciantes. - Onteniente vale por 25 cts. Serie A número Estos vales serán canjeados a la vista, en sumas equivalentes a uno o más billetes de curso legal. Serán recogidos a medida que aumente la cantidad de moneda divisionaria en circulación. POR EL SECRETARIO, EL TESORERO, Francisco Cambra (Translation: Union of Merchants. - Onteniente Voucher for 25 Centimos. Series A, number. These vouchers will be exchanged on demand, in sums equivalent to one or more legal tender banknotes. They will be collected as the amount of divisional currency in circulation increases. By the Secretary, The Treasurer, Francisco Cambra.) |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
Onteniente — now Ontinyent — is a textile town in Valencia, and like dozens of similar municipalities during the Civil War, its local commerce effectively collapsed when Republican zone coinage disappeared from circulation. The Unión de Comerciantes issued these notes as a collective stopgap, backed by nothing more formal than merchant solidarity and the assumption of eventual redemption. Hundreds of Spanish towns did the same thing in 1936 and 1937; the Turró catalogue alone documents over a thousand such issues.
Francisco Cambra signed as Tesorero — the treasurer of the issuing association, not a bank official. These locally-signed emergency pieces were rarely redeemed in full once the war ended, and surviving examples in any condition are genuinely uncommon rather than artificially scarce.