Melilla, a Spanish enclave on the northern coast of Morocco, has held a peculiar administrative status since the 15th century — besieged periodically, claimed repeatedly by Morocco, and yet never relinquished. This coin was part of a 1997 series issuing dedicated 25-peseta pieces to Spain's autonomous cities and regions, a politically charged project during a decade when regional identity carried real constitutional weight in Madrid.
Spain abandoned the peseta for the euro just five years later, making the entire regional 25-peseta run one of the shortest-lived commemorative local currency programs in modern European history.
Melilla, a Spanish enclave on the northern coast of Morocco, has held a peculiar administrative status since the 15th century — besieged periodically, claimed repeatedly by Morocco, and yet never relinquished. This coin was part of a 1997 series issuing dedicated 25-peseta pieces to Spain's autonomous cities and regions, a politically charged project during a decade when regional identity carried real constitutional weight in Madrid.
Spain abandoned the peseta for the euro just five years later, making the entire regional 25-peseta run one of the shortest-lived commemorative local currency programs in modern European history.