5 Centimos Menorca

Menorca remained under Republican control throughout the Spanish Civil War, effectively isolated after Nationalist forces took the mainland Balearics. The Consell Municipal issued these brass pieces in 1937 to address a severe shortage of small change — hoarding and the disruption of normal supply chains from the peninsula had stripped the island of circulating coinage almost entirely. The island surrendered peacefully to Nationalist forces in February 1939, one of the last Republican holdouts in Spanish territory.