5 Céntimos Purchena

Purchena is a small municipality in the Almería province of Andalusia, and this 5 céntimos piece is a product of the fractional currency crisis that paralyzed Republican-held Spain from 1936 onward. When the Civil War disrupted coin supplies and the central government failed to fill the gap quickly enough, thousands of local councils — ayuntamientos and consejos municipales — printed their own emergency issues. Purchena's are among the more obscure, with the Gari Monerris catalogue being the primary reference that even acknowledges their existence.

The thick card stock was a practical choice: thinner paper disintegrated rapidly in everyday use at this denomination level.