Catalog
50 Céntimos Ripoll
| Issuer | Consell Municipal de Ripoll |
|---|---|
| Year | 1937 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Peseta (1936-1939) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is printed in light brown and presents a central allegorical vignette of a seated female figure representing the Spanish Republic, wearing a Phrygian cap with a radiant sun rising behind her. The denomination '50 CTS.' appears at upper left, framing the composition with letterpress text in Catalan. The overall design is characteristic of Spanish Civil War-era municipal emergency issues, with plain border ornamentation surrounding the central allegory. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse carries a circular vignette at lower centre enclosing the municipal coat of arms of Ripoll, above which rises an allegorical composition of labour: a male worker holding a mallet, set against a background of a cogwheel and industrial factory silhouettes. The denomination '50 CTS.' and the date of issue appear in letterpress text in Catalan, with a plain ruled border framing the design. |
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| Comments |
Ripoll's municipal council issued paper fractional currency in 1937 as small coins — hoarded almost immediately after the Republic's silver coinage disappeared from circulation — became practically impossible to find in everyday transactions. Hundreds of Catalan municipalities did the same, producing a chaotic patchwork of locally valid scrip that was, in strict legal terms, entirely unauthorized. The practical necessity was simply ignored.
The Cooperativa d'Arts Gràfiques was a worker-controlled printing cooperative, consistent with the anarcho-syndicalist organization of much of Catalan industry during the early war years. That the municipality contracted a collectivized local press rather than an established commercial printer is itself a minor detail of the period's economic arrangements.