Berga was the last stronghold of the First Carlist War's Catalan theater, and this issue was struck there in 1840 during the final, desperate months before the liberal victory. The Carlists maintained a makeshift mint in the besieged town, producing copper coinage in the name of Carlos V — the pretender Carlos María Isidro — as both a practical necessity and a political declaration. The siege ended that same year with the capitulation of the Carlist forces under Castells.
Emergency-mint copper from Berga circulated under extreme conditions, and well-preserved survivors are scarce.
Berga was the last stronghold of the First Carlist War's Catalan theater, and this issue was struck there in 1840 during the final, desperate months before the liberal victory. The Carlists maintained a makeshift mint in the besieged town, producing copper coinage in the name of Carlos V — the pretender Carlos María Isidro — as both a practical necessity and a political declaration. The siege ended that same year with the capitulation of the Carlist forces under Castells.
Emergency-mint copper from Berga circulated under extreme conditions, and well-preserved survivors are scarce.