Historic Spanish Mints Today

Transcription

1 Historic Spanish Mints Today Introduction Few mysteries remain concerning the coinage struck at the modern Spanish Peninsular Mints. Recent publications include monographic studies of the history of some mints, and even calculations of the total quantity of coinage struck. Abundant documentation exists pertaining to these modern mints, particularly in the General Archive of Simancas, near Valladolid, for the period after 1566, when the seniorage tax was imposed on gold and silver coins struck by private individuals. This new tax had the effect of insuring a more rigorous system of accounting, and the obligatory remission of these statistics to the General Accountants in Madrid. Nevertheless, very little is known about the remains of the historic mint buildings, or their exact location in the case of structures which have disappeared. In this study, we have compiled photographic documentation of the mint buildings, their remains, or the current buildings which stand on locations from which the mint structures have disappeared. This information is the beginning of a more extensive study which will form a part of the future Royal Segovia Mint Museum, in which the major emphasis for the displays will be the manufacturing processes used in the striking of coinage, as well as the general context of all the modern Spanish mints, as documented in this study, and of which the Segovia Mint formed an integral part. Modern Mints To begin with, we need to define what is considered to be a Modern Spanish Peninsular Mint. The famous Pragmatic of 1497, promulgated in Medina del Campo, by the Catholic Kings, Ferdinand and Isabella, is considered to be the beginning of the modern period of Spain s monetary system. This law, which organized the chaotic state of Spain s medieval minting system, ordered the closure of dozens of existing mints, except for seven strategically located throughout the Kingdom of Castile: Toledo, Segovia, Seville, Burgos, Granada, Cuenca and La Coruña; while leaving unaffected those open and operating in other Kingdoms: Barcelona, Pamplona, Valencia and Zaragoza. In addition, we must take into account two regular mints created at later dates: Valladolid, which struck its first coins in 1568; and Madrid, in The Pragmatic of 1497 is considered to be the most important law governing mints and minting, remaining essentially in effect up until the 1730 Ordinance, which closed all Castilian mints except for those in Segovia, Madrid and Seville. Having established the above general outline, we must also take into consideration the special, or emergency mints, which were created primarily due to wartime necessities: Trujillo, which first struck in 1641, Cordoba, in 1664; Cadiz, in 1810; and Jubia, in Finally, the mint in Linares, is an exceptional case where two Genovese brothers, concessionaires of the local copper mines, were authorized to strike only copper denominations of 2 maravedis after having presented a convincing proposal to the king during a time of extreme economic necessity beginning in Another general concept we should keep in mind is the tendency over the 500-year period in question, for a continuously fluctuating reduction-expansion pattern in the number of mints striking coins. In 1497, as we have stated, dozens of authorized mints were reduced to seven strategically located factories due to the inability of Crown officials to control fraudulent production. Valladolid was granted authorization to mint coins seemingly as a compensatory measure after it was replaced by Madrid as the capital. As the seat of government, Madrid was later granted a mint. A second mint was built in Segovia specifically to house the mechanized production system imported from Tyrol, in Austria, though due to longstanding privileges, the old mint there was not closed until one-hundred years after the new mint was operational. We have already mentioned the special cases of mints created due to wartime necessities. 141

2 With that said, two major factors are particularly important for understanding the significant reduction in the number of Spanish Peninsular mints in 1730, and later in The Ordinance of 1730 mandated the mechanization of Spanish Colonial Mints in the New World: Mexico, Lima, Potosi, and Bogota. This was a highly efficient chain of factories to which was soon added other units in Guatemala, Santiago de Chile, and Popayan. From this point on, and indeed even beginning around the middle of the 17 th century, the Colonial mints reached the capacity to strike into coin practically the entire production of the rich local silver and gold mines, thus there was no need to send ingots to Spain prior to their being turned into coinage. Metals and coin manufacturing were taxed in the New World, and these coins were then sent to Spain. This had a tremendous effect on production at the Peninsular Mints. The definitive centralization of Peninsular coin production was brought about by the building of a large, steam-powered Mint in Madrid, inaugurated in Once all production aspects of this mint were fully on line with the new automated presses, all of the remaining mints were permanently closed. Today, the only mint currently producing coinage is the Madrid Mint. So, what happened to the old mint buildings? It s difficult to generalize about what happened to the structures which housed the old mints. During the 17th and 18th centuries, many were converted to other uses. The same holds true in part for those of the 19 th century closures, but during the 20 th century, urbanization obliterated most of the old structures, either in part or in whole. Most of the remains still visible today are in the historic central parts of the cities where selective urbanization spared parts of, or in a few cases practically the entire building. Few records were preserved on exactly what happened to most. Nevertheless, after the final centralization, prompted by the opening of the new Mint in Madrid, we can find interesting accounts, including extensive descriptions of the buildings in the public auction records pertaining to the sale of the buildings. This is especially true in the case of the Jubia, Seville, Segovia Mill, and old Madrid Mint buildings. The best preserved mint buildings today are those in Seville, Barcelona and especially the Segovia Mill Mint, which is currently being restored as a museum of minting technology, where photographs of all the other mint buildings will be an important part of the display panels. In order to document the case of each Mint, the author realized extensive travels to each city. Archives were researched and photographs were taken of the buildings, their remains, or the location where disappeared mints once stood. The findings of this research were published in Spanish in 2003 by the EuroMint Project Guía de las cecas españolas and placed on the Project s web site: The same findings were presented in English at the XIII International Numismatic Congress, in Madrid, in September of This presentation was based on a PowerPoint projection of 45 frames containing a total of 108 photographs. In this paper, we have reduced the number of original photos in order to comply with space restrictions. Nevertheless, the complete photographic files on each mint can be found in the above mentioned publication and web site. The author invites others to use these photos, free of charge, when preparing studies on the different mints, in hope that in the future the images of the mint buildings themselves will add interest to publications about coins from Spanish Peninsular Mints. The author can be contacted at: murray@segoviamint.org. 142

3 HISTORIC SPANISH MINTS TODAY PHOTOGRAPHS OF MINT BUILDINGS, THEIR REMAINS, OR LOCATIONS WHERE THEY ONCE STOOD Segovia The Old Segovia Mint was rebuilt in 1455, struck coins until 1681, and was closed officially in Today disappeared, it was located inside the walled part of the city, towards the lower right-hand side of the photo at top-left. The Royal Segovia Mill Mint was built in 1583, and struck coins until It is located outside the walled portion of the city, on the Eresma River, from which its 14 waterwheels were powered. 143

4 Seville The Old Seville Mint, today disappeared, was located in this open space between the Cathedral, Lonja, and Royal Alcazar, in the photo at top-left. The New Seville Mint was built in 1586, and struck coins until It s entrance is located on Havana Street, and the large complex occupies most of the triangle between the Gold Tower, the Silver Tower, and the above mentioned entrance. 144

5 HISTORIC SPANISH MINTS TODAY Barcelona The Barcelona Mint struck coins on this location from 1350 until The complex, with its main entrance and decorative coat of arms on Flassaders Street, occupied the entire city block formed by that street and Mosques, Cirera and Seca Streets. The chimney was built when the mint used a steam engine to power machinery. Today parts of the mint are occupied by a private gallery, apartments, and a shop, which has an interesting cellar. 145

6 Toledo The Toledo Mint was moved to number 12 Núñez de Arce Street in 1504, where it remained until it struck its last coin in 1681, and was closed officially in Much of the industrial part of building has been lost, and the most noteworthy feature is the magnificent Gothic painted artisan ceilings. Today, this noble part of the building has been restored, and houses modern offices. La Coruña The Mint at La Coruña was located in this building until it struck its last coin in 1696, and was finally closed officially in The entrance is immediately adjacent to the Santo Domingo Church, on the plaza of the same name. Today the building houses modern offices. 146

7 HISTORIC SPANISH MINTS TODAY Cuenca The sign Calle de la Moneda signals the approximate location of the old hammer mint in Cuenca. Production was transferred to a new hydraulic-powered building on Bajada de la Fabrica Street in 1661, and continued until The mint s dam is visible from San Antón bridge. Today, the location serves as an electric generation plant. Jubia The mint at Jubia, on the tip the Bay of Ferrol, was created in 1811 as an emergency facility to strike copper coins after the French occupied Spanish mints, finally closing in Today a modern textile plant, part of the old hydraulic infrastructure of the water-powered mint can still be seen. 147

8 Pamplona The Pamplona Mint struck coins in this building on Plazuela Comptos and Ansoleaga Street from 1524 to Today modern offices occupy the building. Cadiz The Cadiz Mint, on La Rosa Street and the Caleta beachfront, was established in 1810 as an emergency facility to strike silver and gold coins after the French occupied Spanish mints. The mint was closed in 1815 and today is part of the University of Cadiz. 148

9 HISTORIC SPANISH MINTS TODAY Burgos The decorative coat of arms is all that remains of the Burgos Mint, now on a new building at the same location, at the corner of San Juan, Santocildes and Moneda Streets. The Mint struck coins until 1681, and was officially closed in Granada Archaeological remains are all that is left of the Granada Mint, which struck coins from 1492 until 1685, on Porteria Concepcion Street, across the river from the Alhambra. 149

10 Madrid Madrid has had four different mints: Segovia Street ( ), Puerta de Alcala ( ), Plaza de Colón ( ), and the only remaining plant, on Jorge Juan at Dr. Esquerdo Streets (1964-today). 150

11 HISTORIC SPANISH MINTS TODAY LOCATIONS OF DISAPPEARED MINT BUILDINGS Córdoba Córdoba: Near San Hipolito Church Linares: Corner of Teniente Ochoa and Porton Streets Trujillo: San Miguel Plaza Valladolid: San Lorenzo Street Valencia: Paz street Zaragoza: Near the Lonja Linares Trujillo Valencia Valladolid Zaragoza 151