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Sale 122
June 13-16 Pre-Long Beach Auction
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Lot 1750 |
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Spain. 2 Escudos, 1809-CN (Seville). Fr-304a; KM-456.1. Weight 0.1904 ounce. Ferdinand VII. Larger draped bust right. Reverse; Crowned arms in order chain. PCGS graded AU-50. In special PCGS Ship of Gold holder which contains One Pinch of Gold Dust recovered from the S.S. Central America treasure.
Special PCGS number 674250.50/35474710. Estimated Value $600 - UP
This 2-escudo piece was struck in the name of King Ferdinand VII, but in 1808, the year before its issue, he had been forced to abdicate the throne of Spain by the invading forces of Napoleon Bonaparte. In his stead, Napoleon appointed his brother Joseph to rule as the new king. While this change of dynasty was accepted by many of the Spanish elite, it did not sit well with the general populace, which suffered massacre when it attempted to revolt. A Junta was formed to fight the French occupiers in the name of the deposed king, but 1809 turned out to be a very bad year for Spain.
On 13 January 1809, Joseph Bonaparte made a triumphant entry to Madrid following the almost complete destruction of the Spanish army sent to recapture it. On the next day, the Junta formed an alliance with Great Britain that included the recognition of Ferdinand VII as the legitimate Spanish monarch. However, in February, the of Zaragoza, which had been under siege by the French since December 1808, finally after the surviving inhabitants burnt their own homes to deny them to the enemy. Similar disasters continued into the spring of 1809, but the situation seemed as if it might improve after the forces of the Junta were joined by elements of the British army led by Arthur Wellesley, the future Duke of Wellington. Despite initial successes against the French near Talavera in July, Wellesley was forced to withdraw to Portugal, leaving the Junta alone to conduct a second disastrous offensive to retake Madrid in November. While the name and image of Ferdinand VII appear on the obverse of this coin, at the end of 1809 it must have seemed very unlikely that he would ever regain his throne from Joseph Bonaparte.
View details and enlarged photos
Realized
$3,600 |
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