The 30 sous of oblivion

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Today we introduce you a very rare exemplar of 30 Sous of Mallorca without the name of the king Ferdinand VII, that will be auction in our Floor Auction 50, that will be hold on February 5th, 2020 in Gran Meliá Fénix Hotel in Madrid.

Lot 510. Ferdinand VII (1808-1833). 30 sous. 1808. Mallorca. (Cal 2008-521). Ag. 26,43 g. Octagonal flan. Without Royal inscription FER - VII. A very rare specimen. Almost XF. Est...3000,00.
 
In August 1808 the Supreme Council of Majorca approved the design of an octogonal 8 reales presented by Tomás Cuscheri.
 
The public announcement went like this: ”This Kingdom’s Supreme Council has agreed to make public that, due to the extreme shortage of coins on the island, it has been decreed the minting of silver coins, y estándose verificando la del peso duro, que se reduce á un octógono, with the city’s weapons on one side and the following letters on the other side: 30–S–1808, …. Castillo Real de Palma, August 17th 1808”.

As the name of Ferdinand VII was not included on the new coin, intentionally or because they had forgotten, the crown reacted, as it could be expected from them. So on December 9th the Council ordered that all the octogonal 8 reales without the name of the king were delivered, so that they could be punched with the design FER. VII on the obverse.

As it is natural, they could not recover all the coins issued, so a few of these pieces without the royal inscription can still be found.

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