Owner Comments:
Mintage: 1,281,374.
Type 1: "sin barba" ("without beard"). Portrait of Alfonso XII at age 18. Engraved by Gregorio Sellán.
DEM = Diaz, Escosura, Mendoza.
Alfonso XII, son of Isabel II, was proclaimed king on December 29, 1874, at age 17. He is "XII" because eleven regional kings of pre-unified Spain were named Alfonso, beginning in the eighth century with Alfonso I, King of Asturias, 739-757. The Kingdom of Asturias transitioned into the Kingdom of León in 924.
Spain was not unified until 1492 under Fernando V and Isabel I, who co-reigned equally, and who united the separate kingdoms of Castile and León (Isabel's realm) with Aragón and Navarre (Fernando's realm), and conquered Andalusía from the Moors. The five realms are shown on the coat of arms (escudo) on the reverse side of the coin: the castle for Castile, the lion for León, the stripes for Aragón, the linked chains for Navarre, and (at the bottom) the pomegranate (granada) for Andalusía.
The oval at the center with three fleurs-de-lis represents the House of Bourbon dynasty of kingship that gained ascendency in Spain in 1700, replacing the House of Habsburg. (In Spanish, Bourbon is spelled Borbón.)