Owner Comments:
The 1957(65) 5-pesetas minted in Madrid has a mintage of 25,000,000. This copper-nickel coin weighs 5.75 grams and is 23mm in diameter. The central obverse device features a bust of Francisco Franco. The year of authorization is 1957 and the legend is translated, “FRANCISCO FRANCO LEADER OF SPAIN BY THE GRACE OF GOD.” The obverse engravers are Manuel Marin and Mariano Benlliure. The central reverse device features St. Johns Eagle with a Spanish Coat of Arms. St. Johns Eagle is known by the halo around the eagle’s head. The reverse legend on the ribbon held by the eagle’s beak is translated, “One, Great and Free.” The reverse legend on the ribbon crossing Hercules Pillars is translated, “Further beyond.” On this piece the word “Plus” over the left pillar is unreadable. This defect appears mostly on coins struck before 1968. The denomination of the coin is 5 PTAS and the reverse engraver is Teodoro Miciano. The “65” stamped six-point star to the left denotes that the coin was manufactured in 1965 and struck in Madrid. Additionally, there is a die clash of the obverse date "195" visible on the reverse just above the number five.
The loss of life at the end of the Spanish Civil War was staggering. This for a war that in the end amounted to a war fought by the nationalists to preserve Spain’s religious institutions against the anti-Catholic government of the Second Spanish Republic. Make no mistake, just underneath the surface was Nazi Germany on the side of the nationalists fighting against the atheistic Soviet Union on the side of the republicans. Either of these two sides would have made Spain a puppet state. Ultimately though, the Soviet Union was denied a strategically critical western state by a nationalist victory in the Spanish Civil War. The loss of Germany in WWII preserved the nationalist state for Francisco Franco that was living under martial law up until 1948, nine years after the end of the civil war.
By the numbers the loss of life was staggering. 500,000 people were killed and of that number, an estimated 200,000 people were killed by mob violence. All total, 150,000 republican prisoners of war were put to death. Several million Spaniards were displaced and 500,000 republican refugees fled to France. Of that number 15,000 were sent to Nazi forced-labor concentration camps after France fell to Germany in 1940. In Spain, more than 500,000 people were rounded up and dispersed to 60 concentration camps. Of note, 7,000 Catholic priests and monks were killed by republican forces primarily at the beginning of the war.
In a war where there was no clear right and wrong side, the nationalists brought stability to a fractured government, albeit by a heavy hand. Today there are still those who revere Francisco Franco while at the same time there are others who still feel the pain of persons lost so long ago. Of those that revere General Franco, they remember that crime and unemployment were low under his rule. They felt secure under his leadership. In their minds, they gladly traded the freedom of speech, freedom of self-determination, freedom of expression, and other liberties westerners take for granted for security.
Francisco Franco was a shrewd and opportunistic leader. As time went on General Franco somewhat loosened his authoritarian and militaristic grip on the people of Spain causing his popularity to grow. Francisco Franco also restored the Bourbon Dynasty in the person of Juan Carlos I while he effectively became Spain’s regent for life. Furthermore, one cannot forget how the nationalists restored the Roman Catholic Church to a place of prominence in Spanish society.
I read an opinion piece entitled, “Franco’s Victory Was Necessary But, Ultimately Meaningless.” In it, the author wrote of the waning influence of the Catholic Church in Spain’s culture. What the Second Republic could not do by force, time and culture has done by attrition. While I am not a Catholic, the church has served as a moral compass in society that is largely missing today.
The aforementioned piece also talks of the recent exhuming of Francisco Franco’s body from the Valley of the Fallen to the Franco family mausoleum outside Madrid. The Valley of the Fallen is a memorial gravesite to the fallen soldiers of the Spanish Civil War. The Spanish Supreme Court had just ruled that the prime minister of Spain could move Franco’s remains. This was based on the fact that Francisco Franco had not died in the civil war and that he caused the civil war. Perhaps for some, there can be closure and healing while for others an affront. The remains were moved on October 24, 2019.
Through political instability, war, peace, economic growth, economic depression, and devaluation the Spanish Peseta has always been there for Spain safe and secure. Even in the most difficult of times, the peseta has been better off than many other of the world’s currencies. In Spain, the Euro has some pretty big shoes to fill.
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/francos-victory-was-necessary-but-ultimately-meaningless/
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/spanish-civil-war
https://www.npr.org/2019/10/24/773022042/spain-moves-dictator-francisco-francos-remains-after-months-of-legal-battles