594 | Spanish Banknotes

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Letter from Cartevalori. December 9, 1971. An interesting historical document about the relationship between the Bank of Spain and Cartevalori. It should very possibly be included within the context in which the Bank of Spain, in the 1970s, produced the first banknote catalogs, which are the basis of the commercial catalogs used today.

This letter was sent by the management of Calcografia & Cartevalori to the Bank of Spain on December 9, 1971, towards the end of the Italian printing company's operations before its acquisition by Metrotipo. It refers to a communication from just a couple of weeks earlier, in which the Bank of Spain, acting on behalf of Jorge Alentorn Vilá, requested archival samples, most likely for the compilation of the "Catalog of Spanish Banknotes," which he published in 1974 with Florián Ruiz Vélez-Frías.

The letter references examples from the C&C archive of all the obverses of the 1940 issue, the reverses of 500 and 1000 Pesetas of the same issue, as well as the obverse and reverse of 1000 Pesetas from July 18, 1937 and the reverse of 50 Pesetas from that issue.

Also referenced is a “C&C” specimen, which is undoubtedly the 20 Pesetas specimen included in this sale.

Similar obverse and reverse proof examples are known, although we cannot discern which specific examples were supplied in this letter by C&C.

Like any example of Bank of Spain memorabilia, this communication is truly interesting, and it is a demonstration of what information the Italian printing house's archive contained and of the progress they made in engraving in the failed issue of 1937, as well as the first steps taken towards the creation of the commercial catalogs we know today.

We thank Jose Antonio Castellanos Vargas for his collaboration in the historical contextualization of this historic piece of Spanish notaphily.

Envelope (229x324mm).

50g