Albert Estrada-Rius Talking about both sides of the coin is a common phrase that forgets that there is a third with its own name: the edge. This could be defined as the outer and lateral contour that delimits and surrounds the two sides – front and back – of a coin or a medal. This…
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Maria Clua In the previous article, we saw that one of the jobs of a numismatist is to record, classify and study, but what else is done at the Gabinet Numismàtic de Catalunya (Numismatic Cabinet of Catalonia – GNC) once we have the main data and the identifying details of the piece inside the collection…
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Maria Clua As a general rule, whenever I am asked what I do, my reply causes a certain amount of expectation. Let me explain: – If I say, “I work in a museum,” the other person usually says, “Oh, how interesting! Which one?” – If I say, “I’m an archaeologist,” the following comment is, “How…
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In a previous article we looked at the Mint and its location in the most commercial neighbourhood of Barcelona, its implantation in the urban layout of the area and some of the coins that were made there. In this second part, we now have to imagine a steam-powered factory in the middle of the nineteenth…
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Coins minted at la Seca throughout the 19th century: 20 pesetas of the Napoleonic occupation of 1812, back; 20 Reales of Fernando VII of 1822, face; 6 provincial quarters of 1846, back; 100 Reales of Isabel II of 1861, face, and 10 cents of Alfonso XII of 1877, face. Photos: Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya…
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