THE COIN COLLECTOR - World eBook Library

CONTINENT OF EUROPE
escudi of this reign are tolerably abundant, and were
probably struck in considerable numbers, a testimony
to the growing national prosperity ; but the multiples,
no doubt, were destined for presentation, or for other
than commercial purposes.
The consolidation of the Spanish monarchy and
its temporary aggrandisement under Ferdinand and
Isabella, Charles V., and Philip II. by maritime dis-
covery and commercial enterprise, led to the present
branch of the European coinage attaining and pre-
serving during centuries a high rank and repute. The
Spanish doubloon and piece of eight are familiar to all
but the collector who engages in the task of forming
a cabinet of Spanish coins becomes aware that he has
committed himself to a vast, multifarious, intricate, and
costly series, which embraces the inheritance left to us
by Celt, Carthaginian, Sueve, Goth, and Moor, modified
by French and other foreign influences of later advent.
The political and commercial supremacy of Spain
scarcely outlived the days of Charles V., but the money
issued under the authority of its rulers, while it was
internally less varied, grew, and long remained under
his immediate successors, and under the Bourbons, of
enormous volume, and comprehended separate monetary
systems, with Spanish types, for the possessions or de-
pendencies in Europe and America. From 1580 to
1640 the kings of Spain struck coins for Portugal, which
Philip II. had annexed or restored to his dominions.
On the other hand, France struck coins for parts of
Spain from 1642 to 1648, and from 1809 to 1813.
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