On the Spanish 5 pesetas of 1876 the eighteen-year-old Alfonso XII is styled simply «King of Spain», with no appeal to the grace of God and no mention of a constitution. Both formulas would reach the duro only a year later, so this issue still belongs to the very first type of his reign.

The date marks a turning point: in 1876 the Third Carlist War came to an end and a new constitution was adopted, giving Spain a stable constitutional monarchy once more. The young king, proclaimed barely eighteen months earlier, looks the part on the coin, a youthful profile facing left inside the legend «ALFONSO XII REY DE ESPAÑA».

The edge carries the words «JUSTICIA Y LIBERTAD» («Justice and Liberty»). Both sides were designed by the engraver Gregorio Sellán y González.

Madrid struck 8,547,961 of these coins in 1876. In 1877 the type changed: a new portrait received the legend «ALFONSO XII POR LA G. DE DIOS», and the title «REY CONSTL. DE ESPAÑA» moved to the reverse. That makes the 1876 duro one of the last dates on which the king appears without those formulas.

The grade is F-VF: the coin has circulated and the highest points of the relief are worn smooth, but the portrait, shield and legends are clear. In a collection it ties the year of the Carlist peace and the new constitution to an object that was changing hands at the time.

Would you like to complete the whole series? See the other issues in the VPcoins catalogue.