This November in Baltimore at our official world paper money auction at the Whitman Coin & Collectibles Expo, we are featuring a special Andorra note from the Spanish Civil War. This bright change note with solid margins is graded a spectacular 66 EPQ by PMG, and is one of only nine examples known to that grading service.
Andorra is small principality wedged between Spain and France in the Pyrenees mountains. As a tax haven status that promotes duty-free shopping, and ski resorts, Andorra is a very popular tourist attraction. Between 1936 and 1945 (encompassing the Spanish Civil War and the Second World War) Andorra maintained strict neutrality, and gave shelter to continually arriving political refugees and immigrants.
The back of the note has a long text that translates:
Present vouchers are guaranteed tickets to the National Bank of Spain and under the responsibility of the General Council of Andorra’s valley. Present vouchers divide banknotes of the Bank of Spain in value of twenty-five pesetas and higher – the tickets found already in circulation on that date remain with the same fluctuations that supported the notes mentioned by Spaniards. Vouchers will be refunded a month later, on December 31, 1938.
View and bid on all lots in the November 2015 Baltimore Auction online at StacksBowers.com
By Aris Maragoudakis, Currency Specialist