Second Republic 2 Pesetas

This 2 Pesetas coin from Spain's Second Republic was minted amid the chaos of the 1936-1939 Civil War, using nickel planchets that had been hastily sourced from industrial stockpiles.

That choice of material wasn't just practical. Nickel was a nod to modern metallurgy, replacing the traditional silver that had dominated Spanish coinage for centuries. The design featured a simple bundle of arrows on the reverse, a republican emblem meant to evoke unity.

We know the Madrid mint produced these in 1937 and 1938, but exact figures are murky—records from that era often vanished in the postwar shuffle. What survives shows variations in strike quality, from sharp details to blurry edges, depending on the war's disruptions.

Collectors might overlook it for flashier pieces, but that's their loss.

One dry note: If you think handling these doesn't leave a metallic tang on your fingers, you're probably not doing it right.