100-peseta note Obverse

This issue was planned by the government of the Second Republic in 1938, in the middle of the Spanish Civil War, and issued by the Bank of Spain in Barcelona. Like previous series, it was manufactured by a London firm, Thomas de la Rue and Co., Ltd., which had the best security systems and ample experience with anti-counterfeit printing methods. As the roads to Valencia, the government’s headquarters, had been cut off, the notes were shipped to Paris and transported overland to Barcelona, where they arrived in June of that year. The city fell in January 1939 before the treasurer could validate the notes (they are missing the stamp with his signature) and put them into circulation, and they were eventually destroyed. Hence the importance of this specimen, one of the few still in existence.
The magnificent drawing of the Lady of Elche shows that this ancient sculpture was already considered a symbol of Spanish culture, even though it was still at the Louvre in Paris at the time.