Before I comment on my interesting concept, I want to thank Stumpy for his generosity to me. When Stumpy noticed that I was interested in collecting Spanish coins, he sent me a message asking me if I wanted a few Spanish Olympic coins. Naturally, I was interested in the coins and accepted his offer.

When the coins arrived, there were three 50 PTAs and four 25 PTAs coins. Five of the coins were 1992 Barcelona Olympic coins, and two were 1992 World Exposition coins. Along with the coins, Stumpy sent a detailed description of each coin from his research. Stumpy also mentioned that he pulled each of these coins from circulation, and he went on to say that they weren't worth very much.

Since the peseta has been discontinued, I've found it challenging to figure out the exact exchange rate in 1992. That said, I have guesstimated the exchange rate of the 25 PTAs to be 17 cents and the 50 PTAs to be 35 cents on the dollar. To put the 1992 peseta's devaluation into perspective, I own an 1877 twenty-five pesetas gold coin with a gold fineness and weight comparable to our half-eagles. That aside, the 25 PTAs is 19.5 mm in diameter and composed of an aluminum-bronze alloy. The 50 PTAs is 20.5 mm in diameter and composed of a copper-nickel alloy.

Now on to my interesting concept. 1992 was a phenomenal year for Spain, hosting two worldwide events in the same year. That Spain issued non-circulating commemorative coins for the Expo and Olympics is not surprising. But to mint circulating commemoratives seems to be a little unusual. Perhaps it seems that way only because the United States issues non-circulating commemoratives. That said, the 50 States and America the Beautiful quarters come close. However, when it comes to an event or anniversary of national significance, there are only non-circulating coins to mark the occasion.

One of the commemorative coin programs aims to raise money for the event or memorial the coin represents. Now this one point kind of sticks in my craw. Why does the collector have to pay most of the proceeds the US Mint hopes to raise? After all, doesn't the collector buy most of the commemorative coins? Instead, why not issue commemorative copper-nickel coins to circulate with the regular circulating coins. These coins can temporarily take the place of circulating coins or circulate alongside them. This seemed to work with the Bicentennial coins. To get commemoratives into everyday consumer's hands is an excellent way to raise national interest. This, combined with a decent marketing plan, may help get people outside the collecting community to buy non-circulating commemoratives. To me, this is a win-win. The mint raises more money for the event or memorial and attracts more people to coin collecting. Now I haven't entirely thought this out, but it seems that this may be an idea worth pursuing.

Finally, Stumpy offered me these seven Spanish coins free of charge. In recognition of that, all I can really offer in return are pictures! Stumpy, my friend, these pictures are for you along with my heartfelt thanks! Gary