Casa de Moñeda - the Museum of Money in Madrid, August 6, 2022

I went to Phoenix for a couple of appointments and to have lunch with Anne and Shawn.  Then on Thursday, I flew to Houston, then Newark and overnight to Madrid - all three flights were delayed some, with the overnight flight to Madrid delayed the most.  When I arrived Friday, I went to the Renfe ticket office in Atocha station - after two and half hours, I finally was able to buy my train tickets for Bilboa for after Vaughan Town.  By the time I got to the hotel, between the heat (did I mention that Europe is having a massive heat wave?) and travel, I just took it easy in my hotel.  Saturday, I set out for the Casa de Moñeda - the Museum of Money, sometimes also called the Mint Museum.  I walked there arriving just after it opened at 10:00.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They had a temporary exhibit from Africa showing many of the different types of items in use before society created money - shells, precious stones, knotted ropes, etc.  There were many similar concepts in Europe, followed by coins made of different metals - copper, bronze, iron, steel, platinum - and the different tools when coins were made one at a time, then the machines to mint coins in quantity.

Then was the transition to paper money, with the history and examples of most European nations, culminating with the Euro.

There was much about the history of the mint and the museum.

I remember pesetas from when I was in Spain in the late 1960s with the USAF.

 There was also a section on postage stamps and the history of Correo, the Spanish Postal Service.

 Many of the signs were in both English and Spanish, as were the printed guides.  A most interesting museum to visit!