COINHUNTING IN SPANISH FLEAMARKETS

This year, along with the convulsions of the pandemic has pulled me away from coins and back to photography. We numismatists often have other interests and specialties in our lives. This year marks 50 years since I was taking photographs in Spain in 1970 and the city hall of Segovia and the local photo association invited me to exhibit some 55 photos from that period.

Back then I was a U.S. Air Force captain newly assigned to three years in Spain. (I had volunteered to go to Vietnam and orders were being cut — then the Air Force noted that I spoke some Spanish and asked me if I might prefer three years in Spain to one in Southeast Asia. Thanks to an early fascination with Latin American coins, I made a coin hunting trip to South America at age 16 and got a second language ability underway.)

While in Madrid and Zaragoza I traveled around Spain while it was still almost a third world nation. my photography and coins only crossed as I photographed Madrid's famous Rastro fleamarket in 1970. Coins real and fake appeared there in gritty bowls laid out along with keys, knives, jewelry and junk. So we would hunker down and paw through the pieces.

Today the nearby Plaza Mayor is the more sophisticated site with dealers in coins, stamps and small collectables every Sunday — now pending re-opening thanks to Covid 19.

Bowls of coins were part of the inventory at Madrid's Rastro fleamarket.

A young collector checks out a tray of coins in 1970

Dapper antiques dealer catches up on the news while waiting for customers. "Coins? No, I don't have any dang coins!"

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