NEW BOOK: DOCUMENTS OF THE HISPANIC CARIBBEAN, VOL 2

Ángel Navarro Zayas has published a second volume of his book in Spanish compiling important numismatic documents relating to Puerto Rico, Cuba, and the Spanish Caribbean. Congratulations! It's available in print-on-demand on Lulu.com. Below is a Google translation of the book's Introduction. -Editor

Documentos Numismáticos del Caribe Hispano (Siglo XIX) Tomo II
Numismatic Documents of the Hispanic Caribbean (19th Century) Volume II
By Ángel Navarro Zayas

Numismatic Documents of the Hispanic Caribbean v2 book cover

The Roman orator, Marcus Tullius Cicero, stated that: "History is the witness of the times, the light of truth, the life of memory, the teacher of life, the messenger of antiquity." Coins have an intrinsic history which marked their time; a history which is sometimes silent, given their inherent nature, which makes them travel through space and time, sometimes reaching our present. Historians, like numismatists, have the task and duty to decipher and reconstruct the history of these historical pieces, which are used in everyday life, and have sometimes come to us from a not-so-distant past.

On the other hand, it is worth reflecting that, given the intricate nature of human life, together with the unavoidable advance of time, have caused that, in certain situations, humanity loses the memory of its past. The aforementioned premise is based on the careful conservation of history in archives, libraries, private collections, or its loss through time and space. Today, people dedicated to historical research and conducting studies with old documents have a commitment to society and the historical discipline of rescuing from oblivion the characters, social and economic events that have had a considerable impact on the present and cultural identity, in this case, the monetary history of the Caribbean.

This documentary book does not pretend to be an exhaustive analysis on the subject of the use of currency in the Hispanic Caribbean during the 19th century. However, this publication seeks to make a numismatic historical reconstruction of this period of Caribbean monetary history, using as a basis primary documents available in the National Historical Archive in Madrid and the General Archive of the Indies in Seville.

Our fellow numismatists in Puerto Rico know that Puerto Rico has a vast and varied rich history in monetary matters. However, in recent decades, the Numismatic Society of Puerto Rico has been the entity that has led the largest rescue of the documentary collection on the monetary history of Puerto Rico, and has filled that gap that the country's educational centers have neglected in their work. Therefore, as a member of the Numismatic Society of Puerto Rico, the objective of this research has been to try to rescue the numismatic documentary collection of Puerto Rico and the Caribbean, to carry out a partial reconstruction of a fragment of monetary history. Therefore, the theme of this research revolves around the monetary history of Puerto Rico and the Caribbean, during the 19th century.

In the vast majority of my publications I believe it is important to review the definition of what numismatics is. Numismatics constitutes an auxiliary discipline within the historical field that is dedicated to the analysis and study of coins, paper money (notafilia), exonumia and medals, among other subspecialties. However, although numismatics is commonly considered an auxiliary science to history and archaeology (Burzio, 1958), numismatics itself should be considered an independent science that can indeed be studied through the use of the Scientific Method.

In the field of numismatics, the representation of rulers, civilizations and historical events is frequently observed on coins or engraved on banknotes, which makes them a valuable resource for the collection of historical information. It is recognized that the minting of coins for general circulation constitutes one of the sovereign symbols of a nation. It is therefore under this definition of sovereignty that it is understood that Puerto Rico does not possess national sovereignty, as it does not have its own currency.

However, it is also worth noting that the exhaustive study of numismatics helps to foster a deeper understanding of the economic, political and cultural history of a country or civilization. Coins and medals play a fundamental role in the conservation of the cultural heritage of a nation or group of nations that exist in a certain time and geographic space. On the other hand, in order to better study and understand the historical evolution of the numismatic cultural heritage, in this case of the Caribbean region, it is important to go directly to the archives to better reconstruct the monetary history. It is under this premise that, to promote the study of the monetary heritage of the Caribbean, a series of files have been transcribed regarding the numismatics of Puerto Rico and Cuba, so that these primary documents can be made accessible to researchers who seek reliable sources to write their own papers and reach their own conclusions. The purpose or objective of this publication has been to transcribe and make accessible primary documents from the National Historical Archive in Madrid and the General Archive of the Indies in Seville, which address the Spanish-Caribbean region during the 19th century.

Probably, the most significant contribution of this research is that it has been possible to document, for the first time, through primary sources from the 19th century, in which the use of the "fleur-de-lis counterstamp" in Puerto Rico is clearly and explicitly indicated. The colleague and numismatic mentor, Dr. Jorge Crespo Armáiz, in the many conversations we have had, guided me and was the one who brought this important fact to my attention. Last year 2024, talking about our respective historical-numismatic research, we were commenting on his publication about the fleur-de-lis, in the American Numismatic Society magazine, and he asked me if I had been able to locate in the Decree of 1884, if anywhere it explicitly mentioned the "fleur-de-lis". To which I replied no. Dr. Crespo Armáiz was the one who told me that no documentary evidence had yet appeared that explicitly mentioned the "fleur-de-lis" overprint, even though it is widely recognized in Puerto Rico.

Approximately twenty-five years ago I had the opportunity to acquire a one-ounce U.S. gold coin from 1986. In 2005, when I was studying in the graduate history program at the Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico, Ponce Campus, I wanted to travel to Colorado Springs to participate in a summer course organized by the American Numismatic Association (ANA) in Colorado Springs. At that time I did not have sufficient funds to pay for the travel and lodging expenses. So I went to Old San Juan and sold my gold coin and with the funds obtained, I was able to acquire something of greater value than gold. I exchanged my gold coin for something much more valuable; I exchanged it for a good education. With the tools acquired in that experience and since then, I have conducted studies and research on coins from a historical perspective.

The course at ANA on 19th century American numismatics was directed by John Kraljevich, a distinguished numismatist, and Charlie Davis, one of the few salesmen specializing in the sale of numismatic literature in the United States. After taking the course, I arrived in Puerto Rico and proceeded to visit the historical archives of Puerto Rico. Through a classmate in the history program, she told me that in Spain, numerous files from various Spanish archives had been digitized. It was at that time that I began to make a regular practice of transcribing specialized folios on the monetary history of Puerto Rico. With considerable challenge and little experience in the field of paleography, I rigorously undertook the transcription of the documents. Once finished, I sent them to my email to keep them accessible, as a kind of digital archive of my academic works.

Now, in January 2025, I started a search through my old emails and numismatic documents, and to my surprise, I found a transcribed file from January 2007. I downloaded the document from the email and realized that this was one of my first transcriptions carried out almost two decades ago. Therefore, I took on the task of reviewing and updating these transcriptions. At this point, and to my surprise, the use of the "fleur-de-lis counterstamp in Puerto Rico" was mentioned.

In this documentary book, I make public this finding, which thanks to Dr. Crespo Armáiz, who indicated to me that this had not been previously disclosed. This study contributes to a certain extent, to complement previous research, carried out by researchers such as Don Jaime González Collazo, Dr. Ovidio Dávila Dávila and Dr. Crespo Armáiz, among others. Therefore, to facilitate access to numismatic researchers, several files of primary handwritten and printed documents that have been obtained through the Spanish Archives Online Portal have been transcribed in their entirety.

I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Dr. Damaris Mercado Martínez, the first female president of the Numismatic Society of Puerto Rico, for her support of my research. This research has been carried out thanks to the Eric P. Newman Numismatic Education Society (EPNNES) 2023 scholarship. Many thanks to Mr. Andy Newman, Mr. Leonard Augsburger, Mr. Christopher McDowell, Dr. Jesse Kraft, Mrs. Julia Casey and Mr. Roger W. Burdette. I would like to thank my uncle Dr. Miguel Moreno Quintana, who was the person who motivated me in my numismatic endeavors in my childhood. I would like to express my gratitude to Dr. Luis M. Girón Negrón, Lic. Jorge Ortiz Murias, Dr. Jorge Crespo Armáiz, Dr. Ovidio Dávila Dávila, Mr. Rafael Echevarría, Dr. José “Pepe” Muñiz, Mr. Enrique Mancheno, Dr. Pedro Damián Cano Borrego,