Galicia lists six Orol coins as cultural heritage

Faro de Vigo (opens in a new tab) (R. S. C., Santiago, 28 September 2026) reports that the Xunta’s cabinet approved the decree listing as an asset of cultural interest six coins of the Suebi kingdom and of medieval and early modern Galicia, from the collection of the Galician numismatist Antonio Orol. The paper says the decree will be published in the coming days in the Diario Oficial de Galicia and that it closes the listing opened in June 2025. As of this note, that listing decree is not yet in the DOG. The coins are not in Notofilia’s virtual collection.

The six coins

La Región (opens in a new tab) names the group, and the names match the pre-emption order in the DOG: three Suebi tremisses, of Honorius, of Valentinian, and of the Latin MVNITA series, all three from the mint of Gallaecia; a Visigothic tremissis of Wamba struck at Tui; a half excelente of the Granada type of the Catholic Monarchs, A Coruña mint; and a half real of Philip II, also from A Coruña. The technical file, according to Faro de Vigo, treats them as rare issues, with no other matching specimens known, and in excellent condition.

The Jesús Vico hammer

The order of 14 January 2026 (opens in a new tab) (DOG no. 10, of 16 January) exercises the right of pre-emption over those six coins and reprints the certificate from Jesús Vico y Asociados (Madrid), auction no. 173 of 25 June 2025, the Orol Collection. The hammer prices it records are:

• Suebi tremissis of Honorius, Gallaecia mint: €16,200.
• Suebi tremissis of Valentinian, Gallaecia mint: €12,600.
• Suebi tremissis, Latin MVNITA series, Gallaecia mint: €63,000.
• Visigothic tremissis of Wamba, Tui mint: €32,400.
• Half excelente of the Granada type, Catholic Monarchs, A Coruña mint: €28,800.
• Half real of Philip II, A Coruña mint: €25,200.

Those six hammers add up to €178,200, the sum the order obliges the Xunta to pay. Faro de Vigo places the purchase in November 2025. The order that sets the duty to pay is the one of 14 January 2026. The DOG does not say whether the figures include the buyer’s premium: they are the amounts certified as the hammer price.

The seventh stayed at the MAN

The opening of the file on 23 June 2025, published in the DOG of 24 June (no. 119), covered seven coins. On 9 October 2025 the Ministry of Culture reported that it had exercised pre-emption on the quarter excelente of the Catholic Monarchs, A Coruña mint, hammered at €33,600, for the National Archaeological Museum. That coin is neither in the €178,200 nor in the Galician listing.

The other six are on deposit at the Museo Arqueolóxico Provincial de Ourense. Faro de Vigo writes that the listing brings Galicia’s assets of cultural interest to 799. La Región attributes the figure 790 to Alfonso Rueda. Both figures stay with the papers that printed them until the listing decree appears in the DOG.