A nice industrial scene from a country with a large shipping industry

200th Coin!

We interrupt this coin post to thank you for reading through TWO-HUNDRED posts about coins! I hope you’ve learnt as much reading them as I learnt writing them, and enjoyed it too. Today’s 200th coin is actually a special one, as it is a coin being given to a friend. It is those personal connections made and forged through the hobby which make it special, so thank you.

Now, back to Numismatics… and shipping!

Shipping

(Map of South America with Brazil highlighted, from Google Maps)

Brazil has 7,400km (4,500mi) of coastline. By area, it is the largest country in South America, and the fifth largest in the world. It is the ~25th largest importer and exporter of goods, primarily by sea. Ninety percent of the roughly 700 million tons of goods imported and exported travel through Brazil’s ports. Exported products include Soybeans and crude petroleum. Top imports include refined petroleum, vehicles and fertilizer. It’s no surprise then, that ports and shipping feature on this 50 Centavos coin.

Reverse

The coin contains the value, 50 Centavos, on the right, with the date, 1970 below. This issue was produced in Copper-Nickel in 1970 and 1975, and both years feature variations in the “7” in the date. A Nickel version of the same coin was produced in 1967.

The main feature of the reverse is a docked cargo ship and a crane. It turns out my knowledge of dock cranes is…. extremely limited. In looking them up, the first ones I found which looked similar were these abandoned cranes from Chernobyl. Interesting enough to share here, but not overly informative – although at least from a similar era. Many images readily found now are of larger, modern cranes such as this new Super-Post Panamax (SPPX) ship-to-shore container gantry crane. “Panamax” is the largest type of ship which will fit through the Panama Canal. Remembering that image of the cargo ship at that link to the Panamanian coin, SPPX vessels are huge.

Back to the coin and the crane looks somewhat similar to this style of dock crane, which you can still purchase today. I was not quite curious enough about the cost of such a crane to inquire. If anyone else knows, please do share how much such a crane is worth!

Obverse

The obverse of the coin features Liberty facing left, the country name and what Numista describes as a “Wind Rose”, an eight-pointed star. The 1967 coin describes it as a “Compass Rose”. Interestingly the 1967 coin notes the “star on top”, where the 1970-75 description on Numista omits it. It is a five-pointed star.

Brazil has featured Liberty on coins since the republic was formed in 1889, up to the anniversary of the republic in 1989. The current Real coin (produced since 2002) features a portrait of Liberty again. Interestingly, it is alternately described as “Allegorical portrait” (NGC) or “Head of the Republic” (Numista). Also featuring on this earlier 400 Réis coin from 1920, I wrote up more on the history of Lady Liberty on that piece.

For reference, here is Liberty on the reverse of the 1920 coin: