Welcome to the “Blogging from A to Z April Challenge! Please see the A-Z challenge site for full info and be sure to check out other participants! I’m also following the #AtoZChallenge hashtag on Mastodon and will look out for you there!

In short, I write about coins I find interesting. The countries, the topics depicted on the coins, anything else which makes it stand out to me. The “About” page has my social media links and info about the coins in the cover image.

My theme for 2024 is “Countries”. Each day I will post a coin / token etc from a country beginning with that day’s letter. Starting with A on April 1, then every day except Sundays, which will take us through to Z on the 30th April! If you don’t want to follow along every day, or if you’d like to follow my posts after the challenge as well, be sure to subscribe to my newsletter. I only send it out once a fortnight.

• A: Austria – 2017 Austria 5 Euro Easter Lamb
• B: Brazil – 1920 Brazil 400 Réis
• C: Canada – 2015 Canada Fox Geocache coin
• D: Denmark – 25 Øre token Denmark Dyrehavsbakken
• E: East Africa – 1936 British East Africa 5 Cents
• F: Finland – 1994 Finland 10 Penniä
  AND bonus Finland – 1993 Finland 50 Penniä
• G: Germany – 1975 Germany 5 Deutsche Mark (Cancelled)
• H: Hong Kong – 1975 Hong Kong $2
• I: India – 2011 India Delhi Metro Token
• J: Japan – 1915 Japan 5 Rin
• K: Kenya – 2003 Kenya 40 Shillings
• L: Lebanon – 1941 Lebanon 1/2 Piastre
  AND bonus Liberia – 1941 Liberia 2 Cents
• M: Macedonia – 1993 (North) Macedonia 5 Denari
• N: New Zealand – One Pint, Upper Hutt New Zealand
• O: Ottoman Empire – 1913 Ottoman Empire 20 Para Passage Token
• P: Portugal – 1949 Portugal 20 Centavos
• Q: Qatar – 1990 Qatar 50 Dirhams
• R: Rome – 360 A.D. Rome Æ 3 Fel Temp Reparatio
  AND bonus Rome – 19 B.C. Rome Augustus Denarius Fouree
• S: Spain – 1818 Spain 8 Maravedis
• T: Turkey – 1988 Turkey İ.E.T.T. Tünel token
• U: Ukraine / USSR – 1986 Ukraine Chernobyl Liquidator’s medal
• V: Vatican – 1978 Vatican 500 Lire Sede Vacante September
• W: West Africa – 1976 Western African States 10 Francs CFA
• X: Xaymaca (Jamaica) – United Fruit Co Tally, Jamaica
  AND bonus Xaymaca – 1974 Jamaica Proof Cent
• Y: Yugoslavia – 1931 Yugoslavia 10 Dinara
• Z: Zanzibar – 1882 Zanzibar 1 Pysa

Reflection

We made it through the challenge! Reflecting back on the #AtoZChallenge, I have to say, I loved it! It was a good challenge both choosing countries / coins & getting it all written. My first thought when I signed up was to make the posts shorter…. but they didn’t end up any shorter, which I take as my own inability to compromise on information – & how fascinating everything is!

One I learnt a lot while writing was this Roman Denarius Fouree.

We visited all six coin-issuing continents and learnt some amazing things – I know I did, and I hope you did too! I didn’t specifically sit down and ensure I covered every continent, I only even thought to check while writing this, but I am glad it worked out that way. There are 193 UN member states currently, plus coin issuing places which no longer exist (I can count at least five I shared coins from in the challenge, such as Rome and the Ottoman Empire).

I even managed to come up with a country for X!

While I initially planned for 26 coins as per the challenge, we ended up with 30 coins in 30 days, and it was great fun! When I was starting to plan the challenge, I got to F and looked at Finland and liked both the 10 and 50 Penniä coins from the 1990s. I wrote them both up figuring I would share one for the challenge and the other one at some point, but then I decided to release them at once. When I saw others were also doing “bonus” posts for Sundays, I decided to keep doing that as well.

The Finland 50 Penniä – the first bonus coin for the challenge!

I love the personal connection you find with coins & the numismatic community. I wrote most of the posts in the weeks prior to the challenge. This turned out to be fortuitous as my mother passed away early in April, so I really wasn’t able to write much for a while. But those connections made it a joy to re-read each post & share it. I really got to “participate” in my own challenge mostly as a reader for a time – and that too was good. I enjoyed reading them, which I hope means others do as well.

So many coins have a personal connection. I really enjoyed writing about this 25 Øre Dyrehavsbakken token from Denmark, a park my ancestors may well have visited.

I’m looking forward to doing it again next year! Please let me know what you think (and what theme I should choose next year).

Did you participate in the challenge this year? Share a link to your blog below! (Note: Linked blogs may not be numismatic, most likely won’t be, in fact I’ll be excited if any others are!)