Tag: Animals
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1978 Uruguay 5 Centésimos
A South American Steer (Cattle in Uruguay, from BeefCentral.com) Last time we looked at Uruguay, we explored up to the rule of President Jose Batlle y Ordonez. His successors continued his reforms, paving the way for Uruguay to be seen as one of the most progressive in the world. Although neutral during WWII, the worldwide…
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2024 Koalas in Danger PMC set
PMCs helping save Australia’s endangered Koalas PMC The set comprises three PMCs, which each feature cute images of koalas. On the back of each is the (same) text: “Our iconic Koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) is facing a crisis. In its native habitat on the eastern and southern coastal regions of the mainland, the Koala is at…
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1963 Australian Penny keyring
One of the last Australian pre-decimal coins kept as a souvenir Obverse The obverse of the coin features the Mary Gillick portrait of Queen Elizabeth II. Lettering around the edge reads “ELIZABETH·II·DEI·GRATIA·REGINA·F:D:”, which translates to “Elizabeth II by the Grace of God, Queen, Defender of the Faith”. The 1953 Penny, and 1953-4 Half Penny of…
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107-110 A.D. Rome Trajan Æ Sestertius
The helpful power of the community Obverse The obverse of the coin shows a portrait of Emperor Trajan. Text around the edge reads in full “IMP CAES NERVAE TRAIANO AVG GER DAC P M TR P COS V P P”. Although only the first part is visible on my coin, which has also been holed.…
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1976 Western African States 10 Francs CFA
This is my entry for Day 23 “W” of the Blogging from A-Z April Challenge!W = West African States. West African Monetary Union The European Union oversees a single currency, the Euro, which is used across most countries in Europe. This is known as a “Monetary union”. There have been other Monetary Unions, back to at…
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1993 (North) Macedonia 5 Denari
A cat from an old country which now has a “new” name This is my entry for Day 13, “M” of the Blogging from A-Z April Challenge!M = (North) Macedonia. North Macedonia The ancient kingdom of Macedonia was a crossroads between Mediterranean and Balkan civilizations. Macedonia briefly became the largest empire in the world under the…
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1941 Liberia 2 Cents
Beautiful African scenes from an altruistically-founded country. This is a bonus entry for Day 12, “L” of the Blogging from A-Z April Challenge!L = Liberia. Liberia The flag of Liberia is similar to the flag of the USA, with just one star in the blue canton. Source: Wikipedia. Slavery, and slavery of Africans, has existed at…
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1993 Finland 50 Penniä
The only coin with moss on it (from the mint) This is a bonus entry for Day 6 “F” of the Blogging from A-Z April Challenge!F = Finland.See also the 1994 10 Penniä Obverse The obverse features a “Brown bear (Ursus arctos arctos) standing, looking outwards” above the country name in Finnish and English: SUOMI…
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2015 Canada Fox Geocache coin
A colourful “coin” from a hobby I hadn’t heard of This is my entry for Day 3 “C” of the Blogging from A-Z April Challenge!C = Canada. Obverse The only text on this side is the word CANADA below an orange, black and white fox sitting among trees. There are four types of foxes in…
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2017 Austria 5 Euro Easter Lamb
A commemorative coin for the most important holiday This is my entry for Day 1 “A” of the Blogging from A-Z April Challenge!A = Austria. Obverse Austria joined the “Euro” at its commencement in 2002, replacing the Schilling (made up of 100 Groschen). The European Central Bank set the regulations for normal circulating coins in…
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1995 Malta 1 Cent
One of the only circulating coins with a weasel Malta The Republic of Malta is an archipegio in the middle of the Mediterranean, east of Tunisia and about 100km (60 miles) South of Sicily. With an area of 316km2, and a population of 515,000, it is one of the smallest countries in Europe. Malta has…
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Phrygia, Epikteteis, Æ 19, 200-1 BC
A captivating coin from an intriguing time Phrygia Recently, we looked at a coin from ancient Lydia, a kingdom in the west of modern-day Turkey, which formed after the fall of the Hittite empire. Lydia later fell to the Greeks, Alexander the Great, the Seleucid’s, Rome and Persians. Phrygia was the empire to the east…
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1956 Burma 10 Pyas
A Burmese leograph Research Known as Burma prior to 1989 and Myanmar since, the country sits between China, Thailand and Bangladesh. I’ve tried to refer to “Myanmar” in the modern sense, and “Burma” when specifically talking earlier, although in many sources, the two names are used interchangeably. Since the 2021 military coup particularly, Myanmar basically…
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2018 Mauritania 20 Ouguiya
One of the last non-decimal coins. Mauritania and Madagascar are the only two countries in the world to still use a non-decimal currency. That is, a currency, where the number of sub-units in a main unit is not a power of 10. This is really a technicality as in both cases, the sub-units are no…
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1987 New Zealand 5 Cents
A coin featuring a living dinosaur The obverse of the coin, like all New Zealand coins from 1986 – 1998 features the 3rd portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, designed by Raphael David Maklouf. Australia used the same portrait from 1985 – 1988. The reverse features the tuatara, a fascinating creature from the time of the…
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Gela Æ Tetras 420-405 BC
An ancient Greek river god. Gela, a city on the southern coast of the Italian island of Sicily, was founded in 698 by Greek colonists from Rhodes and Crete. The name comes from the Sicilian-dialect word for “winter frost”. This coin features “Gelas”, a local river god. Each river had its own god. Looking at…
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1988 Australia Bicentenary dollar
A coin which might be controversial today Matthew Thompson from Thompson’s coins, posted a video of his three favourite Australian dollar coins you can find in change. This is a topic I really like – mints release so many “collector” coins, many of which are certainly beautiful. But to me, coins which CIRCULATED, coins which…
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1962 Norway 10 Øre
The last cypher-only coin When researching King Charles III’s coronation medallion recently, I explored how Monograms have letters which form part of each other, where Cyphers (or ciphers) have letters which could be separated. The O and V on this coin could be separated, so I would have called it a cypher, despite what the…
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1944 Greenland 5 Kroner
Where is Greenland anyway? Despite being part of Denmark, and geopolitically part of Europe, Greenland is actually in North America. In fact, Greenland is only 35 km from Canada across the Nares Strait. Hans island, in the middle of the strait has been the site of possibly the most delightful war ever, the whisky war.…
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Cut Gallienus Antelope Antoninianus
Cutting coins to give change goes back much further than medieval England: This coin was issued under Gallienus. The obverse is very similar to the Gallienus Stag I posted previously. Indeed, this Antoninianus is from exactly the same series, and features an antelope: As well as being cut in half, this coin is just generally…
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Gallienus Stag, Rome 267
Here is a beautiful stag on a coin: The inscription reads “DIANAE CONS AVG” which means “Dianae Conservatrix Augusti – to Diana protector of the Emperor”. This stag coin was essentially from a series of coins with depictions of animals, appealing to the deity that animal represented for protection for the emperor / empire. There…