Tag: MysteryCoin
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1919 Italy 20 Centesimi
A re-used coin from the Kingdom of Italy The Kingdom of Italy In talking about one of the last Papal States coins, we had a bit of a look at the make-up of Italy in the mid-19th century. Broadly there were three kingdoms (Sardinia, Lombardy-Ventia and the Kingdom of the two Sicilies), three sovereign duchies,…
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1945 Venezuela 12 1/2 Centimos
A coin with an unusual denomination from the northernmost country of South America. Venezuela The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela is a Latin American nation with a culturally and ethnically rich and diverse population and enormous natural resources. Venezuela is in the northern part of South America, on the Caribbean Sea. Bordered by Colombia, Brazil and…
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1950 East Germany 50 Pfennig
An evocative industrious scene in a Socialist Democracy Deutsche Demokratische Republik The Deutsche Demokratische Republik (DDR), or English German Democratic Republic (GDR), also called East Germany. This was a socialist nation, formed in 1949 after the division of Germany. After WWII, the occupying allied forces and Soviet Union didn’t originally intend to partition Germany into…
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1920 Cuba 5 Centavos
An elegant coin from a torn nation Cuba Cuba is home to the largest island in the Caribbean, although the nation is composed of over 4,000 islands. Like other islands in the Caribbean, such as the Cayman Islands, and Jamaica, Cuba was first charted by Christopher Columbus, this time on his first voyage in 1492,…
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2008 Kyrgyzstan 3 Som
An unusual modern value Kyrgyzstan The government of Kyrgyzstan (or the Kyrgyz Republic) describe their country as: “one the most scenic places in Central Asia. Two-thirds of its territory is occupied by the mountains, which is affected on variety of climate, landscapes, flora, and fauna. Being here, you will open to yourself the country of…
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2005 Cayman Islands 1 Cent
A neat little bird from the Caribbean The Cayman Islands are three islands with a total landmass of 264 km2 (102 mi2). The Cayman Islands lie in the Caribbean Cuba, Honduras, Jamaica and Mexico. It is believed the islands were first sighted by Christopher Columbus in 1503. The name Cayman came from “Caiman” or “Caymanas”…
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115-113 B.C. China Wu Zhu
The longest-produced coin in history. The Dahuting Tomb (Chinese: 打虎亭汉墓, Pinyin: Dahuting Han mu; Wade-Giles: Tahut’ing Han mu) of the late Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220 AD), located in Zhengzhou, Henan province, China, was excavated in 1960-1961 and contains vault-arched burial chambers decorated with murals showing scenes of daily life. Image, Wikipedia The Han Dynasty The…
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1818 Spain 8 Maravedis
A coin from The Desired, or the Felon King? This is my entry for Day 19 “S” of the Blogging from A-Z April Challenge!S = Spain. Spain Ferdinand VII swears on the 1812 Constitution before the Cortes in 1820, from Wikipedia. Spain followed a similar path to many other European nations: Founded as far back…
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1975 Hong Kong $2
One of the first scalloped coins I encountered. This is my entry for Day 8 “H” of the Blogging from A-Z April Challenge!H = Hong Kong. This coin was also the #MysteryCoin at the end of my March 27 Newsletter. The newsletter comes out every fortnight featuring recent updates, news, highlights from others, and a…
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1984 Egypt 5 Qirsh
A pair of classical designs from the middle-east Reverse The reverse is anepigraphic, but instantly recognisable to most people around the world. The Great Pyramids of Giza are one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, and still a marvel of building that we are still discovering more about even today. Ancient Egypt was…
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1959 North Korea 1 Chon (Capitalist visitor)
A tourist coin from a hermit kingdom North Korea At the end of the Second World War, Korea – which had formerly been occupied by the Japanese – was divided along the 38th parallel. This was an internal border between North and South Korea based on a circle of latitude. North Korea, officially the Democratic…
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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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2001 Taiwan 20 New Dollars
A coin, and article, which encouraged me to learn more about the history of Taiwan. Taiwan At its closest, Taiwan is 130 Kilometres (81 Miles) off the coast of mainland China. Taiwan is 1,200km (750 miles) north of the Philippines, and 2,200km (1350km) south-west of Japan and the Korean peninsula. Tension between China and Taiwan…
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1943 Cameroon 50 Centimes
A WWII African coin showing support for the exiled Free France government. French Cameroon What became Cameroon was originally claimed by Germany as “Kamerun” in the “Scramble for Africa” of the late 19th century. Soon after WWI was declared, French and British troops poured into the country. The dense equatorial rainforest was as much an…
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1994 Cape Verde 1 Escudo
A beautiful golden sea turtle Cape Verde This 1 Escudo coin is from The Republic of Cabo Verde. Anglicised as Cape Verde, it is a small chain of ten islands, off the coast of Senegal, West Africa. They are 600 – 850 KM (320-450 Nautical Miles) off the coast of Africa. The islands are well…
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2014 Kazakhstan 50 Tenge
An interesting Soviet space shuttle on a coin from its home country (which isn’t Russia) Reverse The reverse of the 2014 50 Tenge coin is dominated by a space shuttle on a rocket booster, heading to orbit around Earth, with the moon in the background. The space shuttle is not one of the well-known American…
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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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2003 Slovenia 500 Tolarjev
An abstract design to mark the European Year of the Disabled Slovenia The Republic of Slovenia, in southern-Central Europe, is bordered by Italy, Austria, Hungary, Croatia and the Adriatic Sea. A mountainous country of 20,271 Km2 (7,827 Mi2), it has a population of 2.1 million. Inhabited since prehistoric times, a 60,000 year old bear bone…
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1959 Iraq 1 Fils
The first Decagonal coin The Decagon When I posted about the 2018 Mauritania 20 Ouguiya, I noticed the coin next to it in the set, the decagonal 10 Ouguiya. A decagon is a shape with ten sides. Which of course got me thinking, what was the FIRST dodecagonal coin? It was the Iraq 1 Fils…
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1919 Thailand 10 Satang
Beautiful traditional Thai design which skipped a whole monarch This coin stumped all our newsletter and social media followers. The beautiful pattern is described on Numista as a “Chakra with 8 blades”. Thailand is overwhelmingly Buddhist, 92.5% according to a 2021 report. I must confess, that not being overly familiar with the symbology used in…
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India 1910 1 Anna
The first modern scalloped coin One of the first 1 Anna coins was this piece. This particular example, minted under King Edward VII, was issued from 1906 – 1910. The overall design, continued to be used up until 1947. This coin has quite a beautiful design, from the striped numeral 1 in the center, to…
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Liard of Frederik Henry, Prince of Orange, France 1625-47
A coin which isn’t what it first seems Mystery Coin Each fortnight, I include a photo of a coin in the newsletter, and ask people to guess what it is. When I shared this coin, I expected it would stump people, but it was ok, because I did in fact know what it was. Only,…
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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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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…