I have been on Numista for about eight months and have learnt so many interesting things on here and looking up coins on other sources. Please share if you have any fun little things that you know about.
I couldn’t find the URL but the first for me was something I read on here about a Canadian coin (I think) that had a Morse code message on it saying: we win when we work willingly
This one is quite interesting for me being an Aussie because it is about Spanish coins, dating back before captain Cook, that where found on an island just above the Northern Territory.
Another one for me is that the Australian 10 dollar notes with purple serial numbers are scarce. I only discovered this about a week ago which is a bit annoying because I could have spent one without even knowing it.
There is another thing in my head that I cannot think of at the moment but I will share it when I remember.
So glad you decided to include banknotes in your title! Here's something I discovered and posted about a while back: https://multicollec.net/3-bi-h/3h03
The WWII-era 20 Francs "Pêcheur" (fisherman) note is very common in France, but something not known by many people is that towards the end of the war, partisans supposedly began cutting out the portraits of Hitler on German stamps and glueing them onto part of the 20 franc note's obverse, making it look like the fisherman, instead of pulling in a net, was strangling Hitler with a rope.
I've seen a few of these for sale in person and online, but I've never paid for them because like anything that's valuable because of post-production damage (e.g. countermarks on coins) it's hard to tell whether the product is real or made yesterday. It's known that people are producing these today to sell at a premium to collectors, given how cheap and available Nazi-era German stamps featuring Hitler's head, and the 20 Franc notes are, it's very plausible indeed. Versions with the head of Maréchal Philippe Pétain, chief of the Vichy State, are also available, since his head was also on common stamps.
In 1842, the Britons (led by Queen Victoria) won Hong Kong in the First Opium War after the signature on the Treaty of Nanking. We began adhering to the British numismatic system, and as such, all coins in our circulation were made by Britain and shipped directly overseas to our land.
Time flew and a World War passed by. After two decades, it was time again for another war.
In 1938, the Japanese began looming to Northeastern China. Under the "misunderstanding" (intentionally made by the Japanese) that a few Chinese soldiers killed some Japanese soldiers, the Japanese Empire declared war against the Republic of China. As we had highly inferior forces, they were able to occupy eastern China extremely quickly. First, there was Manchu gone, then Shanghai, Nanking... not long later, the Japanese had successfully occupied the Canton (Guangdong) province of China.
We bordered Canton. Threats were looming heavily near our land, and we were always worried about the strength of the Japanese force and what to do if they had invaded us. Well, the worrying was useful...
Two years later, disaster struck.
In one of the most delightful festivals to commemorate, it was Christmas time. But it was no time to celebrate - the Japanese crossed the line and started invading across the Shenzhen River. Soon, Hong Kong, prepared but not prepared enough, fell. It collapsed under Japanese control. It was all over - the colony had raised the white flag, and we had surrendered.
The year it happened was - you guessed it - 1941.
On the other side of the war, coin shipments began sailing to Hong Kong after the invasion to ease the trembling economy. By the time, the Japanese were already invading ( 8 December to 25 December), and the emperor ordered all supplies from any country to be cut down and be re-supplied by Japan. Five ships carrying the British coins, still, went to Hong Kong.
One of the ships encountered a Japanese boat. It ordered for the British ship to leave or have the boat be attacked. Britain did not want to get into any diplomatic trouble with Japan, so the ship returned to the British Empire and all coins were melted.
You may now ask, where are the four remaining ships?
They still remain unknown as of today of their whereabouts. Rumours say one of them was sunk by a Japanese submarine and melted down for the war. Some say the ship encountered Japanese attack and the coins, along with the boat, sunk...
They may still be hiding somewhere under the South China Sea.
One of my favorite types is the Cuba 'ABC' Peso, minted in Philadelphia 1934-1939, on the same planchets as US Peace dollars. https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces13902.html
There coins were almost all kept in bank reserves, though some unknown number were circulated.
In 1951, when the market price of silver increased the central Bank of Cuba ordered all the silver pesos in reserve to be melted down for bullion. For this reason the official mintage numbers are moot.
The 1937 issue is a special case - The officials ordered one bag of each year of ABC pesos to be reserved for numismatic purposes. However, records indicate that all the bags of the 1937 ABC pesos were mistakenly brought to the port to be loaded on the Cuban ship Patria, for the shipment to the United States. During handling, one of the 1937 ABC peso bags burst open, and the coins were strewn over the dock. Sailors were instructed to recover them, but a number were unaccounted for. Overnight, the 1937 ABC peso became a rare item. The bank bags contained an unknown quantity, so the actual quantity can only be estimated.
Considering the unknown quantity in circulation at that time, estimates vary regarding the ABC pesos in numismatists' possession today.
I am indebted to the Cuban Numismatic Association for this interesting story .
"I couldn’t find the URL but the first for me was something I read on here about a Canadian coin (I think) that had a Morse code message on it saying: we win when we work willingly"
The coin was minted in 1929 supposedly to commemorate Latvia's 10th anniversary of independence, but after Kārlis Ulmanis' right-wing dictatorship took over power in a coup in 1934, the coins ceased production. When Latvia's interwar era independence was snuffed out by the Soviets, who annexed Latvia in July 1940, the coin, and it's motif of a personnage of Latvia (nicknamed "Milda") became a popular symbol of nationality amongst Latvians both at home and in exile abroad.
Even as in 1941, when the Germans invaded the USSR, incl. the Latvian SSR, and the Soviets pushed them back a few years later, the coin remained a symbol of Latvia for partisan groups, which promulgated a resistance in the Baltics that lasted until the mid 1950s. By then the old Lats coins had been demonetised, with the Soviet Government supposedly selling the coins turned in to foreign numismatists at 28DM per piece in the 1960s. Nonetheless it remained a popular symbol of Latvia, and was made into jewellery and brooches. Latvia regained independence in 1990, and joined the EU in 2004, coming into the Eurozone in 2014; and when it did, the symbol chosen for the 2€ coin's reverse, was none other than Milda.
In 2006 New Zealand changed to smaller coins and the 5 cent coin was removed from circulation.
There was a rumour that only a few hundred of the 15 million 2004 5 cent coins that were minted had survived and the rest were to be melted down in preparation for their removal from circulation.
People went bat-shit crazy and started paying ridiculous prices for any that came up for sale. The highest I saw was one that sold for $300. It turned out that although many were melted down there were still 48,000 in existence. The current book value is $2.00. I'll bet the people that paid a premium for them are kicking themselves now.
Quote: "SquareRootLolly"In 1842, the Britons(led by Queen Victoria) won Hong Kong in the First Opium War after the signature on the Treaty of Nanking. We began adhering to the British numismatic system, and as such, all coins in our circulation were made by Britain and shipped directly overseas to our land.
The underlined bit isn't wrong, but sounds a bit funny IMO.
It makes it sound like Queen Victoria came personally flying from London, with lasers blazing from her eyes, to lead the British into battle.
There are also some other informative things you may not know in the trivia section under learning in the URL above.
I really enjoy joyed reading your comments. Especially the one from Cass about the stamp heads on the 20 franks. I think I may have read about 1937 pesos before but it is still great to remember it and others may not have heard about it before.
The Australian crown also has an interesting story behind it. It was originally intended to commemorate the ascension of King Edward VIII; however, due to his abdication, it was instead struck to commemorate the ascension of King George VI. So theCrown quickly lost its commemorative appeal and its lack of popularity led to its production being terminated.
I am sorry if I only post about Australian coins, but every chief has a specialised forte.
You're quite welcome! I know a few more interesting stories behind otherwise mundane coins that I'll probably post later, or basically whenever I can actually be bothered to do the typing.
What you say about the 1937 Australian Crown, something I find interesting is that while it's ostensibly a commemorative issue, there is also a 1938 date issued for that type.
Quote: "CassTaylor"@XRY-478
You're quite welcome! I know a few more interesting stories behind otherwise mundane coins that I'll probably post later, or basically whenever I can actually be bothered to do the typing.
What you say about the 1937 Australian Crown, something I find interesting is that while it's ostensibly a commemorative issue, there is also a 1938 date issued for that type.
It was originally going to be a singular commemorative I think. However when it was first produced the people loved having a 5 shilling coin so the mint decided why stop with a commemorative let’s make this part of the predecimal currency for good. But then due to Edward VIII abdicating the mint thought the crown would lose popularity so they stopped minting them before that happened. Thus the significantly lower number of minted 1938 crowns. Now please don’t quote me on this but I am quite sure this was the reason I read a while ago.
And the less known history of the "Libyan calendar" invented by Khadafi Quote : The Libyan Revolution: Its Origins and Legacy : a Memoir and Assessment - page 109
So let's try with libyan coins : ½ Dinar 2009 - AH 1430 - Libyan calendar 1377
It's not only 10 years difference between these two calendards but 53 !
I can't make heads or tails of it
Ok ! Ok! The starting of this new calendar should be the birth of the prophet and not his death
There are amazing stories about calendars on coins.
For example the numeral used in Ge'ez script for the calendar on Ethipian coins was not understood by local population. Since a long time there were not using these numerals for indicating the date
And Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Chah of Iran who decreed the establishment of a new calendar just a little time before his enactment
There's one Rial I'm struggling for getting it for a long time : 1 Rial ۶۵۳۶ year 6537 !
Amazingly, the Chah of Iran having decided to change the calendar, the lonely engraver of coins, not understanding the meaning of the year 2537, made a mistake and engraved the year 6537
This coin doesn't look expensive, unfortunately I've never found this coin on the web Just a wrong "wrong date" until now ...
The one that I was trying to remember was the hologram on the UK one pound coin under the queens neck . If you look at the coin from the left you see the number 1. If you look at it from the right you can see the £ symbol.
Another banknote story; as any collectors of US notes will already know, the 1896 "Educational" Series of notes is considered to be, I quote Wiki; "the most beautiful monetary designs ever produced by the United States."
It's hard to disagree on that (!) but what makes the $5 of the series particularly noteworthy (pun intended), is the public outcry to the depiction of a human mammary; apparently it was so offensive that "some bankers reportedly refused to accept the notes in transactions". It (and the rest of the Educational Series) was replaced only three years later by the Series of 1899.
But, just how heinous was this work of artistic sacrilege, you may ask? Well, good denizens of Numista; avert your eyes now, lest you be corrupted by none other than the immoral work of Lucifer himself:
"Scandalous!" - cried 1890s high society spontaneously, in between bouts of fainting and Remembering the Maine
Just 20 years later a similar scandal broke out over the bare breast on the new "Standing Liberty" Quarter in 1916-17; and the public outrage of a million and a half repressed, turn-of-the-century prudes was once again mobilised, and the design was amended to cover the offending body part with chainmail, and the first "type" remains a comparatively scarce coin today.
First, a story from Finland, exactly 100 years ago:
The civil war, reds against whites (communists vs. monarchists) A famous photo of a quite famous weapons smuggler Verna Erikson (worked for the whites) She had cancer and died before the end of the war.
A few months before the summer the reds had taken over Helsinki, they started printing their own coin ( https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces34566.html ) and their own notes. After the war these notes became illegal (spoiler: the whites won) and only the 1MK note could be returned to the bank. (The notes printed by the reds had their own serial numbers and they were often scraped to change the number) They are still very common as they did not manage to get rid of these...
Wismar was under siege. Denmark and Prussia were invading the last Swedish fortress in Germany...
It took about a year but you may guess who won. They struck about 2000 coins, and only about 100 of these remain (6 denominations)
Siege and civil war/war coins have been through a lot!
I don’t usually revive old threads especially my own but, after reading up on some information about the 1797 UK cartwheel penny I discovered some great facts I just had to share although to most it is probably very common knowledge.
Acording to wikipedia “The 1,250 tonnes of "cartwheels" struck at Soho between 1797 and 1799 (all pieces were dated 1797) exceeded the total copper coinage by the Royal Mint in the 18th century.”
The thing that struck me the most (no pun intended) was that cartwheel pennies were minted over three years but they all had the same date.
Are there any other examples of coins being minted over a duration of years while they all have the same date?
Quote: "XRY-478"
The thing that struck me the most (no pun intended) was that cartwheel pennies were minted over three years but they all had the same date.
Are there any other examples of coins being minted over a duration of years while they all have the same date?
Oh, there's plenty.
The most famous is the Maria Theresa thaler, struck since 1781 with the same design (with some slight variants) by various mints all around the world almost 1 billion times, and continues even today (same with some other Habsburg gold ducats dated 1915).
Other examples I can think of are the 1862 British India Rupees, which were minted with the 1862 date at Madras, Calcutta and Bombay until 1873 (I just got a Madras one dated 1862, which was only minted 1862-67 because the mint there closed).
Quote: "ngdawa"Do you guys know which country that had a picture of a Death Camp on their notes for decades, without really realising it?
I can post picture and story when I get home.
Right, I promised you guys a story.
The year was 1991, or was it 1992, that this country came to exist on its own. After leaving its fellow comrades it was time to print new banknotes with new motives. In 1995 decided the country to print new banknotes, with motives from the bigger cities of the country. The biggest note, the 500,000 Rubles, got the image of the Monastery on Solovetsky Island, in Arkhangel'sk. When the inflation hit, the country, which you now have guessed is the Russian Federation, kept the same motive for the new 500 Rubles note in 1997. In May 22 2009 however, 14 years after the painting was first printed on the banknote, a horrible discovery was made. When loking at the painting, and really focusin on the buildings of the monastery, one can see that there are no crosses on the roofs, except for the Golden dome. This means that it was possible to date when the painting was made. The painting must've been panted sometime between 1926 and 1938. Because, during this time, the monastery was used as a Gulgag camp. During this period, all the crosses were put down, except for the one on the Golden Dome. So, instead of showig the beautiful monastery of Arkhangel'sk, they have accidentally depicted the Solovetsky Death Camp. In 2012 the Bank of Russia announced a new 500 Rubles note, with a newer picture of the monastery. But one cannot ignore, that during 17 years, Russia had dispayed a death camp on its banknotes.
Here is the banknote:
And the motive of the Solovetsky Death Camp. One can clearly see that there are no crosses on the buildings.
Here's the new motive of the monastery, where the crosses are cleary seen.
Quote: "XRY-478"The one that I was trying to remember was the hologram on the UK one pound coin under the queens neck . If you look at the coin from the left you see the number 1. If you look at it from the right you can see the £ symbol.
There is a similar hologram feature on all the Russian 10 Ruble coins currently in circulation, inside the 0 in the denomination.
The one about the Gulag was interesting, I had no idea about it.
It reminds me about the Seychelles 50 Rupees note, issued between 1968 and 1973, which had the word "SEX" in the palm trees behind the portrait of Queen Elizabeth II:
Historians believe it was done by pro-independence activists, and it wasn't noticed publicly until after Seychellois independence in 1976.
Quote: "jokinen"This makes perfect sense for an island nation that advertises itself to be a great honeymoon destination.
Come for the scenery, stay for the skoodilypooping.
Although to be honest, I think that perhaps these "hidden messages" on banknotes might just be the result of pareidolia. A similar "secret" exists on the 10 Rupees note, where it supposedly says "SCUM" on it:
Quote: "CassTaylor"The one about the Gulag was interesting, I had no idea about it.
It reminds me about the Seychelles 50 Rupees note, issued between 1968 and 1973, which had the word "SEX" in the palm trees behind the portrait of Queen Elizabeth II:
Historians believe it was done by pro-independence activists, and it wasn't noticed publicly until after Seychellois independence in 1976.
couldn't really see the word written. talk about subliminal messages missing the point lol
Quote: "jokinen"This makes perfect sense for an island nation that advertises itself to be a great honeymoon destination.
Come for the scenery, stay for the skoodilypooping.
Although to be honest, I think that perhaps these "hidden messages" on banknotes might just be the result of pareidolia. A similar "secret" exists on the 10 Rupees note, where it supposedly says "SCUM" on it:
I just learned two new words here, and one of them is pareidolia. I was just discussing this phenomenon with my kids during breakfast this morning.
I learned the term for the phenomenon (where the brain looks for patterns that aren't really there) only 5 minutes before I posted that myself.
In numismatics it often manifests as people thinking their coins have doubled die or other mint errors. Happens to everyone, especially if you've spent hours peering at a tiny disk of metal.
Hi, This is the first time using a chat forum. So please be patient. I’m trying to find more info on a coin of mine ( 1975 5 Pahlavi gold coin ). If anyone feels like helping me lmk. I apologize for jumping in this discussion as a reply. I would post a pic but not sure how
Quote: "GOLDSilver0716"Hi, This is the first time using a chat forum. So please be patient. I’m trying to find more info on a coin of mine ( 1975 5 Pahlavi gold coin ). If anyone feels like helping me lmk. I apologize for jumping in this discussion as a reply. I would post a pic but not sure how
until now ...
!) but what makes the $5 of the series particularly noteworthy (pun intended), is the public outcry to the depiction of a human mammary; apparently it was so offensive that "
