Maps on coins

[Figleaf]

Alderney KM 19
Andorra KM 60, 86
Anguilla KM 16, 17
Argentina KM 80
Armenia KM 80, 82
Aruba KM 18, 19
Australia KM 69, 99, 99a, 127, 213, 214, 215, 216, 217, 265, 266, 267, 268, 326, 355, 355a, 364, 371, 440, 423, 490.1, 490.2, 511
Austria KM 2972, 2979, 3063

I didn't dare to go beyond countries starting with A. It seems that Australians are in sore need of a national symbol, so they can move beyond what is apparently the number one cliché on pseudo coins (WOW! That sound like supreme boredom!).

Trivia question: How many circulation coins are there in the above list?

Peter

[chrisild]

How many circulation coins are there in the above list?

Don't have a KM at hand, so I cannot tell from the numbers, but I'd hazard a guess ... somewhere in the very low one digit range?

Of course nowadays every euro circulation coin has a map. Belgium has maps of Europe in various styles on its euro collector coins. With France one could argue that the hexagon on the €1 and €2 pieces is a map. Greece issued nice commems with a map of the country in 1963 and 2006.

And then there are cartographical masterpieces such as this one.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7d/1999_GA_Proof.png

Christian

[Figleaf]

Don't have a KM at hand, so I cannot tell from the numbers, but I'd hazard a guess ... somewhere in the very low one digit range?

You guessed it, you can't get any lower

Maybe the more interesting question is which country used the idea first. My guess is Brazil.

Peter

[chrisild]

Maybe the more interesting question is which country used the idea first. My guess is Brazil.

Quite possibly so. Brazil had a map of South America on a commem from 1932, and a map of the country in 1965. The latter were aluminum circulation coins! Then the US issued a commemorative half dollar showing North and South America in 1923 (Monroe Doctrine Centennial). I won't even think of pseudo-coins that have the shape of a country (Nauru 2001: Germany) or much of a continent (Nauru 2002: much of Europe). Dang, I just did.

Guess a map of a state, a country, etc. is something that many people from there can identify with. At the same time it avoids issues like "nah, this symbol is way too typical for the North and does not really represent us here in the South". In that regard, a map on a coin is similar to a king on a coin ...

Christian

[chrisild]

I can't find a link on Wikipedia that depicts them.

The 2004 "EU" coins from Cyprus? Here is an image of the £1 Cu-Ni coin ...




Christian

[translateltd]

Don't forget the French nickel-bronze 10 francs of the 1970s-90s.

There has been some excitement in Australia over the discovery of a German (?) medal from 1669 with an outline of Australia on it, which must be by far the earliest medallic representation of that country.

[chrisild]

There has been some excitement in Australia over the discovery of a German (?) medal from 1669 with an outline of Australia on it, which must be by far the earliest medallic representation of that country.

Cool - had not heard of that medal before. That reminds me, AFAIK Dutch coinage had a map of Australia (2006 "Australië Vijfje") before it had a map of the Netherlands (2008 "Architectuur Vijfje") ...

Some more coins with maps are here (a book published about ten years ago):
http://www.geog.fu-berlin.de/de/Karto/Texte/muenzen/map.shtml
For some more pictures click on "Map Coin Design".

Christian

[izotz]

An easy one for me :

Spain km822 2 Pesetas

I recently bought an Isle of Man coin (well a serie of four coins), from Spain soccer world championship. Ok, this should appear on the sporty section, but it also featured a Spanish map. I can't find the pic.

[Figleaf]

I recently bought an Isle of Man coin (well a serie of four coins), from Spain soccer world championship. Ok, this should appear on the sporty section, but it also featured a Spanish map. I can't find the pic.

Maybe you mean this one? Soccer and Isle of Man, but Mexico (and only half of my beloved Yucatan), not Spain.

Peter

[izotz]

Not that one. Mine are a set of four, 1 crown, 1982. I will look for the pic.

[lusomosa]

Hi,

By looking ONLY to the map one can immediatelly see that the One crown was NOT minted in Spain !!!!
Why I say that ?  Well Spanish coins, newspapers, TV and any other spanish publications normally do not show the portuguese coast on their maps. They show Spain as on the 2 pesetas coin....

Good thing too as Portugal is not ( although it was for some time ) part of Spain.

LP

[Bimat]

Italy had an error issue (in 1999 I guess) of 1000 Lire commemorative with wrong map of Europe.There can be more examples with such an error,I think.

[chrisild]

Yep, the first version (1997 only) shows Germany as it was until 1990 ... nah, they merged West Germany and the Netherlands The second version (1997-2001) got the countries right. This is the first version:


Image from Numispedia; larger picture: http://numispedia.de/upload/e/e2/TYP_1.jpg

And here we have the "fixed" version:

Larger picture: http://numispedia.de/upload/4/4b/Italien_2_V_1000Lire_2Red.jpg

Christian

[chrisild]

More football maps. First, one from Italy (500 lire 1986) for the World Cup in Mexico. Note how the Italian "boot" kicks the ball.

Larger picture: http://www.geog.fu-berlin.de/de/Karto/Texte/muenzen/image/Ita50086.jpg

This is from Germany (10 euro 2003); a map of the country with dots showing the World Cup 2006 stadiums:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/6a/Germany_2003_10_euro_FIFA_2006_Obverse.gif

Now this one, from the same series but issued in 2004, I like better. Not really a map but kind of funny ...

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/af/Germany_2004_10_euro_FIFA_2006_Obverse.jpg

Christian

[Bimat]

I liked the concept of showing Football stadiums in the map.Germans are innovative after all