Issuing authorities named on coins

[<k>]

A minority of national coinages show the Central Bank's name. I assume that "Institut d'émission", on the Comoros 50 francs of 1975 (above) means the same as "central bank". Is that correct? Is there any reason for showing the bank name rather than the country name? Is it the case that you would normally expect the Treasury to arrange for the issue of coins, rather than the Bank? And are there still any private authorities, rather than public ones, that issue the national coinage in some countries?




On this later Comoros coin, the 50 francs of 1994, the Central Bank of Comoros is specified, rather than the Institut d'émission.

[<k>]

Mozambique, 1 metical, 2006.

[Figleaf]

Institut d'émission is not a central bank (banque centrale.) Literally, it means "issuing authority". While a central bank manages a currency - including cash - an institut d'émission issues and withdraws banknotes and coins of a currency that does not need to be managed, because it is linked to another currency. The institut d'émission would hold, e.g. french francs and issue 100 CFA francs for a french franc on demand. They would buy 100 CFA francs for a french franc on demand. If reserves of french francs would go down, e.g. because the country runs a trade deficit it would diminish the amount of CFA francs outstanding. If the country would receive more french francs, e.g. through foreign aid, the institut d'émission would have the possibility to increase the supply of CFA francs.

Peter

[<k>]

Thanks for that valuable information, Peter. Who can tackle the other parts of the question? For some reason I imagine Harald would be good at this one, but he doesn't often look in these days.

Another question is, which other coinages (from which countries) reference the national or central bank in their legends? I don't mean coins that commemorate banks, as that is a different matter.

[chrisild]

The "Last DM" coin, issued in 2001, had the same design as Germany's regular 1 DM pieces ... except it was a gold coin. And, more relevant in this context, the inscription was not "Bundesrepublik Deutschland" as usual, but "Deutsche Bundesbank".

In my opinion there is no practical difference. We may just be more used to the idea that paper money has the name of the issuing bank (usually the country's central bank) while the coins usually have the country's name. But look at pretty much every Russian circulation coin, for example (except for the relatively new 25 ruble pieces), and you will see the central bank's name and logo, not that of the federation.

The Bulgarian coins usually have the short version of the country name. But the commemorative and collector coins feature the name of the central bank ...

Christian

[<k>]

If on banknotes, why not on coins too? Yes, that makes sense.

I notice that on the early South Korean coinage (from 1966 onwards), the legend "THE BANK OF SOUTH KOREA" appears only on the lower denominations but not on the higher ones.

[<k>]

Uganda, 50 shillings, 1998.

[<k>]

Uganda, 2 shillings, 1966.

[<k>]

Belgian Congo, 50 francs, 1944.

[<k>]

Indonesia, 50 rupiah, 1971.

[<k>]

Rwanda, 1 franc, 1977.

[<k>]

Malaysia, 5 sen, 1997.

[<k>]

National Bank of Serbia, 20 dinar, 2003.

[<k>]

Central Bank of Yemen, 20 rials, 2004.

 

[<k>]

Central Bank of Ecuador, 5 centavos, 2000.