Classic national women on coins

[<k>]

Poland, 2 zloty, 1925.

[<k>]

Romania, 1 leu, 1910.

What is this instrument that the young lady is using?

Is she trying to ward off vampires - or the First World War?

[<k>]

Switzerland, 100 francs, 1925 only. 

This is a bullion coin - I have made an exception in this case. 

Image courtesy of Heritage Auctions.

See also:

1] Coinage of Switzerland.

2] Pattern coins from Switzerland.

[<k>]

Vietnam, 10 xu, 1953.  Three heads are better than one.

[<k>]

Vietnam, 50 xu, 1953. 

Are they the same women? Are they cousins?

[<k>]

Yugoslavia, 10 dinara, 1955. 

A neo-Stalinist portrayal of the heroic peasant woman.

[chrisild]

Romania, 1 leu, 1910.

What is this instrument that the young lady is using?

Oh, I can clearly see a spindle in her right hand, and a spinning fork and sickle in her belt. 

(Actually a combination of this page and Google Translate helped a little ...)

Christian

[<k>]

Thank you. I thought these things had died out with witchcraft. I haven't a clue what a spinning fork is or is used for.

[stef]

Romania, 1 leu, 1910.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distaff
What is this instrument that the young lady is using? Is she trying to ward off vampires - or the First World War?

Wikipedia and google are our friends: distaff and spindle

[<k>]

I think you must have been alive in the olden days, stef.

[stef]

Chile, 100 pesos, 2001-.

Native Mapuche woman.

[<k>]

Guatemala, 25 centavos, 1964.



Guatemala, 25 centavos, 1950.

See also: Guatemalan and Paraguayan variations.

[<k>]

Luxembourg, 1 franc, 1939.

Notice the Luxembourgish word 'FRANG'.

Notice also how it is superimposed on the figure '1'. Unusual.

[chrisild]

The way the currency unit name is positioned is indeed interesting. But the characters look as if they had given some kid five single-character rubber stamps – "here, put them on the '1' somehow!"

The country name in Luxembourgish appears on several coins, either in the modern spelling Lëtzebuerg or in the older version Letzeburg. Interestingly, on the IML and BCL banknotes – where there is more space, hehe – they used both French (e.g. "cent francs") and Luxembourgish ("honnert frang") ...

Christian

[<k>]

STUDENT WOMAN, MOZAMBIQUE



Mozambique, 1 metical, 1980. Brass.                N# 14048

Mozambique, 1 metical, 1986. Aluminium.            N# 10321

Mozambique, 1 metical, 1994. Brass-plated steel.  N# 4630

Mozambique, 1 metical, 2006. Nickel-plated steel.  N# 3122