Crosses on coins

[<k>]

UK, 50 pence, 2003.

Votes for women. X marks the spot: a woman's cross on the ballot paper.

[paisepagal]

Not only aryans, not only in India. This symbol was in use in ancient Greece, Roman Empire, ancient Russia, Iran, China, etc.

True, but the oldest usage was in India and among the aryans. The Aryans migrated to India more than 5000 years ago ... And they are believed to have come from anywhere between eastern most europe and the steppes .... So that would not conflict with the swastika use in Iran or Russia.... China adopted the symbol when Buddhism spread there from India... The Greeks extensively traded with us and indeed Alexander spent a good part of his short life in the subcontinent.
Of course, I add a disclaimer that nothing is set in stone  new info will be discovered and some theories will be modified or disproved

[villa66]

Not only aryans, not only in India. This symbol was in use in ancient Greece, Roman Empire, ancient Russia, Iran, China, etc.

I don't know dates or anything precise, but it has long been my understanding that the swastika (often in retrograde form) was employed by native Americans as well, perhaps as a symbol of good luck.

v.

[chrisild]

Here is one of the tiniest crosses I have ever seen on coins.

Many Belgian coins have the Brussels mintmark - the head of an angel (St. Michael, patron of Brussels), and at the top

Hitler appropriated it since he needed to give a historical base to his Arian theory. He based his manipulated philosophy on the Aryans of india and their concepts of purity and caste

Well, he did not consider the swastika to be particularly Indian, that is for sure.   After all, regardless of where that symbol was "born", it had been in use in many parts of the world for many years. In the late 19c/early 20c it was fairly widely used, partly by organizations that were against old style multi-national monarchies and favored "ethnically purified" nation states, but also by people who could be considered body and sun worshippers. In any case, one of the main reasons why the nazis picked the swastika was a simple one: They wanted a logo for their party/movement that was easy to recognize, with or without color or other elements.

Christian

[paisepagal]

Well, he did not consider the swastika to be particularly Indian, that is for sure.   After all, regardless of where that symbol was "born", it had been in use in many parts of the world for many years. In the late 19c/early 20c it was fairly widely used, partly by organizations that were against old style multi-national monarchies and favored "ethnically purified" nation states, but also by people who could be considered body and sun worshippers. In any case, one of the main reasons why the nazis picked the swastika was a simple one: They wanted a logo for their party/movement that was easy to recognize, with or without color or other elements.....
Christian

Like many indians and our perversed fascination for germany (read WWII nazi germany), I wondered what this whole Arian concept of the Nazi's was about.....of course, their take of history was fuzzy and obviously manipulated for their convinience, but they indeed significantly based it on the Aryan race that eventually settled in India (I don't say the Aryan's were Indian, so I don't see why anyone should confuse the two)...certain fairly high ranking Nazi idealogues (as well as Klu Klux Clan members later on) were sent to india to "study" the caste system....a very vedic & Aryan legacy that pertains to racial segregation and superiority (their simplistic observations was that higher caste and north indians tended to be fairer and better built & more brahmin, than lower caste & dravidians from the south). Hitler of course, considered the descendants of Aryans in India and elsewhere as unpure, and added his own dimension of Nordicism (guess he really liked blond hair and blue eyes)...my point is that the Swastika was chosen because it has a defininte connection with everything I just said (and unlikely because you randomly find it in other places)....and it helps that it is easily recognisable (I don't suppose it was in widespread use in Germany at the time). 
Well this is my take from where I sit in Bombay (and I wouldn't mind hearing a european/german take on this in another thread perhaps)...Aryan in Sanskrit means "Noble" (Arya)...is "Arian" or "Aryan" even a word in german ? 

[<k>]

Hitler of course, considered the descendants of Aryans in India and elsewhere as unpure, and added his own dimension of Nordicism (guess he really liked blond hair and blue eyes)

Hitler would have regarded blond hair and blue eyes as the highest purity of a "white man", because generally speaking only (some) white people aer likely to have blond hair and blue eyes. That is a generalism, of course, because they are known in other "races", e.g the Kurds - and our London mayor, who is distinctly blond, has Turkish ancestry.

[chrisild]

Like many indians and our perversed fascination for germany (read WWII nazi germany)

Don't worry. When it comes to reducing German history to twelve years, you are in "good" company. And if you look at the turn that this topic has taken lately ...

is "Arian" or "Aryan" even a word in german ? 

Not in the sense that they mean anything "general" such as noble. We have the noun "Arier" and the adjective "arisch". Both have for a fairly long time been used by, say, historians and linguists, not really by the general public. People such as Gobineau popularized the terms in a racist sense. If you use it over here these days, it often comes with some kind of disclaimer ...

By the way, the flag of the President of Finland has a "swastika" too. Inverted commas because the symbol has a different meaning there.

Christian

[<k>]

Don't worry. When it comes to reducing German history to twelve years, you are in "good" company. And if you look at the turn that this topic has taken lately ...

Christian

But it's all informative and enlightening, and relevant to the topic, so I hope nobody wants to move it to the living room.

[chrisild]

But it's all informative and enlightening, and relevant to the topic, so I hope nobody wants to move it to the living room.

Had I found an easy and obvious spot where the topic could be split, I would have done it. For the time being, let's leave everything where it is. And by the way, you showed (on the first page) an coin from Katanga - that is (as you will know) interesting for another reason too: The actual Katanga Crosses were used as a means of payment.

Christian

[ciscoins]

By the way, the flag of the President of Finland has a "swastika" too.

That's not such a big problem. But their airforce flag...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Suomen_ilmavoimien_esikunta.svg

[<k>]

Thailand, 10 baht, 1993. 

100th Anniversary of the Thai Red Cross.

[<k>]

Slovakia, 1994, 10 Korún.  Cross of Moravia Magna.

[$and€r]

France, 2 Franc 1993.

[paisepagal]

The mother teresa coin carries a cross too !

http://www.worldofcoins.eu/forum/index.php/topic,9865.msg66609.html#msg66609

[ciscoins]

Hungary, 50 forint 2006.