Author Topic: Turtles and tortoises on coins (Read 435114 times)

Galapagos · « **on:** October 19, 2008, 06:23:41 PM »

Quote from: Figleaf on October 19, 2008, 04:48:43 PM

Here is another country that has never put its most famous plant on its coins. The imaginatively shaped coco de mer (guess which is the flower and which the fruit). You are much more likely to find the (Galapagos take note) giant turtle on a Seychelles coin.

Clown Prince of Smurfland

Disgraceful! Now you want to see plants humping on coins! Is there no end to the decadence of these Dutchmen?!

Anyway, just like the creature on the coins, I'm a giant tortoise, not a turtle. I suppose you'll be saying, "Oh - you all look the same to me!"

Species-ist!

Disgruntled,

Galapagos.

P.S. The 5 rupees does show the coco-de-mer palm tree.

Figleaf · « **Reply #1 on:** October 19, 2008, 07:48:58 PM »

This seems to be a semantic problem in English. As a determined city dweller, I know turtles only from neck sweaters and soup. However, in order to re-gruntle you, I have made a quick study of "Testudines on coins". What would a toitle collection look like:

KM uses both "tortoise" and "turtle", but seems to be confused about the difference. Some Seychelles coins, for instance, are described as showing a tortoise (KM29), others get the label turtle (KM20, 59-61, 72). A similar mixup took place in the Cook Islands section.

Turtles are, unsurprisingly, a pseudo coin thing, but they do occur on real coins as well. The list (not counting classical coins, where turtles do occur, but including tortoises) is:

Cape Verde, KM 27, 1 escudo
Cayman Islans, KM 3, 28, 89, 133, 10 cents
Cook Islands, KM 41, 50 tene
Fiji, KM 3, 8, 11, 11a, 6 pence
Malaysia, KM 39, 1 ringgit (a turtle cartoon character!)
Maldive Islands, KM 72, 50 laari
Papua New Guinea, KM 3, 5 toea
Saint Helena, KM 22, 5 pence
Saint Helena and Ascension, KM 5, 16, 50 pence
Seychelles, KM 19, 28, 37, 52, 1 and 10 rupees
Tonga, KM 4, 5, 27, 28, 1 and 2 seniti
Tuvalu, KM 7, 1 dollar

Where some of the above may not have circulated also.

As can be seen, turtle coins are primarily a British Commonwealth micro state thing. The same goes for the pseudo coins. I found 24 states with turtle pseudo coins, 14 of which were former British colonies. The longest series of turtle pseudo coins was issued in the name of Palau (KM 30-34, 45). The European countries on the list are Cyprus, Hungary and Turkey. Africa is represented by Ascension, Liberia, Saint Helena,Sao Tomé, Somalia and Zambia. Latin Amerca contributed by Aruba, Bermuda, Brazil, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Costa Rica, Mexico and Panama (an interesting non-figurative turtle design). Asia and Australasia's turtle countries are the Cook Islands, Malaysia, the Maldive Islands, Palau, the Seychelles Tonga and Tuvalu.

Trivia question: on which of these coins is the word Galapagos

Peter

translateltd · « **Reply #2 on:** October 19, 2008, 11:06:29 PM »

No-one's mentioned the tortoise shinning up a palm tree (great idea, shame about the reality) on the Scottish 30s "dollars" of Mary and Darnley in the 1560s. The tortoise being the point of the design with the highest relief tends to wear away into a blob at an early stage, unfortunately ...

africancoins · « **Reply #3 on:** October 20, 2008, 08:13:42 PM »

Back to continents.... Seychelles - Asia ? Really ?

Continents are about the plates and structure of the earth - that could well put Seychelles as neither Africa nor Asia.

Seychelles (like Mauritius) is a member of the African Union.

Thanks Mr Paul Baker

Afrasi · « **Reply #4 on:** October 20, 2008, 09:27:17 PM »

Hello! On Mauritius there is an Indian majority: 53%!!! Everywhere are Hindu temples. On the Seychelles they are only 4,7%. Also there live a Chinese minority in both countries. So they are culturally more or less a little bit Asians. Politically they are Africans of course. And geologically? Sorry! Not my business ...

Afrasi

Galapagos · « **Reply #5 on:** December 04, 2008, 08:31:27 PM »

The giant tortoise who appears on the reverse of the 1998 St. Helena-Ascension 5p coin is an actual individual, known on the islands as Jonathan. I had thought I'd read somewhere that he had died, and I mentioned this in another thread. This is apparently not the case, however. See the following link to read about Jonathan:-

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/could-this-be-the-worlds-oldest-living-creature-1050578.html

Images below © Daniel's Coin Zoo.

Figleaf · « **Reply #6 on:** December 04, 2008, 08:44:14 PM »

It depends on how you define "living". There are several trees in the Leiden university botanic gardens that are significantly older (and less grumpy-looking) than Jonathan. Some pre-date US independence ...

Peter

africancoins · « **Reply #7 on:** December 04, 2008, 08:46:36 PM »

>>It depends on how you define "living". There are several trees in the Leiden university botanic gardens that are significantly older (and less grumpy-looking) than Jonathan. Some pre-date US independence ...<<

But a tree is not a "creature".

Thanks Mr Paul Baker

lusomosa · « **Reply #8 on:** December 21, 2008, 10:44:25 AM »

Here are two very old Greek coins from the island of Aegina/Aigina.
The oldest coin from about 510 BC shows a sea turtle.
Later after the island was conquered by Athens in 456BC,the sea turtle ( symbol of the islands sea power ) was changed into a land tortoise.
Perhaps because Athens wanted to tell the world that Aegina is no longer free at sea, but became dependent on a land power.

LP

Figleaf · « **Reply #9 on:** December 21, 2008, 12:32:42 PM »

Gems, Lusomosa. They show clearly how the Greeks were not interested in piling up coins and very interested in an arresting design. If I could start over collecting and have a whole lot more money to spend I would collect Greek coins. The design on the other side reminds me of the valley of the windmills on Crete. Hundreds of them in all sizes, all nicely dressed up in white, triangular sails. And they say the Netherlands is the country of windmills ...

Peter

<k> · « **Reply #10 on:** July 14, 2010, 01:39:57 AM »

Let's not forget the classic Fiji sixpence, showing a turtle design by Percy Metcalfe. Mr Metcalfe was also responsible for the so-called "Irish barnyard designs" of the 1920s Irish Free State.

Figleaf · « **Reply #11 on:** July 14, 2010, 01:51:09 AM »

I think it was mentioned before ... In general, I do like Metcalfe's work, but this one is an exception. The turtle has no depth, making you wonder whether it's a heraldic device or an ingredient for soup, put on its back so it won't leave the kitchen any time soon.

Peter