Birds of Paradise

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Birds of Paradise

The majority of the birds-of-paradise are found on the island of New Guinea, which is divided between Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, with a few species occurring in the Moluccas and eastern Australia.


See also: Exotic flying birds on coins
 
 

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The father and mother of all numismatic bird-of-paradise designs appears on the reverse of the German New Guinea set of 1894. Below is the 1 Mark coin, but the same bird-of-paradise design appeared on the 10 Pfennig, ½, 2 and 5 Mark coins. In 1895, gold coins denominated as 10 and 20 Marks carried the same design.

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In 1970 Indonesia issued a silver collector 200 rupiah coin that depicted a Greater Bird of Paradise.

 
 

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Indonesia's circulation 50 rupiah coin of 1971 also featured a Great Bird of Paradise.
 
 

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Trinidad and Tobago issued a circulation coin depicting a Greater Bird of Paradise in the 1970s.  The species was imported in 1909 and was not originally native to Trinidad.

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Papua New Guinea's coat of arms, which appears on the obverse of all its coin, includes a Greater Bird of Paradise. The country issued its first national coinage in 1975. A special 10 kina collector coin was also issued in that year, and the reverse showed a Greater Bird of Paradise in flight.

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Papua New Guinea issued a gold 100 kina coin in 1976, commemorating its first year of independence. The obverse showed a highly stylised version of a Bird of Paradise.

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In 1994 Papua New Guinea issued a silver 5 kina and a gold 50 kina coin, both bearing an updated version of the Bird of Paradise design first used on the German New Guinea coinage of 100 years earlier.

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To finish, above is the obverse of a collector 5 kina coin of 1997, issued by Papua New Guinea, showing a rather different depiction of the Bird of Paradise in the coat of arms.

[mrbadexample]

German New Guinea 2 marks: bird of paradise. This little beauty sold at a recent auction for £1700+20%. A similar ½ mark went for £800+. Sadly, not to me. I think it's stunning.

[malj1]

Yes all these Bird of Paradise types from German New Guinea are always eagerly sought after by Australian collectors and consequently achieve high prices.

[Oklahoman]

Most Nepali kingdom coins that depict the assassinated king show him wearing a crown with plumes of the bird of paradise.