Dhows and other sailing boats

[Galapagos]

I know very little about ships, boats, etc., but there are quite a few to be found on both circulation and NCLT coins. Myself, I prefer circulation coins.

Here is an attractive sailing boat design on a Pakistan coin of the early 1960s. Note the legend change from "FIVE PICE" to "5 PAISA". The figure five is shown in Arabic form on the mast - a nice touch.

There is also a later variation of the coin from 1971. This time it has a European figure five on the mast, but there is no longer any European lettering on the design. Can anybody read what is written in the native language?

Notice also how the European Christian-era date has been replaced by a star. The date is now given on the obverse as "1971", in European figures.

[Harald]

All inscriptions say the same, just the denomination: "pānč paisã" in Urdu, "pāṁc paýasā" in Bengali. The latter was dropped after 1972 for obvious reasons. The switch-over from "pice" to "paisa" was a sort of de-colonialisation of languages.

cheers
--
Harald

[Galapagos]

This is another one-off ship/boat design. It's a 5 baisa from Muscat and Oman, issued in 1961, and depicting an Arab dhow. Presumably "baisa" is the same word as "paisa" or "pice" on the Pakistani coins. Arabic doesn't normally use the letter 'p', but Urdu does.  This probably explains the use of the b for this denomination.

The coin was produced by the Royal Mint and appears in its documents of the time, but unfortunately it doesn't tell who designed this attractive little coin.

[Bimat]

Arabic doesn't normally use the letter 'p', but Urdu does.  This probably explains the use of the b for this denomination.

Oman has coins denominated in Baisa.So,it is possible that both Baisa and Paisa have same meaning.

[andyg]

Here's a modern one from Lebanon.

Not a yacht in any meaning of the word, but a lateen rigged sloop.

Originally, a yacht was a light, fast two-master, tasked with distributing messages from the admiral to the captains of the ships in a commercial or military fleet. Being fast, it could catch up with the larger ships, hence the name, which comes from the Dutch "jacht" (hunting). Today, it is mostly applied to motorized pleasure craft in Dutch (cabin cruiser in English), while it is used indiscriminately to all kinds of (mostly expensive) sailing boats in English.

Originally a sloop was a workboat on board a larger ship. It was used to get crew to shore ferry supplies to the ship, as a lifeboat or to catch fish (from setting out nets to harpooning whales), while based on a mother ship. They sometimes, but not very often, carried mast and sail. Today, in English, a sloop is a simple, one-masted boat with two sails, a head sail and a main sail. The main sail is often "square", but the sloop on the coin has a latin (triangular) sail aft. In Dutch, a sloep is still a rowing boat.

Peter

[<k>]

A ship and a boat together. An exotically Arab design from Djibouti: 10 francs, 1999.

[<k>]

French Somalia, 20 francs, 1952.   

[<k>]

Maldives, 1978.  Look at the octopus just under the sea. An octopus will often lie in wait for a couple of boats then climb on top of one, in order to predict who will win the World Cup. The boat sinks, people drown, but the octopus doesn't care, and the Germans just keep encouraging it.

[Figleaf]

Indeed, a boat, rather than a ship, probably a sailing canoe. Even in the Maldives, I expect that such craft are now motorized. The size of the octopus relative to the boat can still be explained away with "perspective", but the size of the fish swinging in the air relative to the boat is funny. I suppose the whole picture is meant metaphorically

Peter

[<k>]

Qatar, 50 dirhams, 1998.  Dhow.

[<k>]

Bahrain, 250 fils, 1969.

Fishing dow at anchor. The same type of boat under sail is here.

[<k>]

Senegal, 50 francs.

Sailing canoe, probably a fisherman. Similar sails are used in Sri Lanka and the Philippines (where they typically use outriggers for the boats. Very pretty rigging.

[<k>]

Maldives, 250 rufiyaa, 1996.

[<k>]

Oman, 1 rial, 1996. Badan dhow.

[<k>]

Oman, 50 riyals (gold), 1971.  Dhow.