Tribal art and extinct civilisations

[<k>]

Mexico, 50 centavos, 1950.  The Aztec king, Cuauhtemoc.

[<k>]

Mexico, 50 centavos, 1971.  The Aztec king, Cuauhtemoc.

[<k>]

Mexico, 5 pesos, 1981. 

Quetzalcoatl, the ancient feathered serpent god of pre-Columbian times.

[villa66]

Mexico, 50 centavos, 1971.  The Aztec king, Cuauhtemoc.

With a denomination rendered verbally rather than numerically, a not uncommon feature of Mexican coinage over the years. Here I think its use effectively communicates the coin's face value at the same time the words provide an attractive frame for the portrait--without additional visual distraction. And the "cincuenta centavos" doesn't seem too difficult to puzzle out, either.

v.

[chrisild]

As for the use of words instead of numbers, I have no idea whether that was "difficult to puzzle out" for Mexicans. (Then again, even back in the 1970s they did not have any odd combos such as "un décimo" or "cuarto peso".) In any case, I guess they had their reasons for using digits instead since ~1985. So for almost 30 years, numbers (or both numbers and words) have been used on all Mexican circulation coins to indicate the face value.

And if we wanted to list all Mexican coins that have references to pre-Columbian culture, this topic would soon have dozens of pages. So here is one from a little further north that I do not have yet (should get it in a few weeks, image from iccoin.com) but find attractive ...

Christian

[<k>]

Aboriginal civilisations are celebrated elsewhere too. New Zealand, 1 shilling, 1935.  Maori warrior.

[<k>]

Australia, 2 dollars, 2005. Aboriginal elder.

[<k>]

Jersey, 10 pence, 1983.  The Dolmen at Faldouet, St. Martin.

At the end of the second ice age Jersey became an island when the land that once made it a part of France was flooded. Neolithic people from the Mediterranean started to move north through France, up to the coast of Brittany, and eventually settlements appeared around the coast of Jersey. These early settlers came from a megalthic tradition of erecting stone monuments, known locally as dolmens or menhirs. They also introduced 'passage' graves that led from a narrow entrance and passage way to a burial chamber.

[<k>]

UK, 5 pound collector coin.  Stonehenge.

[<k>]

Malta, 5 cents, 2008.  Mnajdra temple. 

From Wikipedia:

Mnajdra is a megalithic temple complex found on the southern coast of Malta.

It was built around the fourth millennium BCE.

The Megalithic Temples of Malta are amongst the most ancient religious sites on Earth.

They are described by the World Heritage Sites committee as "unique architectural masterpieces."

[<k>]

Egypt: the Sphinx and the Pyramids.

[<k>]

Mexico, 20 centavos, 1954. 

The Pyramid of the Sun at Teotihuacan.

The volcanoes Popocatepetl and Ixtaccihuatl are seen in the background.

[villa66]

...odd combos such as "un décimo" or "cuarto peso".)

"Odd combos?" Seem like common cross-cultural cognates to me.

v.

[villa66]

Australia, 2 dollars, 2005. Aboriginal elder.

An example, in my own mind, of how the visual aspect of a number spoils the impact of a coin design. Of course a coin is a tool to be used rather than artwork for mere appreciation or display, but I do think this piece is a good example of the havoc a numerically-represented denomination can play with design.

v.

[villa66]

Mexico, 20 centavos, 1954.  The Pyramid of the Sun at Teotihuacan, with the volcanoes Popocatepetl and Ixtaccihuatl in the background.

This coin, on the other hand, is a design masterpiece--at least I've never heard a word uttered against it, and that's something. The liberty cap, the sun-rays and the numerical denomination are perfect complements to one another.

But note, where the subject is ancient and indigenous art, the real story of this coin is the evolution of its "eagle side." Personally I prefer the eagle of 1943-55, and I thought the design lost a lot with the revised eagle of 1955-71, but it's actually the third version of the eagle, coined 1971-74, which is most locally authentic. I had thought it was modern art, but it wasn't. Instead it was quite ancient.

v.