Anomalous coins, shortly before independence

[<k>]

In 1961, "Malaya and British Borneo" was a currency union of Malaya, British North Borneo, Sarawak, Brunei and Singapore.

[<k>]

In 1962 this coin was issued. No other such design was issued.

The following year, Malaya, Singapore, Sarawak and British North Borneo joined together as independent Malaysia.


See: The Coinage of Malaya.

[<k>]

In 1964, the currency union of East Africa issued these two anomalous coins, with the denominations in both English and Swahili. There was no Swahili on any of the other coins.


See: British Empire: East Africa and Uganda Protectorates.

[<k>]

This is what the coins usually looked like.

[<k>]

Do you know of any other such short-lived anomalies?

[Finn235]

India had few special designs from 1947 when independence was granted until 1950 when self-government started. I don't have any except the 1947 rupee, which I don't have a picture handy.

[<k>]

You mean this tiger, that appeared on the ¼, ½ and 1 rupee coins of 1946 and 1947 only.

Yes, a strange decision to issue a new design, so close to independence, which the British knew was coming.

[Finn235]

These are a bit of a grey area... technically tokens, they were struck on coin planchets and permitted to circulate to a limited degree.

http://www.rajgors.com/lotdetailssold.aspx?LotID=2435&auid=7

[<k>]

Thank you, I had never seen or heard of these. Money for an emergency, in effect.

[Finn235]

Not technically "independence" but at the dawn of the Meiji Restoration in 1868 it became evident that Japan had to modernize her monetary system, and opted for a Yen/Sen/Rin system pegged to the Spanish Dollar standard at 1 Yen = 1 Dollar. It would take 2 years to get the equipment ordered and employees trained, so a special issue of the traditional coinage was issued, with reduced fineness (Silver .968 -> .880; Gold .229 -> .223). The custom was to introduce changes to the calligraphy without changing the design itself, so on the 1 shu and 1 bu coins, "Jo" 常 was modified so that the top right stroke was straight and vertical. The gold 2 shu and 2 bu had the signature on the back very slightly modified. They were exchangeable for new coins until the 1890s.

4,000 mon = 16 shu = 4 bu = 1 yen
1 shu = 6.25 sen
2 bu = 50 sen

No bronze or iron coinage is definitively attributed to this time period. 1 shu silver are common, 1 bu silver are rare, 2 bu gold are common. I don't believe any Ryo are attributed to this time period, either.