Circulation sets with one misfit design

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Whether you think a set has a misfit design is a matter of opinion, of course.

Anyway, here is my first example.

The first circulation set of Singapore showed all animals.

Apart from the 1 cent, that is, which featured a flat block and fountain. Bizarre.

Of course, the Squinte - the mythical merlion - is not a real animal.

The others are, so there is a misfit there.

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Trinidad. Two birds, two flowers - and some steel drums. The drums are a nice design but don't fit.

Maybe one bird, one flower, one building, steel drums, and another varied design would have worked better.

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The first Zimbabwe coinage was a nice thematic set.

However, on the 1 cent coin the denomination took centre stage.

The leaves of the flame lily were restricted to the inner rim.

It spoilt the unity of the designs.

Maybe the designers thought the coin too small for a decent design.

See: Zimbabwe.

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The Ecuador 1988 set. The designs are not marvellous, but they could at least have found a pictorial design for the 50 centavos.

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South Sudan: three animals - and an oil rig. The oil rig says: "We're rich!" So how come so many of them don't wear clothes?

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10 centesimos.  Bernardo O'Higgins.
20 centesimos.  José Manuel Balmaceda.
50 centesimos.  Manuel Xavier Rodríguez Erdoíza.
1  escudo.      José Miguel Carrera .
5  escudos.     Lautaro.

Chile, circulation set, 1971 to 1972.

Here we see portraits of military leaders of European ethnicity.

The one exception occurs on the 5 escudos coin. Lautaro appears on horseback.

He was one of the Mapuche military leaders who opposed the Spaniards when they arrived in Chile


Each design is excellent in its own right, but was it a good idea to show Lautaro on horseback?

Even if the set had used a facial portrait of Lautaro, he would still have been the odd man out.

Perhaps the set should have included a greater mix of indigenous and European heroes, rather than just one token indigenous hero.

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Perhaps the set should have included a greater mix of indigenous and European heroes, rather than just one token indigenous hero.

Not that I know much about these pieces, but he was not the only one when it comes to what was planned. See here. However, the idea to mint a 2 escudos coin was apparently canceled ...

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Yes, it's a shame that the 2 escudos was not included in the set.

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ALBANIA.

1    lek.    Pelican.
5    leke.  Double-headed eagle.
10  leke.  Castle of Berat city.
20  leke.  Ancient ship + dolphin.
50  leke.  King Gent of Illyria on horseback.

The double-headed eagle is by now a traditional Albanian symbol.

Usually such state symbols are placed on the higher denominations.

Here it is placed on the 5 leke coin.

It sits between the thematic 1 lek and 10 leke designs.

It just looks wrong in that position.

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SUDAN.

Here we see a similar situation with a Sudanese set.

If a coin series for a republic includes the coat of arms (or national emblem), usually it falls into one of these three categories:

1] The coat of arms appears on all the obverses.

2] The coat of arms appears on two or three of the highest denominations.

3] The coat of arms appears on the highest denomination only.
On the current Sudan series, first issued in 2006, the national emblem does not appear on the highest denomination or any of the higher denominations. Nor does it even appear on the lowest denomination. It is squeezed between the 1 piastre and 10 piastres. The 5 piastres coin on which it appears is only 18.3 mm in diameter. Was this meant to downgrade the importance of the state? South Sudan seceded officially only a few years later, in 2011.

Not only that, but the 5 piastres coin, with its heraldic design, is squeezed between the different thematic designs that appear on the other coins. A thematic set usually reserves the highest denomination for the coat of arms / national emblem.


Sudan, 1 piastre, 2006.



The other coins in the set.

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Portugal.  Design series of 1986.

Portugal issued a new design series in 1986.

You see the reverses in the image above.


Curiously, the nickel-brass coins show the denomination on the reverse.

Yet the copper-nickel coins show it on the obverse only.

Where is the consistency here?


But my real point concerns the reverse designs themselves.

Four of them show intricate decorative motifs.

Yet the 50 escudos design features a medieval ship.


Why the discrepancy? Thematic design continuity.

Since the 1930's, Portugal's coins always included a ship design.

The ships wove a thread of continuity through the coinage.

It was a long-standing tradition, like Britannia on the UK coins.

THEMATIC DESIGN CONTINUITY




Portugal, 10 escudos, 1954. 




Portugal, 5 escudos, 1972. 




Portugal, 50 escudos, 1986.

RELATED TOPICS

Portugal's final pre-euro coin series

Numismatic heritage: overview

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1    lek.    Pelican.
5    leke.  Double-headed eagle.
10  leke.  Berat citadel.
20  leke.  Ancient ship + dolphin.
50  leke.  King Gent of Illyria on horseback.

For me, the pelican is the misfit. All the others show themes from the middle ages or antiquity.

Peter

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For me, the pelican is the misfit. All the others show themes from the middle ages or antiquity.

Peter

So the pelican is just a recent invention, then? No pelicans in the middle ages?