Coin sets featuring mainly sea creatures

Started by <k>, April 05, 2021, 06:52:34 PM

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<k>



Singapore issued its first national coinage, known as the marine series, in 1967.

Unusually, the obverse sides of the coins carry no legends or numerals.

1c.    Fountain in front of high-rise flat block.   
5c.    Great white egret.                       
10c.  Great crowned seahorse.                   
20c.  Swordfish.                               
50c.  Firefish.                                 
$1.   Squinte - the mythical merlion.           

Designer: Stuart Devlin.


See also:

1] Circulation coins where one side has neither text nor numerals.

2] Coinage of Singapore.
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See: The Royal Mint Museum.

<k>

#1



























Tuvalu issued a national coinage in 1976 and became independent from Britain in 1978.

It was formerly known as the Ellice Islands. Nowadays it uses the Australian dollar.

The designs were all devoted to sea life.


1c.    Lambis shell.
2c.    Stingray.
5c.    Tiger shark.
10c.  Crab.
20c.  Flying fish.
50c.  Octopus.
$1.  Turtle.

Designer: John Donald.  Modeller: Avril Vaughan.
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See: The Royal Mint Museum.

<k>

#2




The images of these coins are not to scale.


In 1981 Iceland issued a design series devoted to sea life.

The reverse of the series depicted Iceland's mythological spirits.

See also: Icelandic marine series, 1981 to date. 


5   aurar.    Eagle.     Reverse: Common skate.
10 aurar.    Bull.        Reverse: Flying squid.
50 aurar.    Dragon.   Reverse: Deep-sea prawn.
1   krona.   Giant.      Reverse: Cod.
5   kronur.  Spirits.    Reverse: Dolphins.
10 kronur.  Spirits.    Reverse: Capelin fish (Mallotus villosus).
50 kronur.  Spirits.    Reverse: Shore crab.
100 kronur.  Spirits.   Reverse: Lumpfish (Cyclopterus lumpus)

Designer: Throstur Magnusson.
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See: The Royal Mint Museum.

<k>

#3
Brazil released a short-lived set in 1992 of three sea life designs. 

The steel coins were very small and the designs were in low relief, but nevertheless they possess a certain charm.






1992. 100  cruzeiros.   Manatee.
1992. 500  cruzeiros.   Leatherback sea turtle.
1992. 1000 cruzeiros.  Two acarĂ¡ angelfish.

Designer: Gloria Dias.
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See: The Royal Mint Museum.

<k>

#4



In 1985 the British Virgin Islands released a set of collector coins that looked like a circulation set.

In fact, BVI uses the US dollar and these coins never circulated. They were produced by the Franklin Mint.

See: Official "circulation-like" sets.





1 cent.  Turtle.





5 cents.  Bonito fish.





10 cents.  Barracudas.





25 cents.  Blue marlin.





50 cents.  Dolphinfish (Coryphaena hippurus) - not a dolphin.





$1.  Butterfly fish.


BVI 1985.jpg
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See: The Royal Mint Museum.

<k>

#5
Keeling-Cocos Islands tokens 2004.jpg

The Keeling-Cocos or Cocos (Keeling) official tokens of 2004.

Text by Joel Anderson, coin dealer.

The issue was authorised by the Cocos (Keeling) Shire council in 2000 and the council signed a contract with a firm in the United States to produce and distribute the coins. That firm was subsequently acquired by a German firm, which then went through some management upheavals. One of the two principals left the firm as did the person that was originally responsible for negotiating the contract. After sitting on the back burner, the project finally went forward in 2004 and the coins were made. A substantial portion of the mintage was purchased by an Australian firm.

Like previous Keeling-Cocos issues, the coins are technically tokens. They are for use on the islands, and are not considered legal tender issues. This is to avoid problems with the Australian government, which now owns the Islands.

The circulation issues include the 5, 10, 20, 50 cents, $1, $2 and $5 coins. There was also a commemorative silver $10 coin and commemorative $100 gold coin issued to honour Charles Darwin's visit to the Islands in 1836. The silver and gold coins are sold out. The circulation coins are approximately the same diameter as their respective Australian coins.

The circulation issues were struck at the Roger Williams Mint in Massachusetts. The fish side (reverse) were designed by Laurel Rogers. Her initials LR appear in the design. The tree side (obverse) was designed by Joseph Lang.

The 5 cent is struck in nickel-plated brass and depicts the Thorny Seahorse, Hippocampus histrix. The Thorny Seahorse is a large but delicate species with long, sharp, highly developed spines. This species has a distinctive long snout which often has several bands around it. Their colour ranges from pastel pink to brown. Pale splotches along the body are common, as are small dark spots. They often live amongst sponges and soft corals and are usually found along the external edges of Western Pacific reefs, between 5 and 30 meters in depth.

The 10 cent, also struck in nickel-plated brass shows one of the world's most poisonous snakes, the Yellow-bellied Sea Snake, Pelamus platurus. The Yellow-bellied Sea Snake is found all over the Indian and Pacific oceans from eastern Africa to Australia and across the Pacific all the way to the Americas in subtropical waters. They prefer shallow inshore waters were they feed during the day and spend nights on the ocean bottom, occasionally rising to the surface to breath. They can dive to maximum depths of 15 meters and can stay submerged for up to 3.5 hours. These snakes are poorly suited for land and are relatively helpless when washed ashore. These fairly mild-mannered carnivorous creatures can occur in huge aggregations with varying male to female ratios, and numbering in the thousands.

The 20 Cents is again struck in nickel-plated brass and portrays the Lion Fish, Pterois lunulata. The Lion Fish, also known as the Turkey Fish, or Fire Fish (Pterois), is any of several species of striped Indo-Pacific fish of the scorpion fish family, Scorpaenidae. Lion Fish are noted for their
venomous fin spines, which are capable of producing painful, though rarely fatal, puncture wounds. The fishes have enlarged pectoral fins and elongated dorsal fin spines, and each species bears a particular pattern of  bold, zebra like stripes. When disturbed, the fish spread and display their fins and, if further pressed, will present and attack with the dorsal spines.

The twelve-sided 50 Cents is again struck in nickel-plated brass has shows the Ornate Butterflyfish, Chaetodon ornatissimus, swimming over a coral reef. The Ornate Butterflyfish is easily recognised by its colour pattern. It usually has six oblique orange stripes on the body, and black and yellow bars on the head. Between the eyes is a greyish triangular mark. The tail has two black bars. This species can grow to 18cm in length. It feeds on coral polyps. The Ornate Butterflyfish is found in tropical marine waters throughout the Indo-Pacific.

The dollar is struck in brass and shows the Black-crowned Night-Heron, Nycticorax Nycticorax. The Black-Crowned Night heron is an aptly named bird. They are inactive by day, spending their time in the rookery, roosting in trees. But as night falls, the Black-Crowned Night Heron
emerges and can be heard making its loud, croak-like call. The Black-Crowned Night Heron's scientific name, Nycticorax- "Night Raven" stems from its croaking cry. They often make their nests high in the trees, yet their nests are haphazardly built by piling sticks and twigs on a
supporting branch. Because the nests are not secured, it is common to see many eggs, young and whole nests blown out of the trees by a mild storm.

The 2 Dollars is also struck in brass and depicts a Wedge-tailed Shearwater, Puffinus pacificus flying over Open Ocean. The Wedge-tailed Shearwater is found throughout the Indian and Pacific Oceans. They are Dark brown to brownish-grey above with white under parts and dark wing margins with a wedge-shaped tail and a slender, slate-grey hooked bill. They have a wingspan of 97-104cm and normally live 10-11 years in the wild. Due to the loud groans and wails the birds make, island residents refer to them as the "moaning bird". They feed on the larval forms of goat fish, mackerel, and flying squid. Wedge-tails nest in shallow burrows, one to two meters in length and the female lays a single, large, white egg at the end of burrow during the breeding season.

The 5 Dollars is bimetallic with a brass center surrounded by a stainless steel ring. The Great White Shark, Charcharadon charcharias is seen on this issue. White sharks are predatory animals that begin life by feeding on fish, rays, and other sharks, and as they grow, switch to feeding on
marine mammals and scavenging on large animal carcasses. Their first mammalian prey is usually the small harbour seal, but as the sharks increase in size, they become large enough to eat sea lions, elephant seals, and small toothed whales. Attack strategy consists of a swift, surprise attack from below, inflicting a large, potentially fatal bite. Large white sharks will also scavenge on the carcasses of whale sharks, and on the fat-rich blubber layer of dead whales. They will occasionally feed on sea turtles and sea otters, and are known to attack humans.

Authorised mintages of the coins:-

5c 60,000
10c 60,000
20c 30,000
50c 25,000
$1 20,000
$2 20,000
$5 23,000

Of these, 5000 of each have been reserved for use in packaged mint sets. There have been authorised 500 Proof sets. These have not yet been released. I do not know even if they have been struck
Visit the website of The Royal Mint Museum.

See: The Royal Mint Museum.

<k>



In 2008 Tristan da Cunha issued a collector set that was meant to look like a circulation set. However, it did not circulate, and the sizes of the coins and  some of the denominations do not in any case correspond to those of the UK. The designs featured marine life.

I stress that this is NOT a circulation set: it is an official TDC collector set only.
Visit the website of The Royal Mint Museum.

See: The Royal Mint Museum.

<k>



Tristan da Cunha issued a marine life collector set, dated 2011, in honour of its uninhabited island, Nightingale Island. Remember that, though this set is an official issue from TDC, these pieces were intended for collectors only and did NOT circulate. TDC is a British overseas territory and uses British coins and banknotes only.

See: Tristan da Cunha: Collector pieces.
Visit the website of The Royal Mint Museum.

See: The Royal Mint Museum.