Personifications on coins

[chrisild]

The individual equivalent of armes parlantes, so to say.   Yes, a not so nice way of depicting somebody whose portrait is unknown. Then again, the coin is kind of odd anyway. It was issued basically to fill the pockets of a coin dealer - L.W. Hoffecker from El Paso, TX who later became president of the American Numismatic Association ... See here for example.

Christian

[Figleaf]

Yes! Armes parlantes brings back more "reverse personifications". Indeed, it's not complimentary to be compared with the reverse of a cow's ass, but change the animal and the effect is different. Here is a German coin for Heinrich der Löwe, whose nickname means "the lion". No portrait of him either, so a coin of his reign was taken for inspiration. BTW, anyone knowledgable in Indian medieval coins would recognise those sun and moon symbols.

Peter

[Destrans]

The Lusitânia in one medal (the one pointing to the sea)



Os Lusíadas, Portuguese epic poem by Luís Vaz de Camões



The Atlantic Ocean

[chrisild]

No portrait of him either, so a coin of his reign was taken for inspiration.

Almost.   The designer of the coin said that he took the lion from the cloak of Heinrich's son Otto, king and later emperor of the HRE. See this image; but of course Heinrich's lion can also be found on bracteates and other coins ...

Now the sun and the moon are symbols of power. What is interesting, I think, is that Pope Innocence III interpreted them quite differently shortly after Heinrich had died: The emperor/king is the moon that gets its light from the sun. Guess who, in his opinion, is the sun ...

Christian

[Gusev]

France, 20 Francs, 1938.

[FosseWay]

I'm sure you can find a real Frenchwoman called Marianne somewhere... 

[Gusev]

Sophie Marceau

You have the right to remove the coin.

Yes, the official busts of Marianne initially had anonymous features, appearing as women of the people.
But from 1969 however they began to take on the features of famous women, starting with the actress Brigitte Bardot. She was followed by Michele Morgan (1972), Mireille Mathieu (1978), Catherine Deneuve (1985), Inès de la Fressange (1989), Laetitia Casta (2000), Évelyne Thomas (2003) and Sophie Marceau (2012).

[<k>]

Gibraltar, 2 pounds, 2001.  Britannia. 

300th anniversary of the Union Flag.

[<k>]

Meet Marianne and the Many Faces of the French Republic.