Comments on "Modern coinage of São Tomé e Príncipe"

[<k>]

Parent topic:  Modern coinage of São Tomé e Príncipe.
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[Figleaf]

I have a book in my personal library entitled "Coins and identity". That title encapsulates in three words what these coins fail to do: support a São Tomé e Príncipe national identity. I am badly placed to make that criticism, because I know far too little of São Tomé e Príncipe to be able to make a proposal. I noted de Pico de São Tomé, but it's a background item where it appears. I saw the coat of arms, but they are basically a colonial device, as all heraldry in Africa.

Maybe "national identity" sounds trivial to you. It isn't. A common destiny is what keeps the peace, a feeling of not belonging or worse is a precursor to civil war. If you start fighting corruption and one group is perceived to be victimised or exempt, the fight is lost. If there is a crisis and feelings explode, rifts in the civil fabric can turn unrest into a fight of one tribe against another.

In the effort to establish a national identity, coins are important. If all they have to offer is exhortations to produce more food and cute agricultural export products, they are failures.

Peter

[<k>]

This is a small country with a tiny population. Probably it is easier for the population to feel united than disunited. I am however always surprised when former colonies choose to keep colonial paraphanalia. Fiji, for instance, has so far decided to keep its colonial flag and coat of arms, because too many Fijians are attached to them. There is no accounting for taste, but the views of the people, however conservative, usually have to be taken into consideration.

Furthermore, the population of São Tomé e Príncipe mostly speaks Portuguese or a creole version of it. We are told that the culture is a fusion of African and European influences. So perhaps the islanders are comfortable with that.

FAO-themed designs were popular with many non-Western countries in the 1970s. They are or were largely agricultural economies, and there is nothing wrong with that. If you include political statements on a coin, or these days even a reference to "God", then some people will object. Perhaps São Tomé e Príncipe has deliberately chosen non-controversial designs for its coins. Kenya has just recently replaced portraits of its presidents with designs featuring wildlife. That too is their choice.

I am English, and looking at the coins of the UK, with their Latin legends, you might think the Romans had never left Britain. So, on that basis, what right would I have to criticise the coin designs of São Tomé e Príncipe? 

[<k>]

I saw the coat of arms, but they are basically a colonial device, as all heraldry in Africa.

I would say that a coat of arms is no longer colonial. These symbols developed from medieval European heraldry and were certainly originally used by European countries. They were then imposed on Europe's colonial possessions. However, even after the death of empires, coats of arms went international. Other countries made them their own. São Tomé e Príncipe did not keep the colonial coat of arms but developed a radically new version.

In a similar way, the West, starting with the USA, took black music and made it their own by transforming it into pop and rock music. Black people developed jazz, not in Africa, but in the USA. Not all adoptions, whether coats of arms or music, should be considered as elements of pseudo-colonialism.

[WillieBoyd2]

Another coin with a turkey on it, the 1977 10 dobras coin.

[Big_M]

The reverse of the 10 dobras coin featured chickens, a goose, a turkey, and eggs.

The obverse (not shown) featured the coat of arms.

Based on the size of the bird, I would rather say it is a duck rather than a goose.

[<k>]

Based on the size of the bird, I would rather say it is a duck rather than a goose.

"Duck is the common name for a large number of species in the waterfowl family Anatidae which also includes swans and geese."

It could be either. I have seen geese with long necks and geese with shorter necks, so that the shorter-necked breeds look like ducks.