Amazing Numismatic "Factoids" ... Post One

I don't consider models to be "real" insofar as "oh, it's really so-and-so on this coin." If we're saying that, then the Sherlock Holmes stories need to be rewritten to be about Dr. Joseph Bell, for example, and we need to rename a certain billion-dollar company in the comics world to "Downey Industries" instead of Stark. Models--and I say this as somebody who used to sit for friends who were animation majors (I've been Alice in Wonderland, the Mad Hatter, half a dozen original characters and Mickey and Minnie Mouse)--are not the people you see in the end product. I'm blonde and wear headbands, but I'm not Alice, and I'm certainly not Mickey. The women who sat for Liberty had certain things in common with the final product, but none of them are Liberty.

And yeah, I didn't count commems. There are so many of those, and the very existence of the First Spouse coins would make the factoid irrelevant if we counted commems. As for Helen Keller, you guys DO know, of course, that there are three kinds of people: Those who can count, and those who can't.


Here's another: Although the buffalo made a reappearance on our nickels in 2005, there are college-educated people who do not recognise the original Indian/buffalo nickel as US coinage. I've met four of them.

Excellent information, january1may!

That is correct.

From the US MINT website

On the reverse, the bundle of sticks with the hatchet

That's a bundle of sticks? I thought it was a column. Clearly I need to look closer.

My interesting fact:

In the UK, the only circulating coinage is 1p, 2p, 5p, 10p, 50p, £1 and £2 coins. However, other legal tender coins are available, but tend to be filtered out of circulation as soon as they are used, these include:

3p, 4p, 25p and £5 coins. There are other coins made of gold worth other sums, for example, the Sovereign can be used and has a face value of £1. There is a £50 coin, the Britannia. All of these can be used, but due to the metal content, are immediately withdrawn, either by the person who took them at the till or the mint retrieves them. This is why no-one gets 25p coins in change - the Crown contains more than 25p worth of Cupro-Nickel and the Quarter Sovereign contains more than 25p worth of Gold.

the fasces was also seen on French coins, in the years after the Revolution. in the WW2 Vichy-era, the Etat Francais coins had an axe, and another feature.

regarding 3p & 4p coins of the UK: this would be the Maundy Money:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maundy_money

and here's my factoid: the first English coin to bear its denomination was the 1799 farthing.

Basebal: Each year, the monarch does a Maundy ceremony and a set of coins, 1p, 2p, 3p and 4p coins are produced in silver. These silver coins, being minted at the time and for ceremonial purposes, are legal tender. Yeah, you can get silver 1 pennies, but they are as rare as the 4ps. Due to tradition also, the maundy 3p is identical in design to the pre 1927 pre decimal silver 3p, which meant the mint was forced to keep this as legal tender. Not that you would use it!

As for the 25p coin, they were produced as commemeratives, for example, a medallion of churchill. Many people do not know they are legal tender as it is not on the coin (it says no where that it can be spent and 25p isn't on it), but they are, as they match the old pre decimal crown and are valued as such. Due to Cupronickel now costing more than 25p for such a coin, the same size and weight is now used for £5 coins and as such 25p coins are no longer minted, but remain legal tender.

£5 coins are still minted and supposedly can be traded for regular £5 notes, but good luck trying that, as you have to be the head of a post office to order them at face value from the mint.