Post A Boring Or Uninspired Coin

Who says designs get better with age?



The post-war zinc issue of the 1, 2 and 5 øre coins weren't that beautiful either. Same design for all three denominations.


Lastly, the reverse design of the Transnistrian 1, 5 and 10 Kopeyek are pretty uninspiring. C'mon, Times New Roman?

Here's mine: http://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces3073.html

I passed on an example of this type earlier today, because it somehow manages to look boring and ugly.
(And an awful great lot like one of these fantasy nation issues. I could hardly believe that this is a real coin of a real country).

I don't know why, but I see the 1980-2002 Belgian 20 Francs boring, mainly back. I have 2 of those coins, and meanwhile the front has a pretty decent floral design (which in Albert II version was changed which I can understand, but it was changed to rather boring plain look, the back is nothihng more than a portrait of King Baudouin or Albert II (which was introduced in 1994, a year after death of King Baudouin), and don't take me wrong, I have nothing against these portraits or these people in particular, it's the rest of the reverse that I think is rather dull. I mean couldn't they have put something like motto or a quote from the King. In the Albert II version they have decided to put "Albert II" and a line in addition to the portrait, but it doesn't help too much, the back is just way to empty in my opinion:

Did I miss something?

These things were minted for 5 years. Then, a smaller and more quickly-corroding version was introduced... with the same design (or should we say, lack of design). Fortunately, it lasted just for 2 years, as hyperinflation did away with the whole denomination.



There were matching 20s, too.

Having Dutch blood in me, I'm not insulted.

As you may recall from the Eurovision of the last 30 years or so, Dutch have a different opinion on what's hip and cool than the rest of the world. These coins weren't made by republicans, nor were they designed in a very short time span. In fact, after Juliana abdicated in 1980, it took until 1982 before new coins were minted and circulated. No coins were minted in 1981.

So, this was modern design according to the Dutch in 1980. It's actually very much referring to a worldwide known Dutch art style simply known as 'De Stijl' ('The Style'), of which probably Mondriaan and Rietveld are the best known proponents. for the Euro coins, they kept the basis of this design on the biggest pieces.

One of the difficulties with the coins, especially the rijksdaalders (2.5 gulden) is that they're quite big and have a lot of high and flat surfaces. They get hit, scratched and dented easily, resulting in coins that look like they already had a tough life before they were born, so to say. Trust me, if some people in this world are occupied with the value of money, it's the Dutch, so don't expect them to have had a secret torture chamber for coins or so.

Anyway, for boring coins, I think I'd like to refer to quite a few, actually.

First, there's Moldova. For example these pieces:
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces3095.html
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces4746.html
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces4747.html

Apart from being utterly boring, they're also utterly stupid. The different denominations are struck in the same metal, the same shape and also about the same diameter. That doesn't just make the individual coins boring, but the whole currency. And troublesome, as you really have to check every coin that you want to spend or receive.

Second would be the current coins of neighboring Romania:

https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces6270.html
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces2671.html
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces4101.html
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces4768.html

They're plain, dull and utterly uninspired. At least they used some different metals and sizes to keep the coins recognizable and to add some variation to the currency.

Then there's Malaysia, for good reasons.

https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces1657.html
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces995.html
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces2089.html

Of all the historical people and landmarks they could have chosen for their coins, they decided to depict a rather dull, generic, uninspired piece of concrete... Sure it's their parliament building, but that doesn't automatically make it equally inspiring as the Sydney Opera house to look at. And especially not inspiring enough to put onto almost all the denominations.

A 'honorable mention' for Cape Verde. Fortunately, it's only the reverses that are utterly boring and uninspired. Just look at this example:

https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces10056.html

Another 'honorable mention' goes to Bosnia & Herzegovina. No need to explain.

https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces3073.html

Next one comes from the UAE. After visiting the country I actually have to admit that this is the most interesting historical artifact to be found there... it still makes for a dull coin, though! Or would the designer just have been sitting there in his atelier, lacking inspiration until he took a cup?

https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces2958.html


And of course this one:

https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces1508.html

Just because, as a good Norwegian, I need to have Sweden in the list.