How Far Back Can We Go? Second Edition! Ended At 1492 Waiting On 1491

1944 D walker

Here's perhaps my favorite world coin from 1944--an Egypt 2 Piastres of King Farouk.
1944 is visible in Arabic numerals on the left side of the reverse.

Palestine 1944 1 mil

The 50 Francs is the only silver coin circulated in Belgian Congo. In 1944 the colonial administration was pretty much governing the country independently, while Belgium was occupied by Nazi Germany and the Belgian government in exile in London lacked credibility.

Colonies much contributed in obtaining the competitive edge for the arms industry, helping to win WW II. With ample exports of metals, varying from copper to uranium, Belgian Congo more than contributed its share.

Despite a mintage of one million, this silver coin has become hard to get.



In 1943 the elephant design of the obverse of this coin first made its appearance on a hexagonal 2 Francs coin, soon withdrawn because of a spelling mistake on the reverse. The popular design also continued to be used in the post-war era on smaller denominations minted in brass.

I did not have a 1945 coin, but I will return to the game with a 1944 Philippines 20 Centavos. My aunt gave this one to me for helping her to sort her coins. I'm not sure it is even worth 20 cents and it looks terrible in hand, but I like the way the photo turned out.

Hey, I am going to bend the rules again because a) my other coin was zinc, these are silver b) I try to include a nice story with each one c) I have started a Dutch theme and so it's my duty to keep it going.


Netherlands, 10 cents, 1944P
Curaçao, 1/10 gulden, 1944D

These are really the same coin - same composition, same denomination, same nation, same queen. But for some reason, Curaçao got fractional denominations starting in 1944 (1/2, 1/4, 1/10), where the Netherlands proper got cent denominations (50, 25, 10). Suriname, another gulden-using Dutch colony, got nothing but cent denominations - after it became a republic, 1 and 2.5 gulden coins were issued as 100 and 250 cents! Curaçao coins actually were meant for the whole Netherlands Antilles, and the administration of these little Dutch colonies off the coast of Venezuela is an interesting story. Curaçao made nothing but silver coins until 1942, and in 1941 the U.S. mints began making coins for these islands (although the Dutch Mint re-started operations there in 1947): 1941 to 1943 were "10 cents", but 1944 to 1948 were "1/10 gulden". The 1/10 gulden coin from 1948 is made of silver, but the mainland Dutch 10-cent coin from 1948 was the first year to be made of nickel... so the colonials got better coins than the mother country!

In 1954, Curaçao became part of the overarching colony of the Netherlands Antilles, which made silver 1/10, 1/4 and 1 gulden coins until 1970... three years after all silver had been removed from proper Dutch coins. Maybe silver was just cheaper to get there. In 1986, the island of Aruba split from the Netherlands Antilles and issued its own coins, which have neat minimalist designs. In 2010, the Netherlands Antilles split up for good: Curaçao was independent (as a colony, that is) once more, joined by Sint Maarten and the Caribbean Netherlands. Plans for an island currency are still up in the air: the Caribbean Netherlands just adopted the U.S. dollar, while Curaçao and Sint Maarten are planning to create a brand-new Caribbean gulden that was supposed to have been phased in last year. They will continue to issue coins, meaning more opportunities to abandon your loved ones to sift through change when on vacation there

The store-owner who sold me the 1/10 gulden coin was very shady. He said that this little dish of silver world coins was being sold at melt, so I thought "all right!" and picked out a pile. He then let me know that "at melt" meant "as if the coin was .999 pure silver". This meant that Mexican .100 fine pesos were being sold for $13!! My eyes nearly bugged out of my head. The only silver I ended up picking from that dish was this coin - he spent the rest of the day calling in his pals to watch a documentary about the fluoride conspiracy that threatens our children behind the counter.

Thread is buzzing!
Did I hear the -bwangbwang- sound of rules bending?


I want to see ALLLL your beautiful halves! 1936 was a banner year for coins.


Not to worry.. he'll be too busy counting his Ike's to notice.


I hereby declare the following coins to be a part of two sets:
a)- the set of all coins minted for other countries by a U.S. mint.*
b)- the set of all coins minted during my birth year!
Forthwith:

AUSTRALIA 1944 sixpence, shilling and florin. All three are sterling silver. All these except the un-toned florin on the left have 'S' mintmarks just above the date. *(un-mintmarked specimens were minted in Melbourne.)


And here are two additional denominations of U.S.-minted Philippines coins, the ten cent and fifty cent versions.
These are so common in junk silver tubs due to wartime 'tourist' traffic that they are only worth saving from scrap if they are AU or better. Toning is always a plus. These are relatively low silver for the time period and very prone to corrosion. Also the prominent high spots wear down very quickly.

1944-D MS66FB