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 Replies: 9 / Views: 1,393 |
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Valued Member
United States
332 Posts |
One of my semi-random numismatic interests are those rare examples of coins that are not made of metal. It doesn't seem like something that's easily searchable, so I was wondering if any of you could help add to my list -- do you know of any coins that are not made of metal?
The ones I know of so far are these:
Japan, 1 sen (baked clay)
China, Manchukuo 1 & 5 fen (red fiber)
Congo, several modern coins made of acrylic
Germany, several notgeld were made of porcelain
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Pillar of the Community
Norway
1358 Posts |
 Notgeld was made of an incredible range of materials. I recently got offered slabs of leather in 3 sizes which was used in some part of the country as money. As this set (complete and in AU condition) was still quite expensive (over 250 euro), I passed the offer. They had cardboard, bakelite, compressed carbon, etc. Moldova's breakaway Soviet republic Transdniestr started issuing coins made of some composite plastics. I think it comes in denominations of 1, 3, 5 and 10 Ruble. These are just some samples that come to mind. I think there have been some threads around here with the same question. Just look around here in the main coin forum and also the world coin forum, I think. |
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Pillar of the Community
Poland
3201 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
9473 Posts |
Cocos (Keeling) Islands had some, I think made of ivory.
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Pillar of the Community
Poland
3201 Posts |
An example of a paper coin: Neuburg 10 pfennig 1917 ( listing) |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
6130 Posts |
Cowrie shells were used as money for thousands of years, in Africa, Europe, and Asia.
The Pacific island of Yap is famous for its large round limestone coins, that had a face value calculated from its size, the difficulty in transporting it to the island, and any famous people who owned it before you. They are still used for ceremonial purchases, e.g. a bride's wedding dowry.
Tons of Micronations issue non-metal coins. My favorite is the Molossian Valora, legal tender in the Republic of Molossia (a 10 acre ranch in Nevada) for a fixed exchange rate of 3 Valora = 1 tube of Pillsbury cookie dough from the National treasury.
People have often been known to encapsulate stamps when small change is scarce. I think this was done unofficially in the US during the Civil war, and officially as Notgeld in the Weimar Republic.
Depending on your definition of coin, WWII OPA ration tokens are composite fiber.
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Moderator
 United States
190060 Posts |
Quote:
Moldova's breakaway Soviet republic Transdniestr started issuing coins made of some composite plastics. I think it comes in denominations of 1, 3, 5 and 10 Ruble. https://goccf.com/t/185029 |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
17884 Posts |
Quote:
Cocos (Keeling) Islands had some, I think made of ivory. Though called "ivory" they are actually plastic. That would be the 1910-13 issues. In 1968 they issued plastic coins in red and a blue-green plastic. I don't remember the country but a few years ago one issued an NCLT piece made of clear acrylic plastic. Looks like one of those old paperweights. |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
5255 Posts |
@ultrarant, Notgeld was also issued in fabric: linen, cotton, silk and jute are four that spring to mind. However, were these coins or banknotes? I also think that most of these odd ones (including the compressed coal) did not truly circulate, but were for fund raising purposes.
Edited by oriole
08/19/2016 3:33 pm
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Valued Member
 United States
332 Posts |
Thanks for the responses, everyone. I tried searching for a topic like this and nothing came up (the search terms are relatively vague). Maybe I should browse more  . A lot of those seem really obscure (and thus, really pricey) but there are a couple that wouldn't break the budget too. |
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Replies: 9 / Views: 1,393 |
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Posted 08/19/2016 02:43 am
