Trivia - Leper Coinage

This Forum is for numismatists and this article will obey that precept, but I think (and hope you agree) a little background information is due first.

Because of the Biblical references to Leprosy, most people know Leprosy is a disease. Here's some things about Leprosy you may not know:

1. Leprosy is not a communicable disease.
2. 90% of the world's population is naturally immune to Leprosy. Therefore, handling money once touched or handled by a person with Leprosy will not infect you!
3. Leprosy was found to be a hygenic problem and an effective treatment for Leprosy was discovered in 1982 and Leprosy has been almost obliterated from the earth.
Up to a few years ago, many countries maintained Leper Colonies or Leprosariums where those infected with the disease were sent including, but not limited to, Kalaupapa, Hawaii; Okinawa, Japan; Chacachacare, Trinidad and Tobago; Spinalonga, Crete; Sri Lanka; Carville, Louisana, U.S.A. and Zoquiapan, Mexico.
If you have read this far into this Trivia article here is the numismatic connection. Some Leper colonies issued their own money (often in the form of tokens), and some countries, like the Phillipines (Culion Island Colony) were issued coins for use only in the colony by their Ministeries of Health. In other countries Leprosarium coins were issued by the government and were usable and redeemable anywhere, as legal tender, in the country.
Here's some webpages where you can see examples of these coins:

Culion Island:

www.worldcoingallery.com/countries/coin.php?image=img12/142-CUL1&desc=Culion%20Island%20km1%201/2%20Centavo%20(1913)


http://www.worldcoingallery.com/countries/coin.php?image=nmc/cul-7&desc=Culion%20Island%20km7%205%20Centavos%20(1927)

http://www.worldcoingallery.com/countries/coin.php?image=nmc/cul-9&desc=Culion%20Island%20km9%2010%20Centavos%20(1920)

http://www.worldcoingallery.com/countries/coin.php?image=nmc/cul-12&desc=Culion%20Island%20km12%2020%20Centavos%20(1920)

http://www.worldcoingallery.com/countries/coin.php?image=nmc2/142-cul14&desc=Culion%20Island%20km14%201%20Peso%20(1913)

http://www.worldcoingallery.com/countries/coin.php?image=nmc/cul-16&desc=Culion%20Island%20km16%201%20Peso%20(1922)

http://www.worldcoingallery.com/countries/coin.php?image=nmc/cul-18&desc=Culion%20Island%20km18%201%20Peso%20(1925)

Columbia Leprosarium Coinage

NOTE: These coins were minted by the Bogota Mint and were issued to the Leprosariums at Agua de Dios, Cano de Lord, and Contratacion. All these institutions were closed in 1950 and the former patients were allowed to exchange these special coins for regular coinage or paper currency at any Columbian bank.

http://www.worldcoingallery.com/countries/coin.php?image=img12/43-L9&desc=Colombia%20Leprosarium%20kmL9%201%20Centavo%20(1921)

http://www.worldcoingallery.com/countries/coin.php?image=img11/43-l10&desc=Colombia%20Leprosarium%20kmL10%202%20Centavos%20(1921)

http://www.worldcoingallery.com/countries/coin.php?image=img12/43-L11&desc=Colombia%20Leprosarium%20kmL11%205%20Centavos%20(1921)

http://www.worldcoingallery.com/countries/coin.php?image=img12/43-L12&desc=Colombia%20Leprosarium%20kmL12%2010%20Centavos%20(1921)

http://www.worldcoingallery.com/countries/coin.php?image=img4/43-l14&desc=Colombia%20Leprosarium%20kmL14%2050%20Centavos%20(1928)

Brazil ,also, maintained two Leperosariums which issued their own coins:
In 1920 Santa Casa de Misericordia issued 1.00 Reis, 2.00 Reis, 5.00 Reis,1.000 Reis and 5.000 Reis. In 1940 Colonia Santa Theresa issued 100 Reis, 200 Reis, 300 Reis, 500 Reis and 1000 Reis. Those issued by Colonia Santa Theresa are "rare."

Let me know if you like this kind of Trivia Article,

Clinker

 

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Clinker does it again.
Nice research, "1. Leprosy is not a communicable disease." to think that I believed Papillion (the book & movie) all of these years!
Thanks, Clinker.

 

Japanese Leprosarium coins in the 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 and 50 sen, and ¥1 denominations were issued from 1912-28, and 1931-48. Most were brass, some were lacquered, and three were lacquered aluminum. Of the 15 varieties listed in Krause, 11 are indicated as "rare". The other four are valued at $450-1,500 VF and $750-2,500 XF, with no other grades valued.

None were issued by the central government, and the Japanese Numismatic Dealers Association apparently considers them to be tokens, as they are not listed in its annual catalog.

 

Clinker, of course we like this type of trivia article. To your list we can add leper colonies in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and Maracaibo, Venezuela. A 1/8 Bolivar from the latter attached.

 

Palo Seco Leper Colony

Here's a link to information about a Panamanian leper colony, and associated coinage:

http://www.coins-of-panama.com/paloseco.html

 

Clinker,the Sungei Buloh Settlement in Selangor (now in Malaysia) also issued their own notes.These are actually very rare.For some strange reason they have never been listed in any of the Pick catalogues.

Aidan.

 

A great big THANK YOU to all of you for your additional info and coin links to Leper colonies and coins!

Clinker

 

Thanks to you Treashunt...

clinker

 

The word 'Lazareto' on the obverses of the Columbian leprosarium coinage is actually the Spanish word for 'Hospital'.

Aidan.

 

Thanks for that translation, Auden....

Clinker

 

Hi Clicker the three leper colonies that were located in Colombia are Agua de Dios, Contratación y Caño del Oro.

And in Colombia these coins were also called "Coscoja Amarilla".

 

If disease is not communicable how come tokens needed?

 

Krasnaya

Krasnaya:

At the time of creating leper colonies and leprosariums, it was thought leprosy was contagious so tokens and paper currency was issued for sole use within the colony or leprosarium. In 1955. because of the medical knowledge gained, it became no longer necessary to isolate lepers and maintain quarantined areas for them.

Clinker

 

People at the time were so scared and misinformed on the disease that lead to printing money and making coins for these leper colonies.

For example Cano de Loro which established in 1808 and was later bombed in 1950 by the Colombian army to make sure they left no trace of the disease and till this day it remains in ruins.

 

To Notofilia

Agreat big T H A N K S notofilia...

Clinker

 

I would like to get more informations about the coins/tokens of the leper colony at Addis Ababa in Ethiopia!
Can you tell or show anything?

Thanks, Afrasi

 

wow, there must have been rather large populations to merit their own currency.

 

btw, what do we do with these kinds of people at CT, do they get punished, banned?

 

Hi, just went to Up-to-Date, my favorite medical reference site. Leprosy is a contagious disease, but not very, due to the overwhelming majority of people not being genetically predisposed to catching it. Susceptibility is related to the non-HLA genome. It is probably spread by the respiratory route, like TB, to which it is related.
Fear, and lack of an understanding of the disease with its horribly disfiguring lesions, led to the unnecessary quarantine of people afflicted with leprosy. Modern treatment is simple and effective.

 

Clinker - Thanks very much for the research and the info provided. I hadn't given any thought to the topic and had no idea such tokens/coinage existed for leprosy colonies/institutions. Now I'm wondering if there are any other tokens/coinages that were produced for other similarly ostracized groups of people.

Per ksparrow's contribution, I also did a little digging before I saw his post too. Here is some information from the World Health Organization (WHO). They have a bunch of pages with info about the disease. WHO reports that the exact method of transmission is not known. Therefore, it could indeed be contagious. See link: http://www.who.int/lep/transmission/en/index.html