Once upon a time no U.S. coin bore the motto, IN GOD WE TRUST on them, but as you know, the words were added to the 1864 2 Cent piece. I'll not go into the who, what, why, where and how of it. Just thought you'd like to see some foreign coins that bear the motto. This first coin is a 1973 Netherlands Antilles 25 Gulden coin that was struck for the Netherlands Antilles by the Canadian Mint to celebrate Queen Juliana's 25th Anniversary of her reign. The coin is listed in Krause's Standard Catalog of World Coins 1901-2000 as KM# 14. The motto is on the edge of the coin and reads DOS KU NOS which translates from the Spanish Creole Dialect of Papiamento to IN GOD WE TRUST. To see an online photo of the coin, click on the following link, scroll down to line that reads 14 25 Gulden 1973, 25th Anniversary of Reign Unc. EUR 25,00 and click camera icon. NETHERLANDS ANTILLES 1973 25 GULDEN - 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF REIGN Another country incoporating the use of IN GOD WE TRUST on their recent coinage is Nicaragua. I'm not going to present all their coins bearing the motto on them but here are several. You can see the motto written in Spanish as EN DIOS CONFIAMOS. All following coin photos courtesy of Don's World Coin Gallery: One of the first Nicaraguan coins to bear the EN DIOS CONFIAMOS motto is the silver 10 Centavos coins minted from 1912 through 1936 as evidenced by this 1927 dated 10 Centavos: NICARAGUA 1927 SILVER 10 CENTAVOS The first 5 Centavos to bear the motto on it is this 1943 brass coin: NICARAGUA 1943 BRASS 5 CENTAVOS As far as I can tell, the last 5 and 10 Centavos coins to bear the motto are these two 2002 examples: NICARAGUA 2002 5 CENTAVOS NICARAGUA 2002 10 CENTAVOS Nicaragua's silver 25 Centavos minted in 1912, also, carried the motto: NICARAGUA 1912 SILVER 25 CENTAVOS This 2002 may be the last 25 Centavos to bear the motto: NICARAGUA 2002 25 CENTAVOS The 1912 silver 50 Centavos was the first 50 Centavos piece to bear the motto: NICARAGUA 1912 50 CENTAVOS We can, also, trace the motto back to the 1912 silver 1 Cordoba: NICARAGUA 1912 SILVER 1 CORDOBA Even the Sandino commemorative 1 Cordoba (1980 and 1983) and 5 Cordobas (1980) coins bear the motto: NICARAGUA 1983 1 CORDOBA - SANDINO COMMEMORATIVE NICARAGUA 1980 5 CORDOBAS - SANDINO COMMEMORATIVE It looks like the largest Nicaraguan denomination to bear the motto is this 1987 500 Cordobas piece: NICARAGUA 1987 500 CORDOBAS How far back does religion play a roll in numisdmatics? The followiung photos are courtesy of Coin Archives. Before I present some of the coins, let me introduce you to this important medal struck to commemorate a historical English accomplishment In England, during the Tudor reign of Elizabeth I (1558-1603) a bronze Jeton was struck bearing the words HOMO PROPONIT DEVS DISPONIT which translates to English as "Man proposes, God disposes." The coin commemorated the Defeat of the Spanish Armada and bears the date 1588. HOUSE OF TUDOR 1588 BRONZE JETON - DEFEAT OF SPANISH ARMADA There are coins, struck much earlier and later, bearing religious devices such as words, prayers, Jesus, saints, and symbols. Take a look at this controversial silver Double Shekel minted circa 359 or 358 B.C. SILVER DOUBLE SHEKEL CIRCA 358 B.C. You may be interested in this gold Solidus struck during Justinian II's reign over Constantinople circa 692-695. It's historical significence is that it's the first coin to bear the representation of Jesus's portrait on it. CONSTANTINOPLE GOLD SOLIDUS - FIRST NUMISMATIC REPRESENTATION OF CHRIST As for one of the first coins to bear a saint upon its surface is this 1272 silver Aspron Trachy of Andronicus II and his son, Michael, Kings of the Byzantine State of Thessalonica. Andronicus and Michael are depicted on the obverse grasping a patriarchal cross positioned between them while receiving blessings from Christ. Saint Nicholas and his name reside on the obverse of the coin among all those other items: BYZANTINE STATE OF THESASALONICA 1272 SILVER ASPRON TRACHY - SAINT NICHOLAS Hope you enjoyed... Clinker
Very interesting, Clinker! Had no idea that even the Sandinistas used that motto. As for the Papiamentu motto "Dos ku nos", that is probably their version of the "God be with us" which can be found on the edges of some pieces from the Netherlands. Nowadays most countries in Continental Europe do not have any religious references on their coins, but NL (God zij met ons) and Switzerland (Dominus providebit) still have those edge inscriptions on the highest denominations. Christian
Hello GeorgeM: So did I until I began wondering about it and researched the subject. And I, personally, "Thank you" for your positive comment. Clinker
it doesn't really count as in "In god we trust" but many german coins of the 20th and 19th century bore on the edge of the coin "Gott Mitt Uns" or God with Us. still the same idea and pretty neat. Great post BTW
Yes and no - this "Gott mit uns" only showed up on the 3M, 5M and 20M coins from the monarchy (until 1918). After that it was not used any more. None of the coins from this country (Federal Republic of Germany, 1949-today) has a religious motto. Religious references do occur on a few commems, but those are quotations referring to the person depicted and honored, thus issue-specific. Christian
And i stand corrected-ish lol. I'm a US guy and i dabble in German stuff a tad and had just noticed it. thanks for the info though
Yeah, Clinker has shown us lots of coins from the German Empire here, and quite a few of them have that motto. By the way, purely by accident I came across this page today: http://www.monedanumismatica.com/coins/nicaragua.html Seems that Nicaragua has the "In Dios confiamos" even on the latest (2007) coins ... Christian
