Romania.

Peoples Republic of Romania.
25 bani 1955, copper-nickel, weight - 3,6 g. The single release only. Pay attention: great mistake on obverse - "romIna" instead of "romAna".

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Peoples Republic of Romania.
25 bani 1960, nickel clad steel, weight - 3,38 g. The single release only."Romina" again.

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Peoples Republic of Romania.
50 bani 1955, copper-nickel, weight - 4,55 g. "Romina" type.

One of my favorite coins.

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Hello, glad to find this Romanian coins thread.
Just want to point out that the communist era coins above with the inscription "ROMINA" are not errors, but reflect a variation of the ortography in that era. Coins from 1952 to 1954 have the spelling "ROMANA" than from 1955 until 1960 the spelling is changed into "ROMINA". After 1966 the spelling comes back to normal "ROMANIA".
I guess this variation can be explained through the soviet control in Romania, that was twisting our history: ROMANA was too resemblant to the Romans and our Latin origin (which the Soviets never liked).

 

And some coin pictures: 5 lei 1901 and 5 lei 1906.
Both coins are 90% silver 25 grams and 38 mm diameters.
Mintages: 82,460 pieces for 1901 and 200,000 pieces for 1906.
1906 is a jubilee coin 40 years of reign of king Carol I (1866-1906).
This are not so hard to find as the mintage would lead you to believe.

 

To go further back in time I will post pictures of coins known as Sadagura coins.
The coins were struck between 1771 and 1774 as war money during the Russian-Turkish war between 1768-1774 that ended in with the peace treaty of Kuciuk-Kainargi.
Although it was a war between Russians and Turks many operations were lead through Romanian Principalities of Moldova and Wallachia.
Therefore the Barron Gartenberg received a special privilege from Russian tzarina Catherine the Second to mint coins that would circulate only in Moldova and Wallachia (introduction of this coins in Russia was prohibited).
These coins were used by the Russians to purchase supplies during the war. After the war the Romanian peasants were left holding some worthless pieces of metal (nobody would accept these coins as payment ).
I have two bronze pieces in pretty bad shape (they were also cleaned ) both from 1772 I think. Some silver pieces were minted too but I don't have any. Pieces below are one "para"/3 "denghi" and two "para"/3 "kopeeks".

 

When did Romania form a seperate nation?

 

Something new!
1 leu 1966, nickel clad steel, weight - 5,06 g. The single release only.

 

3 lei 1966, nickel clad steel, weight - 5,86 g. The single release only. I like this design.

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5 lei 1978, aluminium. The single release only.

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For most European countries that is a question which is difficult to answer, as you can hardly apply the 18th/19th century "nation" concept to older times. In (relatively) modern times, you could pick the 1848 revolution, the de facto independence (around 1860), and the formal independence (1881). Interesting by the way that Romania is the only country in Central/Eastern Europe where a "daughter of Latin" is spoken ...

Christian

 

Italian?

 

Yes, but that is in the South. What I had in mind is, in Western Europe you have a contiguous area where the language is some descendant of Latin: Portuguese, French, etc. - you could even include English to some extent - while the Romanian language area is surrounded by "non-Latin" areas ...

Christian

 

I turned my house upside down, seeking for this set:



It was issued in 2000 with all the coins in circulation at that moment. Contains a Silver Anniversary Medal 1880-2000 and the history behind each personality who appear on the romanian coins.

 

Martin Opitz von Boberfeld (December 23, 1597 – August 20, 1639) which was a German poet,regarded as one of the greatest of his time, traveled to Transylvania and being struck by the language spoken by the Vlachs (Romanians) wrote a poem called "Zlatna"

See: Zlatna Oder Getichte von Ruhe dem Geküthes
& http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Opitz

"Es hat das wüste Volck gantz Asien bezwungen,
Die Griechen, Thracier und Mysios verdrungen,
Auch euer Dacien, der Römer bestes Land,
Von langen Jahren her verheert und außgebrand.

Mehr, hat nicht Attila mit seiner Scythen Hauffen
Und dann die Wenden auch euch feindlich angelauffen?
Doch eure Sprache bleibt noch hier auff diesen Tag,
Darob sich dann ein Mensch gar billich wundern mag.

Italien hat selbst nichts gantz von seinen Alten,
Ingleichen Spanien und Gallia behalten;
Wie etwa diß nun kan den Römern ehnlich seyn,
So nahe sind verwandt Walachisch und Latein."

maybe @chrisild can provide as whit a proper translation

 

Nice set, and thank you for the photo! Have not seen that set so far ... and I hope your house is not too chaotic any more.

Christian

 

A translation is difficult (and a good translation is impossible) for me. Partly because it's a poem, partly because Opitz's German is not really modern standard German. But this should give you an idea ...

The wild people conquered all of Asia,
drove out the Greek, Thracians and Mysios (?),
And your Dacia too, the best land (province) of the Romans,
devastated and burned many years ago.

More, did not Attila with his gang of Scythians,
and then the Wends, run against you in a hostile way?
Your language, however, stays here until this very day,
what may be surprising for a man (ie. for people).

Italy does by itself have nothing of its ancestors,
neither do (the languages of) Spain and Gaul,
how close this can be to the Romans,
such close relatives are Vlach and Latin.

OK, Attila did not have much to do with the (ancient) Scythians, but the idea is that the Romanian language (which Opitz calls "Walachisch") survived despite the many wars and occupations. The last verse, badly translated by yours truly, is about how much closer Romanian is to Latin than French or Castilian Spanish are ...

Christian

 

The Romanians are the only people in Europe that never came form somewhere else. We live today in the same place where we formed as a people.
Recent genetic studies have shown that the DNA of actual inhabitants of Romania is related to the DNA of individuals living on the actual territory of Romania about 3,000 years ago.

 

Thank you,I have not realized that is difficult translating from old German. Your translation is very close to a translation made by a Romanian poet. But it was inappropriate for me to give a translation in English of a Romanian translation from German.

Opitz, said that neither Spain nor Italy have kept so much of the old Latin as romanians. Romanian structure is very close to Latin

Some Latin proverbs, and below, their translation into Romanian:
Causa est prior suo effectu
Cauza este anterioara efectului

Barba non facit philosophum
Barba nu il face pe filosof

Durante causa, durat effectus
Dureaza cauza, dureaza si efectul

Nemo propheta in patria sua.
Nimeni nu este profet in patria sa.

Tacet, satis laudant.
Tacand ei lauda destul.

 

I did not even realized, o that set is the story, why the national currency of Romania is called "LEU" lion.