Last sunday I`ve seen (and bought) new Somali set with 5 1$ coins with pope Benedict XVI. Price in my country - $10. Mintage: 30 000 sets.
These will end up being listed in Krause's 'Unusual World Coins' catalogue,as these aren't real coins,but fantasies denominated in Dollars.The currency of Somalia is the Shilin (or in English,Shilling). Aidan.
I realize that this set never saw Somali, but we all have in our collections many commemorative coins like these: from Liberia, Somaliland, Upeer Karabakh and many others. There is something rotten in Danmark - to make a coin of some country the triple permission is needed: for country name, for value name and for national arms. Country name is not the problem, problem is using national arms. On Polish fake (or fantasy, if you want) euro set you can see Chopin, Copernicus and JPII with the shadow of Polish national arm - white eagle. Why? Producer didn`t get permission. And the value name is mysterious - E. Probably it means euro, probably not. So, in Polish coinage chapter in Krause you can observe many coins of private strucks - and nobody says they are just a fantasies. What I want to say: in (it is said) the best world catalogue we can find sometimes a bull...
In the case of Somalia it is probably easy to make some fantasy coin set. I mean, where is - in the case of that country - the government that could in any way control such issues? Poland is a different issue. If the use of the national CoA for such purposes is not legal, then the government might take legal action. And no, you would not find the name "euro" on such medals because that would be a violation of both EU and (at least in the euro countries) national law. That being said, it is a neat set. Sure, not really coins, but the designs are nice, and so was the price. Christian
Last I read there is no official coinage of somalia, I have this coin: and others like it but this was what was said about coinage in somalia: Because of the lack of government, money is not a luxury most have in Somalia and many simply don't use it or use the sparsely produced paper currency. Coins are not in regular circulation in Somalia. This Somali Shilling (Animal series FAO base) is not an official Somali coin and is not in circulation in Somalia. It is only minted as a low value commemorative coin. Because of such instability and no real central government Somalia has only erratically minted official coins in sparse amounts. the use of coins is rare and those who use money at all use the 500 or 1000 shilling note. I could be wrong but I dont think they have minted a circulating coin since the 70's - mid 80's at the latest.
Somalia is an absolute hell-hole,& numismatically,it isn't any different.Somaliland,on the other hand,has been forced to rebuild itself from scratch,because they are forced to rely on the money that is sent home,because Somaliland isn't recognised as a country,though it should be. Aidan.
