The most simply designed coin I own (so far)

Has to be one of my favourite coins - it took me years to find the Athenian owl I wanted

 

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I love the asymmetry of this coin's obverse, so much so that the reverse seems rather boring and predictable by comparison, although maybe the larger denomination on the reverse was determined necessary for legibility.

I think the large field lends both humor and humility to the owl and I can't imagine this was unintentional in its design. I also like how the "A" of ASIO (whatever that phrase means) appears directly above the owl's head and not quite at 12:00 but more like 12:30. Another little oddity!

I would be interested in seeing how other denominations are treated: do they depict other animals at larger sizes?

 

Yes, that was my first thought as well.

A lot of the European mints over the last few decades have put out some very simple coinage. Here's a couple I own, the top one is Swedish, the bottom is Greek.

 

You brought up an interesting point; so, I went looking for other coins and found a whole series of animals. But two interesting things: (1) The owl is the only animal coin of the series that is so small against the field. All the other animals depicted take up more of the field; and, (2) in the photograph of he coin with the owl, the photographer has turned the coin so that the legend is centered across the top of the coin - but that makes the denomination go out of whack. It's an interesting coin. I'm glad I have it. Would actually like the others. I'm glad your remarks made me go to look at the rest of the series.

Edited to add the link to the series of animal coins...Duh!
http://www.joelscoins.com/images/sloveniaset9.jpg

 

Wow, thank you very much for posting this link. I find this a really interesting and visually inventive series of coins—they make dramatic use of the fields.

Seeing them all together made me realize the legends are the Latin classifications of the species. Asio otus is "long-eared owl." Hirundo rustica is "barn swallow."

I don't think the photographer had much rhyme or reason in aligning them. Since the denomination is the only element with a baseline, I would go by it in each coin to determine orientation, which seems to make sense given the orientation of the animals: the stork, ibex, horse—all of them, in fact, given the honey bee (with pollen sacs on its legs) and salamander can crawl in any direction.

Very neat! (I still think there's humor in the owl—and the large bee, by contrast, crowding the field; there's visual playfulness in the whole series.)

 

Yep! No question. I'm liking that owl a whole lot better now - thanks to your suggestion and a tiny bit of research. (I did not notice the pollen sacs on the honey bee).

I do love the word OTSU - it is the name of my favorite female character in all literature (so far). She was the frustrated love interest in the story of Miyamoto MUSASHI, by Eiji Yoshikawa - certainly my favorite adventure book of all time about a real life samurai!

https://www.amazon.com/Musashi-Epic-Novel-Samurai-Era/dp/156836427X

 

I've gotta point out you transposed the U and S of OTUS. (I sympathize: Dyslexics of the world, UNTIE!).

I'd never heard of this classic novel; looks like a great epic tale in the fashion of the Odyssey, i.e., a sweeping adventure story but in this case not merely mythical. Wiki didn't have much on the book.

 

Hhehe....Funny, because I insist on typing United States as "Untied States" which is, of course, the exact opposite. I suppose the letters OTUS reminded me of OTSU! Thank you! I had a good laugh and thankfully am not dyslexic (as far as I Konw).

 

You might want to continue typing "Untied States" for awhile. It seems appropriate.

 

In all fairness, don't know if you would consider these "coins". Their purpose may have been a bit more nefarious.

 

Was it a token to be used in a certain type of establishment for male entertainment? Or tokens one purchased when entering an opium den and then exchanged for more opium as one needed?

Looks like it has two languages on it.
Strange and mysterious.

 

Yeah, I can't imagine anyone throwing one of these into a fountain to make a wish.

I'm also curious about the two languages, suggesting a middle-east/far east crossroads of some kind. What do you know about these pieces?

 

http://www.coinfactswiki.com/wiki/Yunnan_No_Date_(1943)_1/2_tael_KM-A1.2

 

Opium trade. I see.

I just noticed these are two different coins you posted, @Muzyck. You have two of these puppies? I see that in August 2011 they went for about $660 clams! Niiice...

 

I have two of them. I made a mistake when I purchased them in the 80's sending in a duplicate order. I paid about $150.00 for both of them.

I still have the catalogs from the seller. I wish I could purchase a time machine.

 

@Muzyck - Good for you!

 

here's one of mine that may fit the bill

 

@DonaldPH - That coin is strong and yet elegant (imho).
The design of the coin packs in many images and symbols and yet their placement against the field leaves a spaciousness to the look of the coin which I find quite attractive. Also, I am enjoying where and how the "s" mint mark was placed. Thank you for posting it! And welcome to CT.

 

here is the obverse (I think)

 

Americans in general and CT members in particular may be fond of the idea of the euro being something evil but that is an odd theory. First, the euro was introduced on 1 January 1999, and people could, as an option, make (non-cash) euro payments right away. The conversion however took three years, so in the first member states of the currency union, the euro cash did not become legal tender until 1-Jan-2002. Most countries issued some kind (or several) "goodbye to the franc, gulden, mark, whatever" coins. The designer of this piece, Philippe Starck, did not have any "protest" in mind when he made this design, but of course he and the Monnaie de Paris wanted to commemorate the soon-to-come end of the franc cash. Starck also designed some euro coins - not surcharged like this one, but less elegant.

The idea behind these coin designs - as you mentioned, there are nine denominations in that series - was to keep them fairly neutral, I think. Slovenia had just become independent from Yugoslavia after a very short (10 days) military conflict, and maybe they did not want any text or symbols on their coins that others could have found offensive. They all show various animals and are nicely designed indeed.

When Slovenia introduced the euro, its obverse designs became much busier. Not bad, but they would not be part of a thread about simple designs.

Edit - two fairly simple recent ones from Slovenia: This one from 2013 commemorates the Postojna Cave. And here is one from 2009, about the tenth anniversary of the "birth" of the euro. That second one was not their fault though but a common issue of all euro area member states.

Christian