I just love unusual and bizarre types of coins. Please share yours..

Discussion in 'World Coins' started by Loong Siew, Feb 17, 2019.

  1. Loong Siew

    Loong Siew Well-Known Member

    I have always been fascinated with bizarre and unusual looking money. This may qualify under mediums of exchange which has and was actually traded for goods be it ancient, primitive or even modern. However, modern toys and trinkets from thenlikesnof Niue, Palau, Solomon Islands etc which are specifically collectible souvenirs IMHO do not qualify despite a legal tender value attached to it (which in today's world means precious little).

    I will start with a recent acquisition of mine which I have known for sometime but decided to acquire 1 recently. No regrets when it arrived :cat:

    Katanga Cross. Previously state of Katanga now a part of Republic of Congo. 19th to early 20th century. 730g
    20190215_230805.jpg

    This is a copper Katanga cross casted in the state of Katanga in modern day Congo. The design is primitive as it is casted from molten copper poured into sand moulds into such characteristic cross shaped.
    katangacrosses1.jpg
    Whilst weight and sizes may vary, they are generally divided into large and small crosses and traded primarily by size as opposed to weight. That is because the weight even among large crosses like this varies but tends to be around the 700g-1.2kg range. Smaller crosses exists and is likely for small change.

    To provide an estimate of it's value, one cross was able to exchange for 5-6 chickens and 10 of these could buy a gun or a female slave.

    These were also regarded as symbols of wealth and prestige among the indigenous people of Congo particularly around the state of Katanga. Such was it's importance that the once brief independent state of Katanga had these crosses in their flag and coins before they were united into the DRC.
    500px-Flag_of_Katanga.svg.png

    sources:
    www.ancientpages.com/2018/09/10/katanga-cross-symbol-of-secrets-power-and-valuable-currency-of-the-congolese-people/amp/

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katanga_Cross
     
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  3. Robidoux Pass

    Robidoux Pass Well-Known Member

    Thanks for sharing and the write-up. I have one of these myself. having lived in Africa early in my career, I picked up quite a few ethnic items. It's been a while since I've looked at my Katanga cross. I'll have to weigh it to see where it falls on the scale of value.
     
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  4. Loong Siew

    Loong Siew Well-Known Member

    You're welcome. There are many other ethnic money like Kissi pennies and More...
     
  5. Hookman

    Hookman Well-Known Member

    I don't own any yet but I'm interested in, and would like to own, some Tiger Tongue money. It's made similarly to the cross money by pouring melted silver into sand molds. It's mostly from South East Asia, used in the late 16th century. Though their sizes and weights range, they are used as money by weight.
     
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  6. Loong Siew

    Loong Siew Well-Known Member

    You mean these FB_IMG_1472688188535.jpg
     
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  7. Loong Siew

    Loong Siew Well-Known Member

    They also come in bronze and heavily debased silver
     
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  8. Siberian Man

    Siberian Man Senior Member

    Zambia.
    Coin-calendar.
    1.jpg 2.jpg
     
  9. Loong Siew

    Loong Siew Well-Known Member

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  10. Robidoux Pass

    Robidoux Pass Well-Known Member

    Siberian Man, that coin calendar is cool. All my visits to Zambia were in the 1990s. I gave up collecting Zambian coins when they started issuing so many different. But wish I would have gotten this one. It would go well with a set of calendar medals.
     
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  11. Chimmychanga

    Chimmychanga Member

    Ive recently purchased a 1pound ebay type estate thing and got about I'd say 40 different types of foreign coins. Whats the best way of going about finding out about what coins I have? These in my opionion are my most unusual
     

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  12. Loong Siew

    Loong Siew Well-Known Member

    You can try posting in some Facebook groups for identification. group lots like these are hard to find rare coins most of the time
     
  13. Hookman

    Hookman Well-Known Member

    Of those 4 coins, the two with holes are French Republic. Without a date or denomination, I can't tell you a lot more except they are not very valuable at all.
    The top one is obviously a Ceylon 1944 5 cents coin. Again, not very valuable, but slightly more so than the French coins.It has the British King on the other side. The best thing about yours is that it's dated 1944. From 1945 until 1962, every one of those is dated 1945, so value after 1944 is not so good.For that matter, the value of the 1944 is not so good either. All I can tell you about the far right coin is that it's upside down.

    Whenever posting pix, please try to post a pic of both sides. It helps immensely.

    To do your own research, go to ngccoin.com, enter whatever info on the coin you have, and the coin will come up.
    Also use numista.com

    Here's the Ceylon coin on NGC :
    ceylon-5-cents-km-113.2-1944-1945-cuid-1048624-duid-1291259


    Keep searching, keep posting, and Welcome to Coin Talk !!
     
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  14. Hookman

    Hookman Well-Known Member

    Another thing Chimmy, those eBay poundage deals, whether they're World coins, pennies, dimes or whatever, are, in my opinion, worthless because the seller is almost guaranteed to have already searched them and pulled out anything worth anything. Period.
    Even if the seller insists the coins are "unsearched" , that is almost always a bald-faced lie.
    And the "unsearched" old bank rolls? Anything but. Those guys have rolling machines. Once they've searched the coins, they re-roll them with a "bait" coin at each end, to hook new coin enthusiasts.
    I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but the world, and eBay, is full of crooks that you have to watch out for.

    Chimmy, here on Coin Talk !! you'll only get honest, straight forward answers to your questions, along with some humor, and a lot of bluntness.

    Good Luck in your Hunting !!
     
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  15. Hookman

    Hookman Well-Known Member

    Absolutely, that's what I mean. Those are the kind of "coins" you can hold in your hand and "knock 'em around" a little bit without really hurting them.
    Yes, they do come in varieties so you have to be careful buying them, but I just like them a lot.
     
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  16. Loong Siew

    Loong Siew Well-Known Member

    You're absolutely right. Which is why some research needed. Some looks so different that they are called canoe money.
     
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  17. mrbreeze

    mrbreeze Well-Known Member

  18. mrbreeze

    mrbreeze Well-Known Member

  19. mrbreeze

    mrbreeze Well-Known Member

  20. mrbreeze

    mrbreeze Well-Known Member

  21. mrbadexample

    mrbadexample Well-Known Member

    I like Swedish plate coinage (plåtmynt).

    Here's a 4 daler weighing a little over 3kg:

    Sweden 4 daler 1734 (3).JPG
     
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