I was looking at some of my stuff, and looking at the 1936 Norfolk Commemorative half, I said to myself; "Self, this has a ton of characters! Let's count them!" So I did. 207 characters (letters and numbers) in all; 112 on the obverse, 95 on the reverse (including 4 for the co-designer's initials). So it got me wondering if there are other coins with just a butt-load of characters? Post what you got, let's see some characters!
And because the term 'character' can also be a type of person, the 1936 Rhode Island commemorative always makes me think it's a couple of cartoon 'characters' -
207 characters is probably a pretty tough number to beat, I'd be really interested in seeing anything more crowded. I think I've seen some German state coinage that has very crowded legends, but probably not to that level. Here is a coin of mine that has a really crowded, full Arabic legend that is really attractive. Sultanate of Rum Three Brothers Period | 1252 CE / 650 AH AR Dirham | 2.76 grams | 23mm Sivas Mint
Arabic inscriptions get really crowded when they are written circularly. This coin features two circles of text (plus the center bit) on obverse, and one circle of text on reverse: Saffarids, Tahir ibn Muhammad, AR dirham (3.25 g, 28 mm), 902 AD (289 AH), Shiraz mint.
Looks like I spoke too soon, check out this souvenir dollar I have from Saline County, Nebraska, United States. It was issued for the centennial of the state's creation. It has a whopping 292 characters; 205 on the obverse, 87 on the reverse. United States Crete, Saline County, Nebraska Souvenir Dollar | 1967 | State Centennial Obv: SALINE COUNTY GROWING With NEBRASKA / FRIEND - DORCHESTER - CRETE - PLEASENTHILL - SHESTAK / SALINE COUNTY / WILBER - TOBIAS - WESTERN - DE WITT - SWANTON / AGRICULTURE - INDUSTRY - RELIGION - EDUCATION- RECREATION - HERITAGE / NEBRASKA CRETE / 1867 - STATE CENTENNIAL - 1967 Rev: CRETE, NEBRASKA / GOOD IN TRADE AT CRETE CENTENNIAL HEADQUARTERS ON OR BEFORE JULY 20, 1967 / SOUVENIR DOLLAR
This Isle of Man Tercentenary commemorative has 214 visible characters. Would be more but some of the coin images on rev erse are overlapping.
This tickles my computer-science sensibilities. What I'd really like is a coin with a simple legend around the outside, "WITHIN THIS CIRCLE LIES INFINITY", and in the center, an image of... itself. Which, of course, shows the legend, surrounding another image of itself, and so on.
Like most early Islamic coins, it's primarily religious text, mixed with useful info on the issuing authority, mint, date, and what other leaders the issuing authority wanted to show deference to. After about an hour, I think I have most of the legend figured out. Any errors are solely my responsibility, because I am not at all fluent in Arabic and am mostly winging this. For reference (so you don't have to scroll back), the coin again: On the obverse, the center has four lines; three lines give the first part of the Kalima (the standard Muslim declaration of faith) and the fourth gives the name of the ruler: "la ilah illa/ Allah wahdahu/ la sherik lahu/ Tahir ibn Muhammad" "There is no god but God, He is alone, no partner to Him" "Tahir ibn Muhammad" The inner circle of text on the obverse gives the mint name and the date (in the Islamic calendar), spelled out in full: "bismillah zuriba haza ed-dirham bi-Shiraz fi tis'ura wa thenanin wa mi'atain" "in the Name of God was struck this dirham in Shiraz in nine and eighty and two hundred" The outer circle gives us some more religion, specifically a quote from the Quran, 30:3-4: "li-'llah el-amr min sabl wa min ba'd wa yauma'izin yafrahu el-muminun bi-nasr Allah" "Of God is the command from before and from after, and on that day the believers shall rejoice in the victory of God" On the reverse center, there are five lines: a very short intro, the second part of the Kalima, and the name of the Caliph: "li-'llah/ Muhammad/rasul/Allah/[caliph] billah" "To God/ Muhammad is the Messenger of God/ [Caliph's name] confiding in God" I had some trouble reading the Caliph's name on this piece. The auction description says it cites al-Mu'tazz, but that doesn't seem right. (Or else I just can't read Arabic, take your pick.) I also noticed that I translated "li-'llah" as "To God" and also as "Of God". You got a problem with that? There's a circular line of text on the reverse, but it's badly worn and I don't want to try figuring it out. Any corrections or additions are welcome. Oh, you asked how many characters there are on this coin. There are many. The correct answer is "many".
I have strong contestant to offer - Estonian 100 krooni 2004 with names of all Estonian Olympic game winners.