I have this 1 Peso coin from Chile. Its date is 1895. Now note on the bottom of the Reverse a hammer & sickle. The Obverse is a Condor. Anyone know of an older rendition of this Marxist symbol on coinage? Traci :hatch:
The hammer and sickle didn't become a symbol of Communism until after the 1917 Russian Revolution, so whatever the reason for inclusion of the symbols on a 19th Century Chilean con, it wasn't as a symbol of Communism. The coin predates the founding of the Chilean Communist Party by 27 years.
Doffing my hat Nice find there, Traci! The only other coin I know not from a communist country with the hammer and sickle is the Austria 100 Schilling gold from the 1920s and 1930s. The hammer and sickle replaced the Orb and Scepter of the Holy Roman Emperor. This is all the more interesting as Austria was the home of the so-called "Austrian School" of economists who completely demolished the pretenses of socialism. Their founder, Boehm-Bawerk was on the old Austrian 100 Schilling note before the euro in the late 1980s. Furthermore, while Germany sank into depression and worse, Austria borrowed gold, stabilized its currency and achieved a nominal prosperity before Anschluss. And... Austria also had the "woergl" (named after the city), a kind of community currency somewhat different from Notgeld that seemed to work and has been looked to by present practicioners of community economics. Be all that as it may, again, thanks! Tracy for the lesson.
Coins as Symbols: Symbols as Semata The hammer has been a symbol of workers at least since the medieval guilds, if not earler. Merging it with the sickle seems easy enough. I agree, thought, that this example is singular. It would be interesting to see what statements, if any, came from the Casa de Moneda about the symbols. The 1-peso coin in this style ran until 1940. In addition, the 2 and 5 carried the same reverse. By the same token, the US "Mercury" dime sported the literal symbol of fascism. Below is the symbol of the Socialist Labor Party of America, founded in 1878.
The Austrian "hammer and sickle" eagle can indeed be found on various coins from the First Republic (1918-34). It was not used by the authoritarian regime (1934-38), and not while Austria was part of Nazi Germany. But the hammer and the sickle, now along with broken chains, have been on many Second Republic coins since the 1947 currency reform. After all, the eagle with those symbols was and is Austria's official coat of arms. Did not know either that the hammer and sickle had been on Chilean 19c coins. Maybe that was a result of the 1890-91 conflict which replaced the presidial system? Just guessing here ... Christian
