WHO AM I? ANSWER AT END OF ARTICLE CLUE 1. My name is Copper in English and Kibris in Turkish. Have you guessed the answer? CLUE 2. I am an Island. Know now? Here's another clue: CLUE 3. I am a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. Well, how about now? Okay here's another Clue: CLUE 4. My coins were mils, shillings and pounds, but now are cents and pounds. Well, who am I? Here's the final clue: CLUE 5. http://www.worldwide-numismatics.com/Cyprus%201966.JPG I am Cyprus. The image is of a Medal Coin which was issued twice during my numismatic history. Clinker
Clinker: Thanks for the quiz. I would never have gotten the answer--correctly that it. I thought that it was: "Country with really strange letters and a guy with a weird hat."
Thanks, Clinker. Cyprus is one of the few and interesting cases where geologists, armed with archaeological records, were able to re-discover, study, and exploit copper deposits mined in antiquity.
Clinker,Cyprus is not only a member of the British Commonwealth like Malta is,it is also a member of the European Union. Cyprus is also known as 'Kypros' in the Greek Cypriot language. The coins of Cyprus is not an easy series to collect,especially the Piastres coins,which were issued at various times between 1879 & 1949.The same thing applies to the banknotes & postal orders.There is a British Field Post Office in Nicosia that has been issuing British Postal Orders. That medal-coin is from the first Archbishop Makarios III fundraising issue.The second Archbishop Makarios III issue was struck in 1974.It is in silver.Both issues are listed in Krause's 'Unusual World Coins' catalogue. Collecting Cypriot coins is part of my specialist area of numismatics.I finally picked up an example of the scarce 500 Mils that was issued in 1970 to commemorate 25 years of both the U.N. & F.A.O. I will be collecting the Cypriot Euro coins after Cyprus changes over to the Euro in either 2008 or 2009. Aidan.
Thanks, again, Aiden for your courtesy in sharing. I didn't mention the piastere coins nor Makarios III because I thought it would make it too easy to guess it was Cyprus. I kew Cyprus has submitted some Euro coin patterns but didn't mention the Euros as, as you point out, it is a future happening. I was aghast, when I saw the URL has the word "Cyprus" in it! Clinker
Clinker,I would have known anyway,as 'Kypros' is where the word 'Copper' comes from,as Cyprus was a huge producer of it in ancient times.I also would have guessed that there are only 2 countries that have a Pound that is divided into 100 Cents. The Cypriot Shilling was actually a part of the Pounds,Shillings,& Piastres currency system.After 1955,the term 'Shilling' was applied as a nickname for the 50 Mils coin,given the fact that the first Cypriot decimal currency was 1,000 Mils = 1 Pound. Aidan.
I sometimes like educational post like this one. Not admitting to being stupid but with 2 college degrees I have no idea where Cyprus is located. Until now not sure if I even heard of the place. Therefore it appears I learn more here than at school. Maybe this forum should be a subject in schools.
Doug,it is located in the eastern Mediterranean Sea,not the western part.Cyprus has a European culture,but Turkey (which is a Middle Eastern country masquerading as a European country) still maintains an illegal occupation of the northern part of Cyprus.It angers me that the hypocrites in the New Zealand Government maintains relations with the hypocritical regime in Ankara. Despite popular belief,Cyprus is actually a pleasant country to visit.A friend of mine went to Larnaca.He enjoyed his trip to southern Cyprus. Cypriot banknotes are tough to find,especially if you don't have a contact who visits there. Aidan.
As Aidan says, eastern Med. Cyprus has a finger-like peninsula that points more or less at Iskenderum, Turkey. It was said long ago that whatever empire ruled the area to which this finger pointed would be the most powerful in the world. At one point or another the Macedonians, Romans, Persians, Ottomans were here. Sorry, this is getting off the subject of coins.
just Carl And just a few weeks ago, Cyprus was, heavily, in the news. During the conflict in Lebonon, Ships brought the foreigners (tourists and students), including USA citizens, to the port in Cyprus and opened up the facilities of their airport so the evacuees could safely fly back to their home countries. Clinker
Clinker,it is a pity that you don't own that Cypriot medal-coin.It would be a lovely piece of gold to have in a collection. Aidan.
