BBA: My Other Collections - Part 2A: Foreign Currency

Been a slow week here at the Collective.  Missed a couple post days, mostly from still scanning all the items you're about to see.

Bo started this topic, and Trevor promoted it to a full Bat Around.  They both showed their Collections of Other Things.  This time, another inactive collection from a very popular field.  When I think of the concept of collecting in general (to the world outside sports cards), I think of coins and stamps.  I have a few stamps somewhere, but not enough to call a collection.  But I've amassed a diverse gathering of coins and a few paper bills, mostly from my father's travels abroad in the late 70's and early 80's.   This post is scan heavy, even though I'm already splitting the foreign and domestic currency into separate offerings.  I scanned both sides of every item.  The part that discerning connisseurs won't see is how the backs of some coins are oriented in respect to the front.  A lot of US coins have backs that are "upside down" relative to the front image.  But I digress.  Let me show you the money!

For each group, I scanned them with a common American item to show the scale.  These are the back sides of the paper bills shown with a modified dollar.  I've always had at least the impression that it's illegal to scan actual dollars, so I made ol' George a bit cooler.  None of the rest of this stuff is worth big money, so I don't think putting a mark or text across these is necessary.

Foreign bills usually have so much more color to them.  Ours have only recently turned up the hues, and sometimes they look funny.  If it wasn't damaged, this would be quite the artistic piece.  And, it's bilingual like hockey cards!

The rest of these are military currency issued in Okinawa for many years after World War II.  These are called "B Yen" and were used until 1958.  I've got samples of the three lowest denominations - 1, 5, and 10.  There are also 50, 100, and 500 bills, and banknotes in 1-, 2-, 5-, and 10 thousand denominations.  I imagine those are a lot harder to come by.

Again, very artistic, though the purpose doesn't seem to be that joyful.

These "Sen" are listed as coinage, so I assume they are fractions of a Yen.

This one is really a crossover.  When the Japanese occupied the Phillipines, they issued this currency in 1942.  Then a second series was issued the following year.  These flat pesos were called "Mickey Mouse money" because of the rampant inflation that made them worthless to the point that people would carry big baskets of the currency to buy simple things.  It's also referred to as Japanese Invasion money.

Now on to the world tour in coinage.  Again, these were probably 95% obtained from my Dad when he'd travel to Europe and beyond on business.  Luckily, he avoided any hijacking or terrorist activity, and generally had a nice time wherever he visited.

Here's the whole batch at once to show scale.  Note the US quarter for comparison.  I originally found the bottom batch in the box where these are kept, and then found more stashed elsewhere and united them with the rest.

That first big dude is a silver medallion and isn't actually currency.  It's by far the heaviest item among all these.  I flipped it a couple times at my 8-ball matches and was afraid it would crack the slate surface of the pool table. You'll see that one closer in the US post.

Starting with our neighbors from the North.  These will probably be largely familiar, though some have decent age on them.

These aren't to scale, but the detail is the important part.  That first penny surprised me as being basically the same as the others, just older and with the dude on the front.

Here's some Canadian coins you may not have seen quite as often. 

This one I had in with my American coins since the first thing I saw was the Eagle.  But it's actually Mexican.  Someone made a necklace out of it at one point apparently.  Looked it up and it's from 1838.

This Mexican one's a lot younger than that and almost snuck by hiding among the Spanish coins.

Jumping "across the pond", some coinage from the UK.  I've never learned what values a pence or shilling actually are...

A quick stop at the Netherlands...

Some French ones.  I actually have six or seven ½ franc pieces, but they're all basically the same.

A big group of German issues.  The leaf design is consistent among a lot of them.  I like the couple bird ones.

Dinero español.  Not sure if Ptas is an abbreviation.  I took French in high school.

One of my Dad's favorite destination was Rome (Madrid may have edged it out for #1), so I'm a little surprised I don't have more Italian coins.  The last one here is actual gold and is kept in a little vinyl holder.  It's the other one in the last scale scan.  Tried not to touch that one too much. 

These are obviously Greek pennies and nickels (or whatever equivalent), but I have no idea what else they say.  I'm sure all of this is easily Googlable.  (Is that a word?)

Almost done now...we go farther around the other side of the world...

...To India!  These are so exotic and sort of look a lot older than they are.

And our last stop is in the old Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.  The Red Army guys are my favorite hockey collections, and I have a few Russian cards.  I could collect their coins or space program memorabilia if I didn't have all this other stuff already.

If you see something you absolutely must have, I'd be willing to work out a trade for cards.  Nothing big money here, though the gold coin isn't on the trade list.  Again, I'm not really looking to add to these.

Next time - Part 2B: The US.