The Tenpō Tsūhō, a Japanese coin from the 19th-century.
Although the vast majority of coins are round, coins are made in a variety of other shapes, including squares, diamonds, hexagons, heptagons, octagons, decagons, and dodecagons. They have also been struck with scalloped (wavy) edges, and with holes in the middle. Coins in the shape of polygons often have rounded edges or are Reuleaux polygons.
This article focuses mainly on circulating coins; a number of non-circulating commemorative coins have been made in special shapes, including guitars, pyramids, and maps.[1] There is a list with more unusual shapes of non-circulating commemorative coins at the end of this page, that all have been issued officially by various countries.
Indo-Greek coins were often square. Aruba has a large circulating square 50 cents coin.[3]
Many countries have struck square coins with rounded corners. Some of these, such as the Netherlands zinc 5 cent coin of World War II (1941–1943)[4] and the Bangladesh 5 poisha coin (1977–1994)[5] are oriented as a square, while others, such as the Netherlands 5 cents (1913–1940),[6] the Netherlands Antilles 50 cent, the Bangladesh 5 poisha (1973–1974)[7] and the 1981 Jersey 1 pound coin,[8] are oriented as a diamond. Ceylon (the current Sri Lanka) issued its first square coin in 1909, followed by several others.[9] India has had various circulating square coins as well, like denominated 1/2 and 2 anna coins,[10] as well as 1 and 5 paisa coins.[11]
The Chile 1 peso and 5 pesos coins issued from 1992 to 2015 are eight-sided.[26][27] So was the old circulating Malta 25 cent coin commemorating Malta's first anniversary of the republic[28] and some California gold coins. Some other countries that have issued circulating octagonal coins are the Lebanon[29] and Sierra Leone.[30]
In 1972 the first country to issue a circulating nine-sided coin was Thailand with a 1972 regular 5 baht coin,[31] followed by Kenya in 1973 with a special issue 5/= coin. The third and final circulating nonagonal coin issued in the 20th century and is the regular 1976 50 cent coin from Tuvalu.[32] Currently, the Philippines issues nonagonal 5-peso coins from 2019 as an enhanced design of the round version to make it distinct from the other denominations.[33]
Decagonal
Hong Kong issued a ten-sided5 dollar coin from 1976 to 1979,[34] while the Philippines issued ten-sided two piso (peso) coins from 1983 to 1990.[35] Some other countries that have issued ten-sided circulation coins are Chile,[36] the Dominican Republic,[37] Jamaica[38] and Madagascar.[39]
In 1993, the Czech Republic was the first country to issue a 13 sided20 koruna coin.[51] In 2013, Tunisia followed with a 13-sided 200 millièmes coin.[52]
Pentadecagonal
A 5 dirham commemorative coin from the UAE in 1981 had 15 sides, commemorating the 15th century of Hejira.[53]
Scalloped
This 50 dirham coin from Libya has a scalloped edge with sixteen bumps.
Many countries have coins with scalloped (wavy) edges. These usually have twelve bumps (e.g. the Vanuatu 100 vatu or the Hong Kong 20 cents), but can have other numbers such as eight (the Eswatini 10 cents or the Ang Bagong Lipunan Philippine five centavo coin) or sixteen (the Libya 50 dirhams).
Holed
Often a round coin will have a central hole. In some countries this was to allow them to be strung together,[54] while other reasons include difficulty of counterfeiting and ability for visually impaired people to distinguish them from other coins.[55]
Some coins give the impression that holes were used to save metal, though it may not be possible to prove with certainty that this was the reason for creating the holes. An example of such a coin with a fairly large hexagonal hole is a undated tin 1 cash coin, minted in the period 1550–1596, that circulated in the Banten Sultanate on Java and Sumatra (Indonesia).[56] Also, several tin 1 pitis coins with exceptionally large round holes, of which some were made in octagonal coins, were used in Jambi Sultanate on Northern Sumatra (Indonesia).[57] Due to the soft metal tin used to make these thin old coins, they can easily be bent. In the years 1943–1947 India produced 1 pice coins for circulation with very large holes,[58] continued by Pakistan producing 1 pice coins of equal shape in the years 1948–1952.[59]
Rectangles: In the Edo period Japan issued several circulating silver and gold rectangular coins,[60][61] as well as a copper clad lead issue with a hole.[62]
Half circle: for Barbados Spanish coins were cut in half, it is hard to detect originals though, many forgeries exist.[66]
Additional shapes among non-circulating coins
Triangular: Bermuda has some special issue triangular coins from 1997 onward with curved edges.[67] The Isle of Man has some triangular special issue coins where the triangle is not regular (the angles are not all 60 degrees).[68]
Tetradecagonal: In 1976, Malaysia was the first country to issue 14-sided coins, the non-circulating 10 (silver) and 200 (gold) ringgit.[70] Australia started to issue a series of non-circulating 14-sided 50 cents coins dedicated to the Chinese zodiac in 2012.[71]
Rectangular: Jersey[72] and Fiji[73] have issued non-circulating rectangular coins.
Oval: Fiji and Poland have issued some non-circulating oval coins.[74][75]
Quarter circle: Poland has issued a 10 złotych coin in the shape of a quarter circle.[76]
Spheres: Niue issued the first official (non-circulating) spherical coin with a face value of 7 New Zealand dollars.[77] Several other countries followed soon with spherical coins, like Poland and Barbados. A 2008–2014 1 dollar sphere issue from Somalia is considered a fantasy coin, it was not officially issued by Somalia.[78]
Yin Yang: Fiji has issued some Yin Yang shaped coins.[79]
Arc (section of a circle with a hole): China started to issue a series of arc-shaped coins in the year 2000.[80]
Heart: Several countries have issued non-circulating heart shaped coins, like China, Cook Islands and Poland.[81]
Maps: Nauru has issued some non-circulating map shaped coins.[82][83] Australia also has issued some non-circulating map shaped coins (1 dollar coins in the shape of the map of Australia).[84]
Coca-Cola cap: Fiji has issued some non-circulating coins shaped like the cap of a Coca-Cola bottle.[85]
Cannabis leaf: Benin issued a non-circulating 100 CFA francs coin shaped like a cannabis leaf in 2011.[86]
The Eastern Caribbean dollar is the currency of all seven full members and one associate member of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS). The successor to the British West Indies dollar, it has existed since 1965, and it is normally abbreviated with the dollar sign $ or, alternatively, EC$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies. The EC$ is subdivided into 100 cents. It has been pegged to the United States dollar since 7 July 1976, at the exchange rate of US$1 = EC$2.70.
The peso is the currency of Chile. The current peso has circulated since 1975, with a previous version circulating between 1817 and 1960. Its symbol is defined as a letter S with either one or two vertical bars superimposed prefixing the amount, $ or ; the single-bar symbol, available in most modern text systems, is almost always used. Both of these symbols are used by many currencies, most notably the United States dollar, and may be ambiguous without clarification, such as CLP$ or US$. The ISO 4217 code for the present peso is CLP. It was divided into 100 centavos until 31 May 1996, when the subdivision was formally eliminated. In February 2023, the exchange rate was around CLP$800 to US$1.
The British decimal fifty pence coin is a denomination of sterling coinage worth 1⁄2 of one pound. Its obverse features the profile of the current Monarch since the coin's introduction in 1969. As of October 2022, five different royal portraits have been used.
Decimalisation or decimalization is the conversion of a system of currency or of weights and measures to units related by powers of 10.
Currency substitution is the use of a foreign currency in parallel to or instead of a domestic currency.
The cent is a monetary unit of many national currencies that equals 1⁄100 of the basic monetary unit.
A non-decimal currency is a currency that has sub-units that are a non-decimal fraction of the main unit, i.e. the number of sub-units in a main unit is not a power of 10. Historically, most currencies were non-decimal, though today virtually all are now decimal.
The Fijian dollar has been the currency of Fiji since 1969 and was also the currency between 1867 and 1873. It is normally abbreviated with the dollar sign $, or alternatively FJ$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies. It is divided into 100 cents.
The Jamaican dollar has been the currency of Jamaica since 1969. It is often abbreviated to J$, the J serving to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies. It is divided into 100 cents, although cent denominations are no longer in use as of 2018. Goods and services may still be priced in cents, but cash transactions are now rounded to the nearest dollar.
The dollar has been the currency of Liberia since 1943. It was also the country's currency between 1847 and 1907. It is normally abbreviated with the sign $, or alternatively L$ or LD$ to distinguish it from other dollar-named currencies. It is divided into 100 cents.
The dollar has been the currency of Barbados since 1935. Globally its currency has the ISO 4217 code BBD, however, unofficially in Barbados the International vehicle registration code BDS is also commonly used, a currency code that is otherwise reserved for Bangladesh outside Barbados. As such the present Barbados dollar has the official ISO 4217 code of BB which matches the [dot] .bb Cc-TLD domain names classification for Barbados under ISO 3166, plus D for dollar in the foreign exchange market. The Barbadian dollar is considered as a currency which can be divided into 100 cents, though the 1 cent coin is in the process of being phased out.
The Solomon Islands dollar is the currency of Solomon Islands since 1977. Its symbol is $, with SI$ used to differentiate it from other currencies also using the dollar sign. It is subdivided into 100 cents.
The Tuvaluan dollar is one of the currencies of Tuvalu, whose unofficial international currency code is TVD. Tuvalu has never had banknotes of its own, and has been issuing coins since 1976. However, the Tuvaluan dollar is used as a unit of account, and is pegged to the Australian dollar at parity. From 1966 to 1976, Tuvalu officially used the Australian dollar. In 1976, Tuvalu began issuing its own coins, which continue to circulate alongside Australian coins. Tuvalu continues to use Australian banknotes. Tuvaluan coins are not legal tender in Australia. Similar to the Faroese króna's relationship to the Danish krone and the Panamanian balboa's relationship to the United States dollar, the Tuvaluan dollar is not an independent currency, but a variation of the Australian dollar.
The Cook Islands dollar was the former currency of the Cook Islands, which now uses the New Zealand dollar, although some physical cash issued for the Cook Islands dollar remains in use. The dollar was subdivided into 100 cents, with some older 50-cent coins carrying the denomination as "50 tene".
The twelve-sided Australian fifty-cent coin is the third-highest denomination coin of the Australian dollar and the largest in terms of size in circulation. It is equal in size and shape to the Cook Island $5 coin, and both remain the only 12-sided coins in the southern hemisphere. It was introduced in 1969 to replace the round fifty-cent coin issued in 1966.
The Malaya and British Borneo dollar was the currency of Malaya, Singapore, Sarawak, North Borneo, Brunei and the Riau archipelago from 1953 to 1967 and was the successor of the Malayan dollar and Sarawak dollar, replacing them at par. The currency was issued by the Board of Commissioners of Currency, Malaya and British Borneo. Prior to 1952, the board was known as the Board of Commissioners of Currency, Malaya.
Christopher Ironside OBE, FRBS was an English painter and coin designer, particularly known for the reverse sides of the new British coins issued on decimalisation in 1971.
The coins of the Fijian pound were part of the physical form of Fiji's historical currency, the Fijian pound.
The coins of the New Zealand dollar are used for the smallest physical currency available in New Zealand. The current denominations are ten cents, twenty cents, fifty cents, one dollar and two dollars. The $1 and $2 coins are minted in a gold colour, the 20c and 50c coins are silver colour and the 10c coin is plated in copper.
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