Numismatics is the study or collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money, medals and related objects.
The British farthing abbreviated qua., was a denomination of sterling coinage worth 1/960 of one pound, 1/48 of one shilling, or 1/4 of one penny; initially minted in copper and then in bronze, which replaced the earlier English farthings. Before Decimal Day in 1971, Britain used the Carolingian monetary system, wherein the largest unit was a pound sterling of 20 shillings, each of 12 pence. Each penny was divided into 4 farthings, thus, a pound sterling contained 960 farthings, and a shilling contained 48 farthings. From 1860 to 1971, the purchasing power of a farthing ranged between 12p and 0.2p in 2017 values.
Casino chips are small discs used as currency in casinos. Larger, rectangular gaming plaques may be used for high-stakes games. Poker chips are also widely used as play money in casual or tournament games, are of numismatic value to casino chip collectors, or may be kept as souvenirs.
Exonumia are numismatic items other than coins and paper money. This includes "Good For" tokens, badges, counterstamped coins, elongated coins, encased coins, souvenir medallions, tags, wooden nickels and other similar items. It is an aspect of numismatics and many coin collectors are also exonumists.
£sd, spoken as "pounds, shillings and pence", is the popular name for the pre-decimal currencies once common throughout Europe. The abbreviation originates from the Latin currency denominations librae, solidi, and denarii. In the United Kingdom, these were referred to as pounds, shillings, and pence.
The pound was the currency of Scotland prior to the 1707 Treaty of Union between the Kingdom of Scotland and the Kingdom of England, which created the Kingdom of Great Britain. It was introduced by David I, in the 12th century, on the Carolingian monetary system of a pound divided into 20 shillings, each of 12 pence. The Scottish currency was later devalued relative to sterling by debasement of its coinage. By the time of James III, one pound Scots was valued at five shillings sterling.
Notgeld is money issued by an institution in a time of economic or political crisis. The issuing institution is usually one without official sanction from the central government. This usually occurs when not enough state-produced money is available from the central bank. In particular, notgeld generally refers to money produced in Germany and Austria during World War I and the Interwar period. Issuing institutions could be a town's savings banks, municipalities and private or state-owned firms. Nearly all issues contained an expiry date, after which time they were invalid. Issues without dates ordinarily had an expiry announced in a newspaper or at the place of issuance.
The convertible peso was one of two official currencies in Cuba, the other being the Cuban peso. It had been in limited use since 1994, when its value was pegged 1:1 to the United States dollar.
The króna is the currency of the Faroe Islands. It is issued by Danmarks Nationalbank, the central bank of Denmark. It is not a separate currency, but is rather a local issue of banknotes denominated in the Danish krone, although Danish-issued coins are still used. Consequently, it does not have an ISO 4217 currency code and instead shares that of the Danish krone, DKK. This means that in the Faroe Islands, credit cards are charged in Danish kroner. The króna is subdivided into 100 oyru(r).
The British farthing was a British coin worth a quarter of an old penny. It ceased to be struck after 1956 and was demonetised from 1 January 1961.
Irish coins have been issued by a variety of local and national authorities, the ancient provincial Kings and High Kings of Ireland, the Kingdom of Ireland (1541–1801), the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1801–1922), the Irish Free State (1922–1937), and the present Republic of Ireland. Since 2002, the Republic of Ireland has minted Euro coins, featuring symbols such as flax and the harp.
Newfoundland, as a separate British colony, produced its own decimal currency between 1865 and 1947. The coins of Newfoundland are of historical importance as Newfoundland was a British colony until 1907, and a Dominion until 1949, when Newfoundland and Labrador became the tenth province of Canada.
The pound was the official currency of Jamaica between 1840 and 1969. It circulated as a mixture of sterling coinage and locally issued coins and banknotes and was always equal to the pound sterling. The Jamaican pound was also used in the Cayman and Turks and Caicos Islands.
Canada has an extensive history with regard to its currencies. Prior to European contact, indigenous peoples in Canada used items such as wampum and furs for trading purposes, which continued when trade with Europeans began. During the period of French colonization, coins were introduced, as well as one of the first examples of paper currency by a western government. During the period of British colonization, additional coinage was introduced, as well as banknotes. The Canadian colonies gradually moved away from the British pound and adopted currencies linked to the United States dollar. With Confederation in 1867, the Canadian dollar was established. By the mid-20th century, the Bank of Canada was the sole issuer of paper currency, and banks ceased to issue banknotes.
Shinplaster was paper money of low denomination, typically less than one dollar, circulating widely in the economies of the 19th century where there was a shortage of circulating coinage. The shortage of circulating coins was primarily due to the intrinsic value of metal rising above the value of the coin itself. People became incentivized to take coins out of circulation and melt them for the true intrinsic value. This left no medium of exchange for the purchase of basic consumer goods such as milk and newspapers. To fill this gap, banks issued low-denomination paper currency.
Bi-metallic coins are coins consisting of two (bi-) metals or alloys, generally arranged with an outer ring around a contrasting center. Common circulating examples include the €1, €2, United Kingdom £1 and £2, Canadian $2, South Africa R5, Turkish 1 lira and 50 kurus, Indian ₹10 and ₹20, Indonesian Rp1,000, Polish 2 and 5 zł, Czech 50 Kč, Hungarian 100 and 200 Ft, Bulgarian 1 and 2 lv., Hong Kong $10, Argentine $1 and $2, Brazilian R$1, Chilean $100 and $500, Colombian $500 and $1000, Peruvian S/2 and S/5, Albanian 100 Lekë, and all Mexican coins of $1 or higher denomination.
Conder tokens, also known as 18th-century provincial tokens, were a form of privately minted token coinage struck and used during the later part of the 18th century and the early part of the 19th century in England, Anglesey and Wales, Scotland, and Ireland.
Medal games are a type of arcade game commonly found in amusement arcades and casinos, especially in Japan. In order to play a medal game, a customer must first exchange their cash into medals. The rate of medals versus cash varies from arcade to arcade, but usually the cheapest range is from ¥300 all the way up to ¥10,000.
Bamboo tallies, alternatively known as bamboo tokens or bamboo money, were a type of alternative currency that was produced in Eastern China from the 1870s until the 1940s and were used to supplement Chinese cash coins and other small denomination Chinese currencies in a manner similar to paper money. Some bamboo tallies were issued in denominations of wén (文) or "strings of cash coins" (串), some bamboo tallies were denominated in qián (錢), tóngyuán, jiǎo (角), and yáng, other than in money bamboo tallies could also be denominated in tea bags. During the same time as bamboo tallies were issued other local businesses manufactured paper money denominated in fēn (分) while others used either copper tokens or money made from bones in a similar fashion.
The halfpenny was first issued in New Zealand in 1940, seven years after the first introduction of a domestic pound coinage. The coin's issuing was scheduled to align with the centennial of the Treaty of Waitangi and the New Zealand centennial, alongside the penny and centennial half-crown. Designed by Leonard Cornwall Mitchell after winning a government-sponsored design competition, the halfpenny features the head of the reigning monarch on the obverse, with a hei-tiki pedant ornamented with simplified kowhaiwhai woodcarvings on the reverse. The smallest of all denominations of the New Zealand pound, the copper coin was worth 1/480th of a pound, or 1/120th of a crown, the largest coinage denomination. It was discontinued alongside all other New Zealand currency following decimalisation in 1967.
