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A commemorative coin is a coin issued to commemorate some particular event or issue with a distinct design with reference to the occasion on which they were issued. Many coins of this category serve as collector's items only, although some countries also issue commemorative coins for regular circulation.
Commemorative coins can be seen as being of one of three types:
Historically, the coins issued by any state have always reflected the current political or economic situation. Many ancient and pre-modern coins certainly commemorate events in contemporary times. For instance, Roman coins often have references to military campaigns and the defeat of foreign powers. These reverse types often symbolically represent the subordination of recently conquered territories to Roman authority. Such coins are examples of ancient political propaganda. The Roman Empire may be represented by a proud warrior 'raising' an undersized figure, representing the defeated enemy.
Throughout history, coins have commonly been issued on special occasions, without necessarily citing that occasion explicitly. In some cases, emergency money have been issued under unfavourable conditions, such as a city under siege. Such emergency coins were issued in Vienna in 1529, while the city was besieged by the troops of the Ottoman Empire. Due to the conditions at the time, such coins are frequently minted on square flans, rather than round ones (it was easier and quicker to produce a square flan than a round one). European square coins of this era are known by their German name 'klippe'. Coins might also be issued with the specific purpose of financing a military campaign, or for the payment of tribute or war indemnity by a feudal lord to his sovereign.
During recent centuries, specially prepared coins have been issued to proclaim the coronation of a new monarch. Such coins are known as 'largesse' coins. This type of coins were issued in India during the Mughal era (the 'nisar' coinage), and in Europe in the age of absolutism. In Europe, such coins were scattered from the royal chariot, to achieve attention and applause from the public. In Sweden, coins of this type were issued as late as 1873 (known as "kastpenning").
During the era of the formation of the European nation states, the issuance of special coins explicitly commemorating various events became increasingly common. These coins were frequently devised to establish a public notion of nationhood, and also to honor the ruling monarch and his dynasty. During the economically exhausting Napoleonic wars, a one sixth rigsdaler was issued in Denmark from voluntary contributions from the public, intended to finance the creation of a new fleet. Another notable coin is the Prussian thaler of 1871, commemorating the victory of the Franco-Prussian war, opening the gates for the Prussian king to be crowned as Emperor of the unified German nation. After the (political and monetary) unification of Germany, some German states continued issuing separate coins on special occasions, such as the jubilee of a ruling monarch. The issuance of these royal jubilee coins became common throughout Europe in the late 19th and early 20th century. In some cases, these became collector items already at the time of their minting.
Before World War II, commemorative coins were always made of precious metals. The base metal coins were probably not considered appropriate for, or worthy of, honoring the nation or the ruling dynasty. However, during the 20th century, the use of precious metals for circulating currency became increasingly scarce. World War I and the world economic crisis of the 1930s brought about temporary or permanent abolition of the convertibility of bank notes to silver and gold coins. Gradually, the issuance of precious metal coins became increasingly restricted, and definitively abandoned about 1970. While the commemoratives of these decades continued to be issued predominantly in precious metals, their use as circulating currency became scarce or ceased entirely. Thus, the commemoratives developed into a separate class of coins with no immediately recognisable link to the coins and notes used in everyday transactions. This class of coins were collectors items, or in some cases objects for economic investment.
When West Germany replaced the silver 5 mark coin with a copper-nickel one in 1975, the silver 5 mark commemoratives also reverted to copper-nickel (in 1979). Already in 1965, the Soviet Union issued a copper-nickel-zinc rouble commemorating the victory in World War II. This, and the next four commemorative roubles, were issued in several millions of copies, and circulated as regular currency.
In the United Kingdom, before decimalisation of the money system in 1971, the usual commemorative coin was a crown, or five shilling piece. These were issued to mark coronations of monarchs; one was also issued on the occasion of the death of Winston Churchill. Some decimal crowns (worth 25 pence) were issued, but since 1990 the £5 has been the usual non circulating commemorative coin. Other denominations such as the 50 pence and £2 are issued as circulating commemoratives.
The circulating and non-circulating commemoratives may be issued jointly, but have quite different purposes. Denmark, for instance, has since 1990 developed a pattern of issuing aluminium bronze 20 kroner commemoratives and accompanying silver 200 krone commemoratives. The aluminium bronze coins are circulating along with the non-commemorative 20 krone coins, while the silver coins are never circulated. The circulating commemoratives brings variation into the circulating coin mass, while the silver coins are collectors items and a source of revenue for the state. Likewise, in East Germany, some commemorative coins were issued with a primary purpose of earning foreign currency, while others actually circulated, albeit in smaller quantity than the bank notes of the corresponding denominations.
Many countries issue large quantities of non-circulating legal tender purely for seigniorage as a profit making exercise. The events that these coins commemorate are often chosen based on a perceived market, rather than events of significance to the country. Technology developed for non circulating coins has moved to circulation issues - coloured coins were first issued as non circulating legal tender, but Canada and Australia have issued coloured commemorative coins into circulation.
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Commemorative coins by area:
A coin is a small object, usually round and flat, used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order to facilitate trade. They are most often issued by a government. Coins often have images, numerals, or text on them. The faces of coins or medals are sometimes called the obverse and the reverse, referring to the front and back sides, respectively. The obverse of a coin is commonly called heads, because it often depicts the head of a prominent person, and the reverse is known as tails.
The krona is the currency of the Kingdom of Sweden. It is one of the currencies of the European Union. Both the ISO code "SEK" and currency sign "kr" are in common use for the krona; the former precedes or follows the value, the latter usually follows it but, especially in the past, it sometimes preceded the value. In English, the currency is sometimes referred to as the Swedish crown, as krona means "crown" in Swedish. The Swedish krona was the ninth-most traded currency in the world by value in April 2016.
Coins of the United States dollar, aside from those of the earlier Continental currency were first minted in 1792. New coins have been produced annually and they make up a valuable aspect of the United States currency system. Circulating coins exist in denominations of 1¢, 5¢, 10¢, 25¢, 50¢, and $1.00. Also minted are bullion, including gold, silver and platinum, and commemorative coins. All of these are produced by the United States Mint. The coins are then sold to Federal Reserve Banks which in turn are responsible for putting coins into circulation and withdrawing them as demanded by the country's economy.
The standard circulating coinage of the United Kingdom, British Crown Dependencies and British Overseas Territories is denominated in pennies and pounds sterling, and ranges in value from one penny sterling to two pounds. Since decimalisation, on 15 February 1971, the pound has been divided into 100 (new) pence. Before decimalisation, twelve pence made a shilling, and twenty shillings made a pound.
In economics, Gresham's law is a monetary principle stating that "bad money drives out good". For example, if there are two forms of commodity money in circulation, which are accepted by law as having similar face value, the more valuable commodity will gradually disappear from circulation.
There are eight euro coin denominations, ranging from one cent to two euros. The coins first came into use in 2002. They have a common reverse, portraying a map of Europe, but each country in the eurozone has its own design on the obverse, which means that each coin has a variety of different designs in circulation at once. Four European microstates that are not members of the European Union use the euro as their currency and also have the right to mint coins with their own designs on the obverse side.
The kroon was the official currency of Estonia for two periods in history: 1928–1940 and 1992–2011. Between 1 January and 14 January 2011, the kroon circulated together with the euro, after which the euro became the sole legal tender in Estonia. The kroon was subdivided into 100 cents.
The British crown was a denomination of sterling coinage worth 1⁄4 of one pound, or 5 shillings, or 60 (old) pence. The crown was first issued during the reign of Edward VI, as part of the coinage of the Kingdom of England.
The United States Mint has minted numerous commemorative coins to commemorate persons, places, events, and institutions since 1848. Many of these coins are not intended for general circulation, but are still legal tender. The mint also produces commemorative medals, which are similar to coins but do not have a face value, and therefore are not legal tender.
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.
The Reichsmark was the currency of Germany from 1924 until the fall of Nazi Germany in 1945, and in the American, British and French occupied zones of Germany, until 20 June 1948. The Reichsmark was then replaced by the Deutsche Mark, to become the currency of West Germany and then all of Germany after the 1990 reunification. The Reichsmark was used in the Soviet occupation zone of Germany until 23 June 1948, where it was replaced by the East German mark. The Reichsmark was subdivided into 100 Reichspfennig. The Mark is an ancient Germanic weight measure, traditionally a half pound, later used for several coins; Reich comes from the official name for the German state from 1871 to 1945, Deutsches Reich.
The German mark was the currency of the German Empire, which spanned from 1871 to 1918. The mark was paired with the minor unit of the pfennig (₰); 100 pfennigs were equivalent to 1 mark. The mark was on the gold standard from 1871 to 1914, but like most nations during World War I, the German Empire removed the gold backing in August 1914, and gold coins ceased to circulate.
There have been three sets of coins in Ireland since independence. In all three, the coin showed a Celtic harp on the obverse. The pre-decimal coins of the Irish pound had realistic animals on the reverse; the decimal coins retained some of these but featured ornamental birds on the lower denominations; and the euro coins used the common design of the euro currencies. The pre-decimal and original decimal coins were of the same dimensions as the same-denomination British coins, as the Irish pound was in currency union with the British pound sterling. British coins were widely accepted in Ireland, and conversely to a lesser extent. In 1979 Ireland joined the Exchange Rate Mechanism and the Irish pound left parity with sterling; coin designs introduced after this differed between the two countries.
This glossary of numismatics is a list of definitions of terms and concepts relevant to numismatics and coin collecting, as well as sub-fields and related disciplines, with concise explanations for the beginner or professional.
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".
Silver coins are one of the oldest mass-produced form of coinage. Silver has been used as a coinage metal since the times of the Greeks; their silver drachmas were popular trade coins. The ancient Persians used silver coins between 612–330 BC. Before 1797, British pennies were made of silver.
The Swiss franc has been the currency of Liechtenstein since 1920. The Swiss franc is legal tender since Liechtenstein is in a customs and monetary union with Switzerland. The 1980 treaty between Switzerland and Liechtenstein allows Liechtenstein to mint limited amounts of Swiss francs with a Liechtenstein inscription, but only in the form of commemorative coins, and they are not allowed to issue banknotes.
The coins of Canada are produced by the Royal Canadian Mint and denominated in Canadian dollars ($) and the subunit of dollars, cents (¢). An effigy of the reigning monarch always appears on the obverse of all coins. There are standard images which appear on the reverse, but there are also commemorative and numismatic issues with different images on the reverse.
The coins of the Australian dollar were introduced on 14 February 1966, although they did not at that time include the one-dollar or two-dollar coins. The dollar was equivalent in value to 10 shillings in the former currency.
Gold and silver issues of the euro commemorative coins are collectors' euro coins not primarily intended for general circulation; the commemoratives also include rare cases of bimetal collector coins, such as titanium and niobium.
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