Swedish Plate Money

Swedish Plate Money, Copper Coins

Sweden

1715

Sweden issued copper "plate money" as legal tender from 1644 to 1777. The money was very unpopular because of its weight. On March 3, 1719, the Swedish central banker who was blamed for the plate coinage was beheaded.

Manilla, or "Slave Trade Money"

Bronze Coin

West Africa

Pre-1949

The use of the manilla as an exchange medium might date back to the ancient Phoenicians who traded on the West African coast hundreds of years B.C. European traders arrived in the late 1400s and found they could use the manilla to buy slaves. The British outlawed the manilla in 1902, but its use continued until 1949.

Katanga Cross, Copper Coin

Belgian Congo, Africa
Early 20th Century

The sand-cast Katanga Cross was valuable coinage in the Belgian Congo during the 19th and early 20th centuries. One cross weighs about 2 pounds. When the Congo issued standard sized coins in 1961, the coins featured an image of a Katanga Cross. Today Belgian Congo is called Zaire.

Fractional Currency

United States
1863

The government of the United States issued fractional currency notes from August 21, 1862, through February 15, 1876. Hoarding of gold, silver, and copper coins led to the use of paper "coins" during the Civil War.

Great Seal of the Confederate States of America

London/Virginia
Circa 1870

The original Great Seal was engraved in 1864 in London, England. It was the symbolic emblem of Confederate sovereignty. In 1874, the same British engraver certified this reproduction "to be a faithful reproduction of the identical Seal engraved in 1864."

Currency, Confederate Fifty Dollar Bill

Richmond, Virginia, USA
1864

This Confederate fifty-dollar bill features the President of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis.

Currency, One Dollar, Virginia Treasury Note

Commonwealth of Virginia, USA
1862

In 1861, during the American Civil War, the Commonwealth of Virginia withdrew from the Union and began printing its own money in support of the Confederacy. Serial no. 47199.

Spade-Shape Chinese Coin

Non-precious "base" metals
China

China Spade money was first issued in the Shantung Peninsula and south of the Yellow River Valley around 600 B.C. 

Knife Coins

Non-precious "base" metals
China

The shape of spades and swords inspired the shapes of ancient Chinese coins. Archaeologists found Chinese "knife money" from the Yellow River Valley dating to 500 B.C. This is one of the earliest known coins on the Eurasian continent. Eurasia comprises the traditional continents of Europe and Asia.

Chinese Coins (Copper Coins)

China
Date unknown

This collection might be a remnant of a Chinese coin sword of the Quianlong Dynasty (1736-1793).

Chinese Coin

China
960-1127

This coin is believed to be a Ta Kuan T'ung Pao coin from the Northern Sung Dynasty (960-1127 A.D.).

Bronze Medal

Portland, Oregon
1905

This medal is a commemorative medallion from the Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition, held in Portland, Oregon.

Bronze Commemorative Medallion

U.S. Mint, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
St. Louis, Missouri, USA
1904

A celebration of the Centennial of the Louisiana Purchase, the largest land acquisition of the United States, took place at the World's Fair of 1904 in St. Louis, Missouri. In memory of this event, 39,158 bronze medals were given out: 33,158 as prizes and 6,000 as souvenirs.

Bronze Commemorative Medallion

World's Columbian Exposition
1893

This medallion commemorates the 400th anniversary of the landing of Columbus.

Copper and Zinc Commemorative Medallion

USA

This medallion commemorates Theodore Roosevelt's presidential inauguration.

Bronze Commemorative Medallion

USA
1961

This medallion commemorates the presidential inauguration of John F. Kennedy.

Bronze Commemorative Medallion

Oregon Trail Celebration
United States of America
1965

R.F. Wade Company, of Portland, Oregon, made this medallion as a souvenir for the 1865-1965 "Old Oregon Trail" commemoration.