3 ms·

I collect world and some historic currency as a small side hobby and have maybe over a thousand pieces. Most of them are worthless in value but many of them are

by bane 8y ago

I collect world and some historic currency as a small side hobby and have maybe over a thousand pieces. Most of them are worthless in value but many of them are sources of interesting analysis about the societies that produced them. What I find particularly interesting is the notion that most governments have maybe around a dozen different pieces of currency they issue, and have to decide what goes on them. Thus it's an interesting insight into the values the government wishes to promote to users of the money. For example, money in many developing nations shows images of large infrastructure projects to demonstrate and communicate some kind of progress and thus justify to the the citizens and users of the money that they should stay in a position of power. In my collection are several orphaned currencies no longer used in any capacity like Japanese occupation Philippine Pesos that look almost exactly like U.S. dollars from the era. Why? I don't know all of the reasons, but it's interesting to contemplate how quickly after occupation these were produced, the decision to use Pesos instead of Dollars or Yen or some other alternative. [1] Another interesting currency I have is a coin known as a Maria Theresa Thaler (MTT) [2] -- and for historic reasons that will become apparent, probably a counterfit, but was still traded. There's a long and interesting history about the coin, but the 1780 minting (or rather coins with the year of 1780 on them) became an important currency throughout many parts of the world long after the Austrian-Hungarian Empire was no longer in existence. In some areas, Merchants would not accept any other currency than 1780 MTTs and in a few areas is still used. However, due to this popularity it was often copied, counterfeited or otherwise minted by various groups and governments long after 1780. You can still by proof coins from the Austrian Mint to this day. 1 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_government-issued_Philippine_peso https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_government-issued_Phi... 2 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Theresa_thaler https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Theresa_thaler

bobthepanda 8y ago
As far as the Phillipines is concerned, the Peso was actually in use during the US colonial era as well. Practically speaking, before the digital age, it was impractical to ship currency across the ocean just to provide the money supply for a colony or another country; better to have the local authorities manage it locally so that they can respond to local economic situations in a timely fashion. While by 1939 speed of travel is no longer an issue, reliability of wartime travel is, so the Japanese have to rely on the local mint to issue currency.
- bane 8y ago
  Right, and it's really interesting to speculate on these kinds of matters. I've spent a little bit of time looking into it and can't find a definitive story behind the decisions made. Other Japanese occupied territories ended up with a local Yen-type. For example, Korea [1] and Taiwan [2] both had a locally produced Yen. Why not the Philippines? It's an interesting thought experiment to think about how urgent the Japanese government felt that local currency was to their territories that almost immediately they had new currency designed, plates engraved and money printed, maybe even on existing local equipment! Why not just print "Yen"? As to shipping hard currency during War Time, I also have a small collection of U.S. Military "Milk Caps" (Pogs) which were issued as coinage/change on Wartime bases in Iraq and Afghanistan instead of coinage. I've heard it was because the cost of shipping in and out enough coins to support the local on-base economies was simply too high and was better used shipping in and out other things. [3][4] 1 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiwanese_yen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiwanese_yen 2 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_yen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_yen 3 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milk_caps_(game) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milk_caps_(game) 4 - https://www.ebay.com/bhp/aafes-pogs https://www.ebay.com/bhp/aafes-pogs
  - rootsudo 8y ago
    1. Mickey mouse notes were the yen notes. 2. You don't/cant educate people timely on a new money. Peso is peso in Philippines, the time period, shy of 40 years Philippines went from Spain, American to Japanese Custodianship. Too many changes == not accepted. 3. Local printing, typetext and fonts. It isn't like today where you can use comic sans immediately and change it in post. It used to all be done by hand in a printing press. What's also interesting is you can still find silver pesos around Luzon diving, there's also this good story: http://corregidor.org/chs_trident/silver/hubbell_01.htm http://corregidor.org/chs_trident/silver/hubbell_01.htm If you ever have a chance to visit the Philippines, I highly suggest looking for pesos. :) I found so many, and all the locals I talk to don't know the story or history, most don't really know their history at all... But +1 on infrastructure projects and such. Philippines also reissued the pesos coins, and they, suck, the 1 and 5 peso coin are similar in diameter and size, there is no color difference as previous currency it was gold color and silver color (not metals), and for a while, people were confused which were which -- getting change means you'd get 15 pesos back instead of 3! Also, they are now following the ASEAN style of design with flowers and local "treasures" on the coins. The locals I talk with didn't really know there was a national plant -- always fun!
kakwa_ 8y ago
Another thing I found amusing about war time (WWI and WWII) coins: to save precious metal, they were made of cheap alloys. You almost have the feeling there are made of cardboard and that you could snap them in two. But I guess they didn't finish as most dead coins: so worthless that getting a bag of them and selling it as scrap metal would actually earn you money ^^.

by bane 8y ago

bobthepanda 8y ago

As far as the Phillipines is concerned, the Peso was actually in use during the US colonial era as well. Practically speaking, before the digital age, it was impractical to ship currency across the ocean just to provide the money supply for a colony or another country; better to have the local authorities manage it locally so that they can respond to local economic situations in a timely fashion. While by 1939 speed of travel is no longer an issue, reliability of wartime travel is, so the Japanese have to rely on the local mint to issue currency.

bane 8y ago
Right, and it's really interesting to speculate on these kinds of matters. I've spent a little bit of time looking into it and can't find a definitive story behind the decisions made. Other Japanese occupied territories ended up with a local Yen-type. For example, Korea [1] and Taiwan [2] both had a locally produced Yen. Why not the Philippines? It's an interesting thought experiment to think about how urgent the Japanese government felt that local currency was to their territories that almost immediately they had new currency designed, plates engraved and money printed, maybe even on existing local equipment! Why not just print "Yen"? As to shipping hard currency during War Time, I also have a small collection of U.S. Military "Milk Caps" (Pogs) which were issued as coinage/change on Wartime bases in Iraq and Afghanistan instead of coinage. I've heard it was because the cost of shipping in and out enough coins to support the local on-base economies was simply too high and was better used shipping in and out other things. [3][4] 1 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiwanese_yen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiwanese_yen 2 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_yen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_yen 3 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milk_caps_(game) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milk_caps_(game) 4 - https://www.ebay.com/bhp/aafes-pogs https://www.ebay.com/bhp/aafes-pogs
- rootsudo 8y ago
  1. Mickey mouse notes were the yen notes. 2. You don't/cant educate people timely on a new money. Peso is peso in Philippines, the time period, shy of 40 years Philippines went from Spain, American to Japanese Custodianship. Too many changes == not accepted. 3. Local printing, typetext and fonts. It isn't like today where you can use comic sans immediately and change it in post. It used to all be done by hand in a printing press. What's also interesting is you can still find silver pesos around Luzon diving, there's also this good story: http://corregidor.org/chs_trident/silver/hubbell_01.htm http://corregidor.org/chs_trident/silver/hubbell_01.htm If you ever have a chance to visit the Philippines, I highly suggest looking for pesos. :) I found so many, and all the locals I talk to don't know the story or history, most don't really know their history at all... But +1 on infrastructure projects and such. Philippines also reissued the pesos coins, and they, suck, the 1 and 5 peso coin are similar in diameter and size, there is no color difference as previous currency it was gold color and silver color (not metals), and for a while, people were confused which were which -- getting change means you'd get 15 pesos back instead of 3! Also, they are now following the ASEAN style of design with flowers and local "treasures" on the coins. The locals I talk with didn't really know there was a national plant -- always fun!

kakwa_ 8y ago

Another thing I found amusing about war time (WWI and WWII) coins: to save precious metal, they were made of cheap alloys. You almost have the feeling there are made of cardboard and that you could snap them in two. But I guess they didn't finish as most dead coins: so worthless that getting a bag of them and selling it as scrap metal would actually earn you money ^^.