http://www.stampandcoin.co.uk JANUARY 2016^67Coins on Israel’s first stamps
The State of Israel was established in
1948 and its first set of stamps was
released on 16 May, 1948. The nine
stamps all featured coins from the first
century depicting religious artefacts or
fruits. Today this is quite a scarce set
especially with complete tabs.
Coins have been featured numerous
times on Israeli stamps in a way
linking modern Israel with its past
almost 2,000 years ago.
Coin collecting is quite popular
in the USA and some of the scarcer
specimens have sold at auction for
more than a million dollars.
In 1975 the Centennial Convention
of the American Bankers Association
took place. The USPS issued two
se-tenant stamps to mark the
occasion. They depict various famous
US coins including a Morgan Silver
Dollar and an Indian Head Penny. In
1978 the Indian Head Penny returned
to a US 13c postage stamp but this
time on its own. This really was a tiny
stamp which was released in sheets of
150 copies.Primitive and strange coins
Uganda’s very first stamps were type-
written by local missionaries. The
denominations were in cowries (fifty
cowries apparently equalled 4 pence).
This is perhaps the strangest of all
currencies if we leave out systems of
barter trade involving potatoes (Tristan
da Cunha) or puffin birds (Lundy
Island in the Bristol Channel).
China has had quite an interestingselection of curious coins during its long
history. As in Uganda cowry shells were
used as coins and they even produced
bronze coins which looked very much
like cowries. These and many other
strange coins were shown on two sets of
eight stamps issued in 1981 and 1982,
respectively. The two sets illustrate shovel
coins, knife coins and other varieties.
In 1953 Nigeria issued a new
set of definitive stamps including
the portrait of Queen Elizabeth II.
Collectors of coins on stamps should
pay attention to the ½p value which
shows Old Manilla money – copper
and bronze armlets used as currency
in West Africa and later used by
Europeans for the slave trade, the
term Manilla is thought to come from
the Spanish for a bracelet manella.
This black and orange stamp is
currently valued at only 15p so it
should be an easy acquisition.COINS ON STAMPS
Sweden’s ‘Blood Money’
In 1568, coins were minted at Vadstena
in Sweden. Today these coins are of
course very rare and beyond the reach
of most collectors. The coins are known
as ‘Blodsklippingar’ in Swedish which
can be translated as blood money.
In 1567, the insane King Erik XIV
of Sweden accused nobleman Svante
Sture of treason and had him and his
sons murdered on 24 May, 1567. He
later had to pay compensation to Sture’s
widow. Erik’s brothers tried to depose
the king and in order to finance the
rebellion they had square coins minted
at Vadstena in 1568. The values were
4 öre, 1, 2, 4 and 8 marks. The silver
needed to mint these coins had been
given to the two Dukes by Svante
Sture’s widow. Due to their background
the coins are known as ‘blood money’.
A 4 krona stamp was issued by
Sweden in 1971 showing blood money
coins. More than 40 million copies
were printed of this high-value (at
the time) which was intended to pay
postage on parcels. The stamp can still
be had for less than a pound.Stamps announce
new coinage
In 1975 Papua New Guinea introduced
the kina currency replacing the
dollars and cents used since 1966.ThsasasasUN’s coins and flags
The United Nations’ ambitious ‘Coin and Flag’
series began in 2006 and continued this
year with 24 new stamps issued in February,
showing currency from countries including
Costa Rica, El Salvador, Tonga and Uruguay.
The huge stamp set aims to include every
member country of the United Nations and
follows a similar series launched in 1980, which
showed each country’s flag. The ongoing ‘Coin
and Flag’ series has a consistent design which
may add attraction for the thematics collector,
with the flag across the top of each stamp and
the coin shown beneath. The United Kingdom
appeared in the third series of stamps, in 2008,
and showed a 1989 £2 coin issued to mark the
Tercentenary Bill of Rights, a coin design that
many UK citizens might not recognise.
For each year of stamps, the UN Postal
Administration has also produced a special
folder to hold that year’s stamps.Papua New Guinea stamp
of 1975 showing off the
then new kina currencyFrom left: Israel’s first
stamps, issued in
1948, depicted ancient
Jewish coins, the series
continued in 1949, 1950
and 1954, this example
is from the 1950 set
of twelve; the USA’s
1978 stamp showing
the famous Indian Head
Penny measured only
about three-quarters of
an inch on each side
and was soon regarded
as too small; Sweden’s
4 krona stamp depicting
‘blood money’ coinsp66 Theme coins.indd 67 23/11/2015 14:39