Taiwan Fifty NT Dollars (Yuan) 2005

The current issue Taiwanese fifty NT dollar coin was introduced in 2002 to combat the proliferation of counterfeits of the earlier bi-metallic issue. As well as having a front facing effigy of Dr. Sun Yat Sen on the obverse, the reverse contains a "latent image" of the denomination. When viewed one way the numerals 50 can be seen, viewed from another angle the Chinese characters for 50 are seen. Similar technology is also found on the Japanese 500 yen coin.

Nova Scotia Halfpenny Token 1832

During the nineteenth century many British Colonies suffered from severe shortages of small change. While it was unlawful for the colonies to strike coins of their own to alleviate the difficulties, there were ways around the law, thus we have this halfpenny token of 1832 from the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. Equal in size and weight to a British halfpenny, and bearing the effigy of King George the Fourth, despite him having died in 1830......

Czechoslovakia One Korun 1938

Coins bearing this design were issued as part of the new Czechoslovak Republic formed following the First World War. The One Korun coin was introduced in 1922 and issued in the large size format until 1938. The series was interrupted due to Germany invading Czechoslovakia. Following the second world war coins bearing the same design were issued but in a smaller size.

Great Britain Penny, 1853

These large sized pure copper coins were issued bearing the head of a young queen Victoria from 1838 untill their replacement by a smaller bronze issue in 1860. There were a couple of problems with this issue, the first being that at the time coins contained roughly the value in metal of the denomination, thus one penny contained roughly one penny's worth of copper. Secondly, pure copper is a relatively soft metal, so the coins wore quickly and were easily damaged.