Lifestyle/Currencies
Coins are considered by some numismatists to have originated c. 550–600 BC in Anatolia, which corresponds to modern-day Turkey, in particular in Lydia
ISO 4217 is the international standard describing three letter codes (also known as the currency code) to define the names of currencies established by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). There is also a three-digit code number assigned to each currency, e.g. GBP is 826 and USD is 840
UK currency
Coins
Penny made from silver in 8th century
The guinea coin of 1663 was the first British machine-struck gold coin. The coin was originally worth one pound, which was twenty shillings; but rises in the price of gold caused the value of the guinea to increase, at times as high as thirty shillings. The name came from Guinea in Africa, where much of the gold used to make the coins originated. Although the coin is no longer current, the term guinea survives in some circles, notably horse racing, to mean an amount of one pound and five pence
Bezant – medieval name for gold coins
Noble – gold coin worth six shillings and eight pence. Introduced by Edward III
The Florin or Double Leopard was an attempt by Edward III to produce a gold coinage suitable for use in Europe as well as in England
Florin – 24 old pence. Double rose on the reverse. Named after Florence
Angel is a gold coin introduced into England by Edward IV in 1465 as a new issue of the Noble
Groat – four old pence. 63 groats in a guinea
Halfcrown had a shield of the Royal Arms on the reverse
Shilling had the English quarter of the Royal Arms: three lions or leopards within a shield on the reverse
Sixpence had a role and thistle on the reverse
Threepenny bit had 12 sides. Crowned portcullis on the reverse
Penny had Britannia on the reverse
Halfpenny had the Golden Hind designed by Thomas Humphrey Paget on the reverse from 1937 to1967
A wren replaced Britannia on the reverse of a farthing
Farthing = 1 / 960 of a pound
Half-farthing existed between 1842 and 1861
Pound note introduced in 1916
Queen’s head has appeared on bank notes since 1960
Decimal Day was the day the United Kingdom and Ireland decimalised their currencies. The new ½p, 1p and 2p were introduced on 15 February 1971. Within two weeks of Decimal Day, the penny (1d) and threepenny (3d) coins had left circulation
In 1982, the word ‘new’ in ‘new penny’ or ‘new pence’ was removed from the inscriptions on British coins, to be replaced by the number of pence in the denomination (i.e. ‘ten pence’ or ‘fifty pence’)
Ceased to be legal tender – Farthing (1960), Halfpenny (1969), Half-crown (1970), Sixpence (1980), Decimal halfpenny (1984), One pound note (1988)
In 1992 the metal used for the one penny and two penny coins was changed from bronze to copper coated steel
20p coin introduced in 1982, £1 coin introduced in 1983, £2 coin introduced in 1998
Obverse of all British coins has a portrait of the Queen by Mary Gillick
Commemorative £2 coin first issued in 1986
50p piece with hands holding the sun produced in 1998 to commemorate 50th anniversary of the NHS
50p coin issued in 2006 to commemorate 150th anniversary of Victoria Cross
From 2012, 5p and 10p coins are minted from nickel-plated steel instead of cupronickel, and are 11% thicker
In 2016, the £1 coin design was changed from a single-metal round shape to a 12-sided bi-metal design
£2 coin – inner: cupronickel, outer: nickel-brass
Plum – slang for £100,000
Ian Rank-Broadley is a British sculptor who has produced many acclaimed works, among which are several designs for British coinage. In 1997 he won the Royal Mint competition for a new effigy of Elizabeth II to appear on the obverse of circulated British coinage from 1998 onward
Banknotes
Reverse portraits –
£1 Isaac Newton. Last issued in 1984. Ceased to be legal tender in 1988
£5 Duke of Wellington (until 1991), George Stephenson (until 2003), Elizabeth Fry (until 2017), Winston Churchill (first English polymer banknote)
£10 Florence Nightingale (until 1994), Charles Dickens (until 2003), Charles Darwin (until 2018), Jane Austen
£20 William Shakespeare (until 1993), Michael Faraday (until 2001), Edward Elgar (until 2010), Adam Smith, J.M.W. Turner
£50 Christopher Wren (until 1996), John Houblon (until 2014), Matthew Boulton and James Watt
A £50 note with Alan Turing on the reverse will be issued in June 2021
Highest ever bank note issued in UK was for £1000
Scottish banknotes are issued by the Bank of Scotland, Royal Bank of Scotland and Clydesdale Bank
All Bank of Scotland notes bear a portrait of Sir Walter Scott on the front in commemoration of his 1826 Malachi Malagrowther campaign for Scottish banks to retain the right to issue their own notes
The current series of Royal Bank of Scotland notes was originally issued in 1987. On the front of each note is a picture of Lord Ilay, the first governor of the bank
Clydesdale Bank has two series of banknotes in circulation at present. Banknotes of the Famous Scots Series portray notable Scottish historical people along with items and locations associated with them. The new World Heritage Series of banknotes was introduced in 2009. The new notes each depict a different notable Scot on the front and on the reverse bear an illustration of one of Scotland's UNESCO World Heritage Sites
In 2015, the Clydesdale Bank became the first bank in Great Britain to issue polymer banknotes
USA currency
Coins
| Value | Obverse |
| 1c (Penny) | Abraham Lincoln |
| 5c (Nickel) | Thomas Jefferson |
| 10c (Dime) | Franklin D. Roosevelt |
| 25c (Quarter) | George Washington |
| 50c (Half dollar) | John F. Kennedy |
| $1 (Dollar) | Sacagawea |
U.S. Mint ceased production of the half dollar for general circulation in 2002
In 1979, the U.S. Mint began issuing the Susan B. Anthony dollar coin, the first US coin to honour a female citizen
The Sacagawea dollar, called by the U.S. Mint the Sacagawea Golden Dollar Coin and beginning in 2009 the Native American $1 Coin, was first minted in 2000
U.S. Mint ceased production of the dollar for general circulation in 2011
Banknotes
| Value | Obverse | Reverse |
| $1 | George Washington | Great Seal |
| $2 | Thomas Jefferson | Declaration of Independence |
| $5 | Abraham Lincoln | Lincoln Memorial |
| $10 | Alexander Hamilton | Treasury Building |
| $20 | Andrew Jackson | White House |
| $50 | Ulysses S. Grant | The Capitol |
| $100 | Benjamin Franklin | Independence Hall |
Large denominations of currency greater than $100 were circulated by the Treasury until 1969
$500 bill – William McKinley
$1,000 bill – Grover Cleveland
$10,000 bill – Salmon P. Chase
In 1929 a $100,000 bill with Woodrow Wilson on the observe was printed, but was never put in circulation
Fin or half-saw – 5 dollars
Sawbuck – 10 dollars
Double sawbuck – 20 dollars
Benjamin – slang for $100 bill
‘In God We Trust’ has appeared sporadically on U.S. coins since 1864 and on paper currency since 1957
Liberty dollar (ALD) was a private currency produced in the United States. It was created by Bernard von NotHaus, the co-founder of the Royal Hawaiian Mint Company
In 2009, the United States Mint launched a new coin featuring Duke Ellington, making him the first African American to appear by himself on a circulating U.S. coin. Ellington appears on the reverse side of the District of Columbia quarter
Dime and quarter are made of cupronickel
Euro
The euro was first minted in France in 1998
The euro was introduced in non-physical form (travellers' cheques, electronic transfers, banking, etc.) at midnight on 1 January 1999, when the national currencies of participating countries (the Eurozone) ceased to exist independently. The notes and coins for the old currencies, however, continued to be used as legal tender until new notes and coins were introduced on 1 January 2002
Coins
There are eight different denominations of euro coins: 1c, 2c, 5c, 10c, 20c, 50c, €1 and €2. They have a common reverse, portraying a map of Europe. The obverse must include twelve stars, the engraver's initials, and the year of issue
The portrait of Mozart is on the obverse of the Austrian €1 coin
The portrait of King Felipe VI is on the obverse of the Spanish €1 and €2 coins
Banknotes
| Value | Colour | Design |
| €5 | Grey | Classical |
| €10 | Red | Romanesque |
| €20 | Blue | Gothic |
| €50 | Orange | Renaissance |
| €100 | Green | Baroque and Rococo |
| €200 | Brown | Art Nouveau |
A new series of euro banknotes, called ‘the Europa series’, was released in 2013
Since 2019, the purple €500 banknote with a modern architecture design, has no longer been issued by central banks in the euro area, but continues to be legal tender
World currency
The scudo was a coin used in Italy in past times, whose name derives from the French golden écu, created during the reign of Louis IX. In the Papal States, the scudo was the currency until 1866. It was replaced by the lira
The escudo (Portuguese for ‘shield’) is still the unit of currency in Cape Verde
Nellie Melba is on Australian $100 bank note
The ducat is a gold coin that was used as a trade currency throughout Europe before World War I
The word doubloon, meaning a double-sided token coin, often refers to a gold coin minted in Spain, Mexico and Peru. The term was first used to describe the golden excelente, either because of its value of two ducats, or because of the double portrait of Ferdinand and Isabella. Later, it referred to a coin worth two escudos, first minted in 1566, during the reign of Philip II of Spain
Sweden was the first European country to issue banknotes
A portrait of Roman Emperor Philip the Arab appears on the Syrian £100 note
Angel – gold coin in Isle of Man, and France
Rai stones are large, circular stone disks carved out of limestone in the island of Yap, Micronesia. Locals have used these stones as a form of unusual currency, ‘stone money’
The austral was the currency of Argentina between 1985 and 1991
The distinction between yuan and renminbi is analogous to that between the pound and sterling; the pound (yuan) is the unit of account while sterling (renminbi) is the actual currency
Ancient Egyptian coins had a cobra in the design
Bitcoin (sign: BTC) is a decentralized digital currency based on an open-source peer-to-peer internet protocol. It was introduced by a pseudonymous developer named Satoshi Nakamoto in 2009. Internationally, bitcoins can be exchanged by personal computer directly through a wallet file or a website without an intermediate financial institution. In trade, one bitcoin is subdivided into 100 million smaller units called satoshis
Dogecoin is a cryptocurrency and a rival to Bitcoin
Owing to the image of a loon on the Canadian $1 coin, the currency is sometimes referred to as the ‘loonie’
Belarus has never issued coins
Cryptocurrency
Bitcoin is a decentralized digital currency based on an open-source peer-to-peer internet protocol. It was introduced by a pseudonymous developer named Satoshi Nakamoto in 2009. Internationally, bitcoins can be exchanged by personal computer directly through a wallet file or a website without an intermediate financial institution. In trade, one bitcoin is subdivided into 100 million smaller units called satoshis
Dogecoin, Ethereum, and Ripple XRP are cryptocurrencies
Blockchain is a distributed ledger. It is a system used to make a digital record of all the occasions a cryptocurrency is bought or sold
Non-fungible tokens or NFTs are unique cryptographic tokens that exist on a blockchain and cannot be replicated
Libra is a proposed permissioned blockchain virtual currency, put forward by Facebook. Digital wallet is Caibri
