/finance/ - Finance

Offa's_dinar.png
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>>75 (OP) 
People making inferior copies of existing coins that they modify to fit their preferences has quite a history, especially when Musselmen are involved.
https://archive.ph/Gs4RF
https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/C_1913-1213-1
>Offa, the king whose name is also engraved along with the (badly copied) Arabic writing ruled the Kingdom of Mercia between 757 and 796 CE. He is also credited with introducing the penny to England.
>Known as “Offa’s Dinar”, it was purchased by the British Museum in 1913 in Rome. The more observant among  you may notice that the Latin “Offa Rex” is upside-down in relation to the Arabic script. It is copy of the dinar issued by the Abbasid dynasty following the move of that empire’s capital to Baghdad around 15 years before. It was commonly used throughout the Mediterranean as well as the Abbasid empire itself.  As a gold copy, the Offa dinar would have been accepted as a valid payment.
>The reason for the inscription remains unclear. Much of Offa’s reign is shrouded in the mists of history. He is responsible for the great Dyke earthwork that formed the boundary between England and Wales (or rather the kingdoms of Mercia and Powys). He established good relationships with the Pope in Rome. In 786 CE, he met with papal legates and offered to pay 365 mancuses (a gold coin or its equivalent in gold), one for  each day of the year, as alms for the poor and to pay for the making of votive candles. (Later known as “Peter’s Pence”) Although it was first recorded in Rome, it seems unlikely that Offa would send the Pope coins with the Islamic profession of faith. On the other hand, the inversion of Offa’s name in relation to the Arabic suggests that it might have been considered just a form of decoration. This seems possible as coins bearing other rulers’ names have been found with Roman and Arabic writing.
>Other suggestions include to enable pilgrims to the Holy Land to be able to pay for their food and travel more easily. Whatever the real purpose, it serves as a reminder of the close contacts between the Christian and Muslim worlds in the 8th century.

Maria_Theresa_thaler.jpg
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Postcard_from_circa_1908-1910_showing_crates_of_Maria_Theresa_thalers_being_prepared_for_shipment_by_donkeys_from_Dire_Dawa_to_nearby_Harrar,_capital_of_the_Ethiopian_province_of_the_same_name.jpg
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>>76
https://archive.ph/wip/5zTZK
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Theresa_thaler
Yes, the second link is wikipedia, but it's still quite interesting how an Austrian coin was became the standard around the Red Sea, Ethiopia, and even Java and other lands too,and that lead to millions of copies of a 18th century coin being minted in the 20th century. But this time it was the Italians who unsuccessfully copied an Austrian coin:
>The MTT came to be used as currency in large parts of Africa and Middle East until after World War II. It was common from North Africa to Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya, and down the coast of Tanzania to Mozambique. Its popularity in the Red Sea region was such that merchants would not accept any other type of currency. The Italian government produced a similar designed coin in the hope of replacing the Maria Theresa thaler, but it never gained acceptance.

>>77
But wait, there is more in the first link!
>In Brussels, the engraver that produced the dies missed out one of the nine pearls on Maria Theresa’s brooch. It might be an interesting discrepancy to us today, but it was rather an issue at the time. Ten million were made and each was greeted with disapproval from many – it's thought that the Arabs of Yemen were so used to the design of the thaler that they'd reject the coin if they couldn't feel each of the nine pearls with their thumb. London saw a similar hiccup too. Its dies missed out the central feather of the Imperial Eagle that featured on the coin's reverse. Seeing as London's dies had also been used for the thalers struck in both Birmingham and Bombay, these coins also bear the mistake.