This was one of the first ‘nice’ coins I got for my collection (as opposed to beaten up UK shillings I bought off ebay) when I was 13. I thought it would be extremely rare to find a coin that old in that good condition, but much to 13-year-old me’s dismay it isn’t…
The catalogue entry for this coin says it was demonetised in 1920, so it was in circulation for maximum 4 years (probably less because of WWI silver shortages). So it really isn’t surprising for a lot of them to be in great shape.
That all got me thinking: what’s the shortest time any coin spent in circulation before being withdrawn? I won’t count the ½ mark since I’m going by type and they were first minted in 1905. My first thoughts are to WWII occupation/puppet state coins that circulated for ~5 years, but can we find any coins that were released and withdrawn in the same year?
These fiddly little coins only circulated for a few years in the 1870s, they were silver and very small, weighing just 1 gram and no doubt easily lost. They issued nickel 20 Pfennigs off and on and none stuck and even a 25 Pfennig in 1909 - 12. But the denomination never stuck and mostly between 1873 - 1919 it was the 10 Pfennig copper nickel and 50 Pfg/½ mark silver coin.
Another short circulator was the French 50 centimes large brass coin
The coin only circulated in the early 60s after the Franc revaluation, only a bit larger than the 20 centimes, it was replaced by the nickel ½ Franc coin which survived until 2001. I have no idea why this coin was changed, a good size, relatively cheap to make and in the early 60s, 50 cents was worth something.
I love coins. Especially silver, gold and anything really old.
Member of the Royal Numismatic Society of New Zealand and the Auckland Numismatic Society
A Double Florin therefore 4 Shillings [4/20 Pound]
A Crown was 5 Shillings [5/20 Pound]
With there being not much difference in coin size, a customer was
sometimes mistakenly given an extra Shilling in change.
Yes a great piece, it did not help the coin was 36mm and the crown was 38.5mm. Even though in daylight the coins had different lettering on the portrait and designs, in the darkness of bars, it was easy to confuse both of them.
Obverse - Double Florin Crown
Double Florin - Reverse Crown
But electric light did not become common until 1900s, and thus transactions took place in gaslight or candlelight.
I love coins. Especially silver, gold and anything really old.
Member of the Royal Numismatic Society of New Zealand and the Auckland Numismatic Society
Silver 1½d, introduced in 1834 mainly as West Indian women wanted a small coin for commerce and for church collection plates and it was mostly for the West Indies and Ceylon. However some circulated through the Empire and the coins were 12mm in size and weighed 0.7 (1/40 of an ounce) of a gram, hence they were easily lost and fiddly. Minted through to 1843 and then as a one off in 1860/62. No one lamented them. The denomination was also minted in the 1560s/70s during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.
Another small coin issued for the colonies like Ceylon and Malta, some circulated in the UK, issued between 1828 and 1856, although issues were sporadic except in the early Victorian era (1840s). The coin was larger than the other ones (18mm) and was reasonably popular. It was ended before low value coins were made in bronze and much lighter.
The Britannia Groat (4d) was introduced in 1836 by the MP, Joseph Hume who wanted a coin for hansom cab fares as they then charged 4d per mile or part of and often refused to give change for 6d coins. The groat was a popular denomination in the Middle Ages and survived into the late 1600s, but by the late 1700s was a Maundy only coin. Unlike like Maundy 4d's this coin was smaller and thicker and showed the Britannia logo (Only silver coin to show her) and was actually the same size as a 3d coin, although it was thicker and weighed more (1.88 grams vs 1.41 grams). The coin was issued regulalry from 1836 to 1855. In 1888 a one off it appeared from British Guyana which had groats made for it until the 1950s, the coin was basically not used after 1860 in the UK.
Many of these experimental coins started in an innovative period of the 1820s and 1830s, but by the 1860s the currency system was more rigid.
There was also ¼d issued for Ceylon until 1854 (Started 1830s) and a ⅓ farthing issued for Malta called a Grano or Grain, based after the old Grano of the Knights of Malta (1530 - 1798). First issued in 1827, it was issued around 15 times up to 1913. The coin was never popular and now collectible. It was issued for 86 years, but only issued 13 times!
A grano - coins minted in UK and Malta or Grano never appeared on them.
I love coins. Especially silver, gold and anything really old.
Member of the Royal Numismatic Society of New Zealand and the Auckland Numismatic Society
These fiddly little coins only circulated for a few years in the 1870s, they were silver and very small, weighing just 1 gram and no doubt easily lost. They issued nickel 20 Pfennigs off and on and none stuck and even a 25 Pfennig in 1909 - 12. But the denomination never stuck and mostly between 1873 - 1919 it was the 10 Pfennig copper nickel and 50 Pfg/½ mark silver coin.
Another short circulator was the French 50 centimes large brass coin
The coin only circulated in the early 60s after the Franc revaluation, only a bit larger than the 20 centimes, it was replaced by the nickel ½ Franc coin which survived until 2001. I have no idea why this coin was changed, a good size, relatively cheap to make and in the early 60s, 50 cents was worth something.
No idea why we switched the 50 centimes to the ½ Francs.
equally short lived is the 5 centimes in stainless who in this case went for the Marriane design until 2001
This was the only year it was a circulating coin in again British Guiana, we know its circulating as every year of Maundy tuppences was 3k to 10k minted, but 1838 saw a huge mintage of over 1 million coins, never in the history of Maundy ceremonies did they give out 1 million coins! This was a single year coin and worn examples are easy to find, this is my nice EF one, but I have a very worn and holed one too.
Maybe as they wanted the colonials to see our new teenage queen after decades of elderly bewigged men as monarchs. Of course the teenage label of Queen Victoria did not last as they would see her as a queen for 60+ more years but in 1838 she was a 19 year old barely adult young woman.
The tiny coin had a diameter of just 13mm and weighed under 1 gram. In 1838 there was a real gulf in British coins between the penny and sixpence, with groats filling the void partially. Only around 1855 did the 3d coin become common in circulation there as the groat was phased out (Mostly as hansom cabs were now charging more per mile).
The other 1 year type was the cartwheel tuppence and its easy to see why this coin did not last. These monsters were 41mm in size and weighed 56 grams of copper. Issued just one year in 1797 they were unpopular pocket killers. To this date, still the largest coin issued in the UK for general circulation (There are some 10 shillings and silver 1 pound coins of Charles I, but these were ultra rare and out of reach for most people, a tuppence was not).
Just 722,000 were minted compared to 10 times as many pennies, many battered ones survive and nice examples are very expensive. Mine is a fairly worn (VG) but likely a slightly better than average one.
I love coins. Especially silver, gold and anything really old.
Member of the Royal Numismatic Society of New Zealand and the Auckland Numismatic Society
These fiddly little coins only circulated for a few years in the 1870s, they were silver and very small, weighing just 1 gram and no doubt easily lost. They issued nickel 20 Pfennigs off and on and none stuck and even a 25 Pfennig in 1909 - 12. But the denomination never stuck and mostly between 1873 - 1919 it was the 10 Pfennig copper nickel and 50 Pfg/½ mark silver coin.
Another short circulator was the French 50 centimes large brass coin
The coin only circulated in the early 60s after the Franc revaluation, only a bit larger than the 20 centimes, it was replaced by the nickel ½ Franc coin which survived until 2001. I have no idea why this coin was changed, a good size, relatively cheap to make and in the early 60s, 50 cents was worth something.
No idea why we switched the 50 centimes to the ½ Francs.
equally short lived is the 5 centimes in stainless who in this case went for the Marriane design until 2001
Yes forgot about that, the 1 centime had an even shorter life as a circulating piece, but the coin lived on in sets.
This thing was teeny tiny as they came. Can't even take a clear photo of one!
I love coins. Especially silver, gold and anything really old.
Member of the Royal Numismatic Society of New Zealand and the Auckland Numismatic Society
This UK 2015 pound coin design. Started seeing them around the back end of 2015 then all of the round pounds were demonetised in October 2017 so this design circulated for 2 years if that.
This UK 2015 pound coin design. Started seeing them around the back end of 2015 then all of the round pounds were demonetised in October 2017 so this design circulated for 2 years if that.
This UK 2015 pound coin design. Started seeing them around the back end of 2015 then all of the round pounds were demonetised in October 2017 so this design circulated for 2 years if that.
All the Zimbabwe coins from 1980 - 2001 (5c to $5 and not the 1 cent) were reissued in stainless steel in 2000 - 03 and circulated for seconds.
Would be interesting to see how the ZIG coins are getting on.
I love coins. Especially silver, gold and anything really old.
Member of the Royal Numismatic Society of New Zealand and the Auckland Numismatic Society
This was one of the first ‘nice’ coins I got for my collection (as opposed to beaten up UK shillings I bought off ebay) when I was 13. I thought it would be extremely rare to find a coin that old in that good condition, but much to 13-year-old me’s dismay it isn’t…
The catalogue entry for this coin says it was demonetised in 1920, so it was in circulation for maximum 4 years (probably less because of WWI silver shortages). So it really isn’t surprising for a lot of them to be in great shape.
That all got me thinking: what’s the shortest time any coin spent in circulation before being withdrawn? I won’t count the ½ mark since I’m going by type and they were first minted in 1905. My first thoughts are to WWII occupation/puppet state coins that circulated for ~5 years, but can we find any coins that were released and withdrawn in the same year?
Germany in the 30s, there were a few coins that only circulated for a couple of years, after dealing with the hyper inflation of the 20s where coins and notes were worthless before they were even minted or printed, the country finally got their currency stabilised but the world entered the Great Depression and they then made a pact with the devil. Two notable coins that didn’t hang around for long (for different reasons) are the 4 and 50 Reichspfennings;
The first in 1932, introduced during the global depression was an attempt to curb inflation, unfortunately with the memory of Germanys own hyper inflation still looming large from less than a decade earlier. The population didn’t like it much and basically thought the government was trying to short change them. It lasted about 1 year.
The second in 1938 replaced an Aluminium version of the 50 Pfennig which was minted in 1935, but it only lasted 2 years as it was pure Nickel, and unlike the 1935 version 50 pf (which was cheap aluminium due to the Great Depression) this new Nickel coin, a projection of Germanys new found wealth and power, was withdrawn and the coin reverted back to being minted in Aluminium because of World War II.
Both are quite rare and expensive, but due to the fact that the metal was required from the 50 pf, less of these survived overall, even though the mintages were roughly the same, about 50 Million for the 4 pf and about 40 Million for the 50 pf. The 50 pf is usually double the price of the 4 Pf, and from my experience about 5 times rarer.
Another short lived minting was the Rentenpfennig, which was replaced after 2 years with the Reichspfennig, however I am pretty sure the coins circulated alongside each other due to only a name change.
But this did lead to a strange situation where the 50 Pf (of each type) was only minted for 2 years each, 1923-1924 and 1924-1925 respectively before falling out of favour and being replaced in 1927 with a nickel version.
The 1924-1925 Reichspfennig is so rare even I don’t own one, but I am sure they must have circulated together for 5 years until the the Nickel version was introduced, maybe even longer as there was no justification to recall them like the above mentioned 4 Pf or later 50 Pf.
„If your reply or post in the Forum stinks of AI, I will call you out! Knowledge comes from experience, the I in AI stands for incompetence.“
In the case of Uruguay, I can't find the post from about 4–5 years ago where (if I remember correctly) it was pointed out that they monetize their NCLT/collector coins just briefly so they can count as legal tender.
Is it the Isle of Man that does the same? Every issue is “circulating” for a very brief period of time. Of course, it's just a legal technicality, but I suppose if you were ordered by a court of law to pay a debt and used your BeeGees coins, the creditor would have little choice but to accept them.
EDIT ~ I think I'm wrong about the Isle of Man. It's actually that they monetize through the banks about 0.5% of each NCLT issue so that they are technically circulating. I say Isle of Man but it could be another of the small British possessions.
Hard to say if this fits, but the UK had its first silver Florin (Pedants wll bring up the failed medieval gold florin of England) in 1849 and it was a nod to decimalisation.
The beautiful coin was not popular as it was too close to size and value to a Halfcrown (24 pence vs 30 pence) and this coin caught flack for not having “Dei Gratia” “By the grace of God” on it and people got bent out of shape over religious nonsense back then. The Queen demanded it was replaced with a coin that did. So 1849 had a mintage of just 400k or so coins and a new design slightly modified came out in 1852, replacing this one, although it remained legal tender.
The 1852 Gothic Florin (Pattern in 1851) was used until 1887.
I love coins. Especially silver, gold and anything really old.
Member of the Royal Numismatic Society of New Zealand and the Auckland Numismatic Society
These fiddly little coins only circulated for a few years in the 1870s, they were silver and very small, weighing just 1 gram and no doubt easily lost. They issued nickel 20 Pfennigs off and on and none stuck and even a 25 Pfennig in 1909 - 12. But the denomination never stuck and mostly between 1873 - 1919 it was the 10 Pfennig copper nickel and 50 Pfg/½ mark silver coin.
Another short circulator was the French 50 centimes large brass coin
The coin only circulated in the early 60s after the Franc revaluation, only a bit larger than the 20 centimes, it was replaced by the nickel ½ Franc coin which survived until 2001. I have no idea why this coin was changed, a good size, relatively cheap to make and in the early 60s, 50 cents was worth something.
No idea why we switched the 50 centimes to the ½ Francs.
equally short lived is the 5 centimes in stainless who in this case went for the Marriane design until 2001
Yes forgot about that, the 1 centime had an even shorter life as a circulating piece, but the coin lived on in sets.
This thing was teeny tiny as they came. Can't even take a clear photo of one!
The 1 centime was legal tender till the end of the franc. (can’t see coin produced without been legal)
In the 80’s and sometimes early 90’s you could still found some in the cashier Registers. To cover the change for elderly people over the .99 Not in every one’s pocket I agree. Typically ending in the penny Jar with the 5-10&20 centimes.
Prices went up, candy for 1 cents disappeared, credit card further reduced the needs
Others includ the Susan B. Anthony dollar that was in circulation from from 1979-81 and the Eisenhower dollar, which only lasted 8 years, from 1971-78.
Others includ the Susan B. Anthony dollar that was in circulation from from 1979-81 and the Eisenhower dollar, which only lasted 8 years, from 1971-78.
Production runs, doesn’t necessarily mean short circulation times. Aren’t those dollars you mention still legal tender?
Susan Anthony Dollar 47 years and counting?
Ike Dollar 55 years and counting?
Sorry to be pedantic 🫤🤪
„If your reply or post in the Forum stinks of AI, I will call you out! Knowledge comes from experience, the I in AI stands for incompetence.“
Others includ the Susan B. Anthony dollar that was in circulation from from 1979-81 and the Eisenhower dollar, which only lasted 8 years, from 1971-78.
Susan B. Anthony 1 Dollar coins were also struck in 1999 as well.
This one is an exception, since it's not a coin, but a banknote. Nevertheless, I'd like to show this one. It spent 5 days in circulation, being released on the 26th of August and taken back during WW2 as Poland was gradually invaded.
To make up for it, I will try to find a coin fulfilling similar criteria, but I don't know if Poland minted any.
I know that coins in Danzig issued during the war between Danzig and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth only circulated during the siege of Danzig, i.e. just for a few months (The mint started operation on 5th June 1577. The war ended in December 1577) Their use was forbidden immediately after the end of said conflict. An example:
Others includ the Susan B. Anthony dollar that was in circulation from from 1979-81 and the Eisenhower dollar, which only lasted 8 years, from 1971-78.
Production runs, doesn’t necessarily mean short circulation times. Aren’t those dollars you mention still legal tender?
Susan Anthony Dollar 47 years and counting?
Ike Dollar 55 years and counting?
Sorry to be pedantic 🫤🤪
You don't see either dollar coin in circulation now a days.
Others includ the Susan B. Anthony dollar that was in circulation from from 1979-81 and the Eisenhower dollar, which only lasted 8 years, from 1971-78.
Production runs, doesn’t necessarily mean short circulation times. Aren’t those dollars you mention still legal tender?
Susan Anthony Dollar 47 years and counting?
Ike Dollar 55 years and counting?
Sorry to be pedantic 🫤🤪
You don't see either dollar coin in circulation now a days.
Again there is a difference between seeing a coin in circulation and whether they are still legal tender or de-monetised.
This post is about coins which were minted, circulated and removed from circulation in the shortest time, not coins which were just minted for a short time. 😉
„If your reply or post in the Forum stinks of AI, I will call you out! Knowledge comes from experience, the I in AI stands for incompetence.“
You don't see either dollar coin in circulation now a days.
I live in New York City. Vending machines for trains return change in dollar coins. Including both 1970s and 1999 Susan B Anthony dollars. Shops will usually accept them as payment (although they grumble.). Banks will sometimes have rolls to offer at face value.
