World coins chat: Crete

Crete is an island in the Mediterranean south of mainland Greece. It was the home of the first advanced European civilisation around 2000 BC: the Minoans. It formed a part of Greek cultural history ever since antiquity.

The Fourth Crusade of 1202-4 brought Venetian rule to Crete. The Venetians established the Kingdom of Candia on the island. In 1669 the Ottomans conquered Crete, leaving the Ionian Islands as the only Greek territory not to be ruled by Ottomans.

Greece's independence in 1829 inspired the Greek majority in Crete to wish for a unification of the island with the newly established nation state. By that time 80% of Crete's population was Christian Greek. The remainder consisted primarily of Greeks that had converted to Islam, and some immigrated Turks.

In 1897 a revolt broke out on the island which was violently crushed by the Ottoman authorities. The Great Powers, Britain, France, Italy and Russia, decided to occupy Crete to restore order. As unification with Greece was not desired by the Great Powers, the Cretan State was founded in 1898 which was nominally under Ottoman suzerainty but effectively under allied control.


Flag of the Cretan State

The son of King George of Greece, Prince George, became the first High Commissioner of the Cretan State. In 1907 a new revolt broke out over the question of unification. In 1908 Crete was unified with Greece, but it took until 1913 before it was made official. As a result most Cretan Muslims, many of them Greek, left the island for other parts of the Ottoman Empire. This history affected the way Greeks and Turks dealt with Cyprus in the decades to follow, with Turkey intervening in 1974 to protect the Turkish Cypriots from a likely unification with Greece compromising their safety and identity.

Currency and coins
The Cretan State had its owm Drachma, at par with the Greek Drachma and the Latin Monetary Union. Coins were only issued in 1900 and 1901 and were minted at the Monnaie de Paris.

The Cretan silver coins depict Prince George, High Commissioner of Crete. He is not to be confused with his father George who was King of Greece.

https://en.numista.com/catalogue/crete-1.html

I have one coin from Crete and is is one of my favorite coins, I am saving to buy another.

I too, am fascinated by these coins from Crete. My current tally stands at two. They're pretty hard to get, even in low grades.


The design was apparently taken from the 1894 Greek lepta coins, like this one
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces7227.html

I also own one. But that was funny as the seller didn't know this coin was from Crete. He only wrote it as Greek, as Greek lettering on use.

Quote: "chomp-master"​I also own one. But that was funny as the seller didn't know this coin was from Crete. He only wrote it as Greek, as Greek lettering on use.

​I imagine that one was rather cheap.

Crete is also at the top of my list of coins I want.

Of course it was! I don't remember how much exactly but for sure less than €5/Kc125.

I also have only one. A nice one, but unfortunately not in a nice condition (https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces21319.html):