Orphaned currency: the odd case of Somali shillings (2013)
I collect world and some historic currency as a small side hobby and have maybe over a thousand pieces. Most of them are worthless in value but many of them are sources of interesting analysis about the societies that produced them.<p>What I find particularly interesting is the notion that most governments have maybe around a dozen different pieces of currency they issue, and have to decide what goes on them. Thus it&#x27;s an interesting insight into the values the government wishes to promote to users of the money. For example, money in many developing nations shows images of large infrastructure projects to demonstrate and communicate some kind of progress and thus justify to the the citizens and users of the money that they should stay in a position of power.<p>In my collection are several orphaned currencies no longer used in any capacity like Japanese occupation Philippine Pesos that look almost exactly like U.S. dollars from the era. Why? I don&#x27;t know all of the reasons, but it&#x27;s interesting to contemplate how <i>quickly</i> after occupation these were produced, the decision to use Pesos instead of Dollars or Yen or some other alternative. [1]<p>Another interesting currency I have is a coin known as a Maria Theresa Thaler (MTT) [2] -- and for historic reasons that will become apparent, probably a counterfit, but was still traded. There&#x27;s a long and interesting history about the coin, but the 1780 minting (or rather coins with the year of 1780 on them) became an important currency throughout many parts of the world long after the Austrian-Hungarian Empire was no longer in existence. In some areas, Merchants would not accept any other currency than 1780 MTTs and in a few areas is <i>still</i> used. However, due to this popularity it was often copied, counterfeited or otherwise minted by various groups and governments long after 1780. You can still by proof coins from the Austrian Mint to this day.<p>1 - <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Japanese_government-issued_Philippine_peso" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Japanese_government-issued_Phi...</a><p>2 - <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Maria_Theresa_thaler" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Maria_Theresa_thaler</a>