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Quote: "yvon"In my opinion the side with the face-value, in figures, is the obverse. It is a coin, ment to pay things, after all, isn't?I thought the same thing, but look at the coins I linked to above. One has the value on the obverse side, and the other has the value on the reverse. And the second one doesn't have the value in figures, only letters.
Quote: "Idolenz"The mint says what is what (or the law concerning the issue of the coin). There are some traditions but there are countless exceptions to the "rules".So, since laws vary from country to country, and we may have no idea what the laws were when older coins were minted, there's really no way of telling?
Quote: "Idolenz"The Wiki article has a relative good summary if you haven't read it already.Thank you for that link. The article states: "Generally, the side of a coin with the larger-scale image will be called the obverse". That should help with most of the coins I'm wondering about.
Quote: "blue-m"In my world the side with the date is the obverse. Anyone else like to see the date on the front?I don't care which side it's on, I just wish it was consistent. American quarters, for example, have the date on the obverse side (https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces55.html ), except for the state quarters, which have the date on the reverse side (https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces604.html). Icelandic coins have the date on the reverse side (my avatar is the obverse side of a 1942 Icelandic 1 eyrir coin, and the date is on the other side - https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces16025.html).
Quote: "Jarcek"Technically, obverse is the side where you can identify the country it is from. Even though most mints and catalogues would say otherwise.The one thing that I've always figured was a sure way to tell was if there was a person on one side. That side is the obverse side. So, what do you think of this coin: https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces1492.html Which side is the obverse - the one with the portrait or the one with the country name?
Quote: "Jarcek"Country name of course, this one is wrong on Numista.The obverse side is often called "heads", because it often has a portrait on it (a head). But what about this coin: https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces6898.html? Which side is "tails"? Not only does it have two heads, but it doesn't mention the country or the value.
Quote: "Jarcek"The Queen. Monarch is the representazion of the country.Yes, we know that because we know who Queen Elizabeth and Winston Churchill are. It was really just a joke about a two-headed coin. But what if we had no idea who these people were, and the lettering was illegible?
Quote: "Jarcek"Then it would be just random until proved right or wrong.I guess that's really the answer to my question - it's random. In fact, it's so random that, in spite of the fact that I'm Icelandic and have been using Icelandic coins all my life, I discovered this morning that I had the obverse and reverse wrong on Icelandic coins. Which side of this coin would you call obverse? (No fair looking it up).
Quote: "Jarcek"Second one of course.I assume you say that because that's the side that has the country's name on it (or did you look it up). Here's my logic: In monarchies, the obverse side of a coin will most often have a portrait of the reigning king or queen, while the reverse side may have various images, often some kind of royal symbol or coat of arms, e.g. this Danish 20 kroner coin from 1914: https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces25627.html Note that this coin has the country name on the obverse side (the side with the king's portrait), and on the reverse it has the value, the date and the national arms of Denmark. At the time that coin was minted, Iceland was under Danish rule. Here's an Icelandic coin from that time period: https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces14571.html If we assume, as you do, that the obverse is the side with the country's name on it, then the picture on the right is the obverse. It has the country's name and the value, while the reverse has the date and the Icelandic coat of arms and King Christian X's monogram (CXR). The coat of arms is on the reverse side of both Danish and Icelandic coins from that time.
Quote: "Jarcek"Question I had on mind is, what is exactly "clear country identificator". With monarchy, it is portrait or monogram. Also, most countries have their names on the side with coat of arms. So during that republic time, my personal opinion would be that the name of the country should be considered obverse, thus making some Icelandic coins wrong in the catalogue.Good question. I have a coin with the lettering "JOANNES VI D G PORT BRAS ET ALG REX". If you figure out that Joannes is equal to John, then John VI is easy to find on Wikipedia. There are others with the same name and number, but they can be ruled out by the date. Wikipedia says that he was "King of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves", but which of those places is the coin from? The Numista catalogue says it's Brazil, but how can you tell that from the coin itself (https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces28705.html)?
Quote: "yvon"So the Icelandic coin, the side with the '10 kr' and the fishes is the obverse.I agree. Like I said, I'm Icelandic and have been using Icelandic coins all my life, and I have always thought of the side with the fish as the obverse. There's an Icelandic website called "Vísindavefurinn" (The Icelandic Web of Science - https://www.visindavefur.is/ - Click on "EN" for the English version), which answers all kinds of questions from people about many different fields of study, including biology, geology, history archaeology and, yes, even numismatics. I was browsing there to see if I could find information about when Iceland first got its own coins. I didn't find that, but I did find an article about the question of whether the land wights (landvættir / protective spirits) were on the obverse or reverse of Icelandic coins. The article said that, according to the Central Bank of Iceland, they are on the obverse side. They provided a link, but I got a 404 error when I clicked on it. The article (https://www.visindavefur.is/svar.php?id=4041), and therefore the link, are old (from 2004, which is old in terms of the Internet), which probably explains the error. Assuming it's correct, it seems like a pretty arbitrary decision to me.
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