Comments on: What are some examples of obsolete currency?

Question: What are some examples of obsolete currency?

orange swan — Fri, 17 Jun 2005 10:29:18 -0800

What are some examples of obsolete currency — currency that was formerly used by a now-defunct political state or regime and is now worthless, except perhaps as a curiosity or historical artifact? This defunct currency would have to be paper rather than in bullion, as the latter never really becomes worthless. The only example I can think of is the currency issued by the Confederate States of America during the U.S. Civil war. Can you suggest any more recent examples?

By: Count Ziggurat

Count Ziggurat — Fri, 17 Jun 2005 10:32:38 -0800

Cash from the Republic of Minerva.

By: OmieWise

OmieWise — Fri, 17 Jun 2005 10:32:40 -0800

Do you count all the currency from EU countries that was retired in the face of the Euro?

By: jessamyn

jessamyn — Fri, 17 Jun 2005 10:35:04 -0800

There used to be regional currency issues by individual banks in the Northeast [and elsewhere] before banking was federalized. The South Royalton [VT] Bank issued its own paper money, for example. Here is an example. This guy has a huge list of other obsolete notes in the US.

By: signal

signal — Fri, 17 Jun 2005 10:35:40 -0800

Cash from the F.D.R. (east germany), chekoslovakia, etc.
There is also obsolete currency not because of defunct regimes, but rather because of inflation. In L. America, for example, most countries have had to replace their currencies a number of times over the last 3 or 4 decades. Argentina and Bolivia come to mind.

By: sagwalla

sagwalla — Fri, 17 Jun 2005 10:43:10 -0800

I remember seeing the "march of the zeroes" in Argentina, where they dropped something like 13 zeroes in 10 years as their currency devalued. Australes became pesos became nuevos pesos since I was first there.

Also, one might mention Reichsmarks. And plenty more. I have some French notes issued after the war from Republics that no longer existed - so much vichysoisse.

Have other countries vanished? Czechoslovakia. Poland did not exist as a country for something like 125 years from the late 1790s to around 1918. If they had currency, you would have other examples.

I'd also be interested in Turkish currency, especially when they changed alphabets and turkified their language. I presume there are old Turkish notes with the Arabic script.

By: anadem

anadem — Fri, 17 Jun 2005 10:49:52 -0800

We have a bundle of rather beautiful Tibetan notes, about 4 inches by 6 inches, printed on paper which looks handmade. I don't know the date they were made, but they are obviously not much use in the current sad state of the country.

By: mrs.pants

mrs.pants — Fri, 17 Jun 2005 10:50:20 -0800

American Fractional Currency.

By: plep

plep — Fri, 17 Jun 2005 10:54:04 -0800

Check out banknotes.com for a good selection of images of obsolete/historical currency.
For starters - former colonies/puppet states which are now independent such as the Belgian Congo and French West Africa, Italian Somaliland, and World War II Bohemia and Moravia; territories which were formerly independent (however briefly) but lost their independence and currency such as Biafra, Tibet, the Confederate States of America, and East Germany; the USSR which dissolved into its constituent republics; and nations which joined the euro - such as France, Germany, and Italy. Enjoy!

By: zsazsa

zsazsa — Fri, 17 Jun 2005 10:54:45 -0800

One example I can think of are old German Papiermarks, Rentenmarks, and Reichsmarks. The Papiermarks are especially worthles, as they were massively devauled in the time of hyperinflation between the world wars. I have a small collection of old pre-WWII Papiermarks printed with ridiculous sums on them (500,000 marks) that are practically worthless, except as a curiosity.

By: ambrosia

ambrosia — Fri, 17 Jun 2005 10:56:13 -0800

Like sagwalla mentioned in Argentina, Brazil has gone through multiple currencies, chopping off zeroes and renaming along the way. Sample images here (in Portuguese)

By: jdroth

jdroth — Fri, 17 Jun 2005 10:58:53 -0800

Are ancient coins not currency? (Meaning: am I missing some part of the definition?) My cousin collects them, and while they're not valueless (as in people will pay hundreds of dollars for certain coins on eBay), they're certainly from countries/empires that no longer exist.

By: duck

duck — Fri, 17 Jun 2005 10:59:41 -0800

The sucre, in Ecuador, which disappeared from use when its value was tied to the US dollar (everyone in ecuador uses US dollars now). The country and "regime" still exist...just not the currency.

By: veedubya

veedubya — Fri, 17 Jun 2005 11:14:28 -0800

As far as I know, the UK is not quite yet defunct, but we do have an obsolete currency called, just for confusion, by the same name as our current currency, the pound. Old pounds, each of which were worth 240d (the d stood for pence*) divided into shillings, were retired at the beginning of the 1970's, in favour of the new decimal pound. My car, a VW Bug built in 1970, was originally bought new for £977 4s 6d.

Over here, it's not unusual to hear somebody ask something along the lines of, "What's that in old money?" A question that used to be asked a lot in the early days of decimalisation, and is now used to disparage a comment about something previously unheard of, not necessarily money.

* The 'd' is derived from 'denari', a form of ancient Roman currency. Go figure.

By: veedubya

veedubya — Fri, 17 Jun 2005 11:21:39 -0800

Also, there are plenty of countries in the British Commonwealth that used to have their own pound currency that has been replaced by something different. Something, to be polite, that has less of a taint of Empire. Australia, for example, now has Australian dollars.

By: weapons-grade pandemonium

weapons-grade pandemonium — Fri, 17 Jun 2005 11:43:10 -0800

The oldest is probably salt, from which we get the word salary.

By: squeak

squeak — Fri, 17 Jun 2005 11:56:52 -0800

Banks used to mint coins and banknotes in Canada, interesting bit of history on colonial currency can be found here.

By: andrew cooke

andrew cooke — Fri, 17 Jun 2005 12:23:49 -0800

the "escudo" in chile. pinochet introduced the peso, i believe, in the early seventies.

By: pracowity

pracowity — Fri, 17 Jun 2005 12:57:06 -0800

> Are ancient coins not currency?

If they're made of gold or silver, they have an inherent value ("never really becomes worthless") that a scrap of paper does not.

I used to get paid once a month with a small stack of million-zloty notes. Those were the days. Then they cut four zeroes off the end and took the fun out of things.

Zloty still exist, so they don't really fit what I think orange swan is after. But this city had its own currency, the gulden, until WWII.

By: aneel

aneel — Fri, 17 Jun 2005 13:04:18 -0800

The Sol in Peru was replaced by the Inti, which was replaced by the Nuevo Sol. Some Images

By: Kirth Gerson

Kirth Gerson — Fri, 17 Jun 2005 14:43:52 -0800

South Vietnamese Dong. Also, the military scrip that U.S. soldiers were supposed to use.

By: falconred

falconred — Fri, 17 Jun 2005 15:06:44 -0800

Iraq - because we like, invaded them, and stuff.

By: andrew cooke

andrew cooke — Fri, 17 Jun 2005 15:17:06 -0800

took the fun out of things
yeah, i earn over a million a month (pesos) - one peso coins still exist, but typically people don't use them (you can "donate" them to a charity when you get your supermarket change, because of course every price is ....9 pesos). i wouldn't besurprised if a peso coin is worth more as scrap metal than its face value (except that if that were the case, someone here would be making a business out of recycling them).

By: -harlequin-

-harlequin- — Fri, 17 Jun 2005 15:53:59 -0800

Some countries replaced $1 and $2 notes with coins within the last 20 years, and those notes are now nolonger legal tender. I know New Zealand was one, as I have the notes, I think Canada was another, but I'm not sure.

I can't believe it took so long to mention Iraq. Are the Saddam-faced banknotes that the US replaced still legal tender there?

By: -harlequin-

-harlequin- — Fri, 17 Jun 2005 15:54:49 -0800

Australia also replaced notes with coins, and the notes are nolonger legal tender.

By: ODiV

ODiV — Fri, 17 Jun 2005 16:28:33 -0800

-harlequin-: Canadian $1 and $2 notes have been replaced, but are still legal tender.

By: delmoi

delmoi — Fri, 17 Jun 2005 18:25:03 -0800

I can't believe it took so long to mention Iraq. Are the Saddam-faced banknotes that the US replaced still legal tender there?

Last I heard they were still accepted. In fact, their value against the dollar actualy increased after the war.

By: Rothko

Rothko — Fri, 17 Jun 2005 18:55:37 -0800

By: atchafalaya

atchafalaya — Fri, 17 Jun 2005 21:49:31 -0800

Yugoslavia.

By: Goofyy

Goofyy — Sat, 18 Jun 2005 01:17:03 -0800

Out side of the United States, it is common for countries to periodically change their bank notes and invalidate the old notes. This is one reason why US currency is so valued for various *cough* business transactions. It is done to combat counterfeiting.

By: unrepentanthippie

unrepentanthippie — Sat, 18 Jun 2005 10:38:58 -0800

My mother used to have cardboard coins, called "mills" (or maybe mils, which would make more sense). They were used in the US during WWii for some obscure purpose I no longer remember, maybe having to do with a tax on some things of fractions of a cent?
They came in various denominations, but all tenths of a cent. Sorry, I can't remember anything else about them.

By: dreamsign

dreamsign — Sat, 18 Jun 2005 10:48:51 -0800

Burma is a fun place to change money.

As an anti-counterfeiting measure, the "government" will announce on any given day that, say, 50 kyats bills are now worthless. NOW. Not next-week-better-change-em. I mean, if they did that, the counterfeiters would just change their money, right? So would other folk.

Been awhile since I was there, but at that time, there were at least 7 or 8 bills to watch out for, as they were worthless. Some were specific denominations -- 35 kyats was one, I think -- while others were conditional -- 50 kyats with this picture, but 50 kyats with this other picture is ok.

Of course, none of it is worth anything outside the country. At my last visit: bank official exchange rate had one American dollar to 13 kyats. Street exchange rate: one American dollar to 126 kyats (in Yangon). Talk about propping up currency. If you go into a bank and try to change money, they won't know what to do with you.

By: plep

plep — Sun, 19 Jun 2005 01:59:24 -0800

West German currency applies as much as East German currency, insofar as West Germany ceased to exist after reunification, and Germany ceased to use its own currency after joining with other EU countries to implement the Euro.

After World War II, Germany was divided into two separate republics - the Federal Republic of Germany (Bundesrepublik Deutschlands, popularly known as 'West' Germany), and the German Democratic Republic (Deutsche Demokratische Republic, popularly known as 'East' Germany). German 'reunification' was actually the DDR joining as part of the BRD, so effectively the 'old' 'West' German state expanded to include the former DDR. Therefore, 'West' German institutions, including currency and so on, survived reunification.

But you're right in that the old German mark ceased to exist after Germany joined the euro, though there was an interim period when the old marks were still legal tended, pegged to the euro.