Dragon Money: Difference between revisions

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[[File:Red-European-Dragon.jpg|400px|right|thumb|A young Red Dragon or Dragonet of Europe]]
[[File:Red-European-Dragon.jpg|400px|right|thumb|A young Red Dragon or Dragonet of Europe]]


[[File:Multi-Colour-Chinese-Dragon.jpg|400px|right|thumb|A multi-colour Chinese Dragon holdings its precious pearl]]
[[File:Multi-Colour-Chinese-Dragon.jpg|400px|right|thumb|A multi-colour Chinese Dragon holding its precious pearl]]


[[File:Island-Dragon-Postage-Stamp.jpg|400px|right|thumb|A Nordic Dragon on an Icelandic postage stamp]]
[[File:Island-Dragon-Postage-Stamp.jpg|400px|right|thumb|A Nordic Dragon on an Icelandic postage stamp]]

Latest revision as of 04:41, 10 June 2024

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Lunar New Year Wood Dragons on Silver Coins!
Lucky Dragon Coins from All Around the World!
It's Raining Dragon Money!

In this installment of "Your Wate and Fate," we share a page that was funded by our Patrons for display to the public. Patreon supporters have access to our pages before the public does.

* Dragon Money Part One: Patreon Release Date: January 28th, 2024.
* Dragon Money Part One: Public Release Date: February 7th, 2024.
* Dragon Money Part Two: Patreon Release Date: February 7th, 2024.
* Dragon Money Part Two: Public Release Date: February 7th, 2024.
* Dragon Money Part Two: Patreon Release Date: February 14th, 2024.
* Dragon Money Part Two: Public Release Date: February 14th, 2024.

Please tell your friends that they can subscribe to my Patreon stream for $2.00 per week:

* "It's All Ephemera with Cat Yronwode"

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Support Your Wate and Fate

All of the material you have access to here — the instructive booklets, the nostalgic postcards, the boldly graphic ephemera, and all of the historical information researched and shared from the mind of the woman who is making it all happen — can easily fit into one 8 x 10 foot room in an old Victorian farmhouse, but you would never see it without the investment of the time it takes to produce such a site and the caloric input such a site requires in the form of food for the writer, graphic designer, and database manager, as well as the US currency needed to pay for the computers, software applications, scanners, electricity, and internet connectivity that bring it out of that little room and into the world. So, as you can see, this site is the darling of many, and it is growing at a rapid rate ... but although it is "free," there also is a cost. Your financial support underwrites this cost.

Each new web page or sample pdf is circulated to Patrons as an unpublished galley proof or advance copy. After one year access for Patrons, each web page will be released to the public, while book pages will be available to the public as printed books, and copies will be sent to Patrons who subscribe at the upper two tiers.

Patrons have access to a Private Patreon sub-forum within the Lucky Mojo Forum, and will be accorded special Red Star Avatar badges at the Forum.




A lizard-like Golden Chinese Dragon!
A young Red Dragon or Dragonet of Europe
A multi-colour Chinese Dragon holding its precious pearl
A Nordic Dragon on an Icelandic postage stamp
A colourful Chinese Dragon rampant

Dragon Money
by nagasiva yronwode and catherine yronwode

On this page we reveal a spectacular and detailed collection of Dragon Money, compiled in honour of the Lunar New Year Festival on February 10th, 2024, which is celebrated all around the world as the auspicious Year of the Dragon begins. Dozens of nations have chosen this time to issue lucky silver, gold, and copper coins and bullion displaying images of talismanic Asian dragons to mark an event that only happens every 12 years. We have gathered more than 80 different dragon coins from the past and present for your enjoyment, and added a quick guide to coin collecting for anyone who is new to the hobby and wants to start with Dragon Coins. Our Patrons usually get a one-year exclusive preview of our work documenting the material culture of magic and luck, but this time the whole world has been invited to click the link and share in the lure and lore of precious metal Dragon Money!

If you are new to coin collecting, then for more information, see our page on Lucky Coins and Tokens.

The Dragon

The Dragon is generally described as a mythical beast, a sort of fantasy creature, varying in appearance by region, and imagined out of bits and pieces of snakes, lizards, crocodiles, fishes, bats, sea-horses, lions, and what-have you. Some scholars, however, believe that Dragons were never conceived of as "mythical," but rather that they represent early, pre-scientific encounters that humans had with fossilized dinosaurs.

This theory accounts for the fact that Dragons of various types appear in far-apart areas of the world, and that there are, in a sense, "regional" Dragons in art. The variations in Dragon appearance may reflect an honest attempt by early humans to reconstruct some sort of uniform saurian anatomy from the fragmentary fossils of many species in their own areas -- long-necked, short-necked, gracile, stocky, winged, unwinged, swimming, flying, and terrestrial -- and this, after millennia, has resulted in the variability of Dragons in art.

The European Dragon

The winged Red Dragon of Wales as depicted on the Welsh flag

The European Dragon is a reptile, generally depicted as a heavy-bodies terrestrial beast capable of short bursts of flight by means of long-fingered, webbed wings. European Dragons may have two feet and two wings, but a good many of them have six appendages -- four feet and two wings, making them look like the curator of the paleontology department had a few two many whiskies before he assembled their skeletons.

The European Dragon in Heraldry

Unlike the Asian Dragon, which knows no bounds in terms of posture or position, the European Dragon is often encountered in heraldry, which is an ancient, pre-literate, and highly formalized system for branding and identifying the coat of arms or shield of individuals, or their land holdings, municipalities, provinces, or nations by association with animals, plants, and other devices. Heraldry is so popular in Europe, and especially Great Britain, that its use has been extended in popular culture to the branding of taverns, inns, and commercial businesses of all kinds.

Because heraldry is so formalized in terms of each device's position, colour, and number, European Dragons tend to be shown in profile and they are less expressive than Asian Dragons, but they make up for this in terms of their beloved status as totemic emblems of certain regions and their citizenry.

The Jersey Devil

The Jersey Devil originated in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey in the United States about 250 years ago. It closely resembles the European Dragons of the colonists who first described it, with a substantial body and four feet -- sometimes those of a horse or a goat, but sometimes goat-hooved at the rear and Dragon-clawed at the front. It has a pair of European Dragon wings, and the head of a horse, with long, back-swept goat horns. It is usually shown rearing up on its hind legs, like a horse or a goat.

The American Horned Serpent

An Objibwe Horned Serpent or Manoominikeshiinh

The Horned Serpent is a saurian genus found in the histories and story-telling of many indigenous American tribes. Unlike the actual Horned Viper of Africa, these animals have a pair of elaborate horns -- sometimes Goat-like, sometimes Deer-like -- on their heads. They live in lakes and they are the size of large trees, so it is easy enough to see in them a description of fossilized aquatic dinosaurs. Their images can be found on rock art and in pottery designs throughout the United States, especially among the Southeastern Woodlands and Great Lakes tribes.

To the Muscogee people, Horned Serpents were underwater snakes covered with iridescent, crystalline scales and a large crystal on their foreheads. The Alabama people gave them the name Tcinto Såktco ("Crawfish Snake"). The Iroquois people told tales of a Horned Serpent named Djodi'kwado'. The Chickasaw called them Sishtahollo' ("Holy Snake"). The Sioux called them Unhcegila and described them as dangerous reptilian water monsters which lived in ancient times and were destroyed by the Thunderbirds (possibly Pterosaurs) until all that remained of their kind were small snakes and lizards. The Yuchi people of Tennessee, who were later forced to relocate to Oklahoma, made effigies of Horned Serpents from stuffed deer hides painted blue, with the antlers painted yellow. The Ojibwe and Chippewa tribes told stories of Manoominikeshiinh, the great Horned Serpents who lived in the depths of Lake Superior.

The best-known Native American Horned Serpent is the Cherokee Uktena. The anthropologist James Mooney described it as "a great snake, as large around as a tree trunk, with horns on its head, and a bright blazing crest like a diamond on its forehead, and scales glowing like sparks of fire. It has rings or spots of color along its whole length, and can not be wounded except by shooting in the seventh spot from the head, because under this spot are its heart and its life. The blazing diamond is called Ulun'suti ("Transparent") and he who can win it may become the greatest wonder worker of the tribe."

The Plumed Serpent

A relative of the North American Horned Serpent is the Plumed or Feathered Serpent of Mexico and Guatemala. As the Aztecs and Mayans describe it, this dragon bears feathers on its head and may sport feathered wings. The most famous feathered serpent is Quetzalcoatl, the god of wind and rain. As with other dragons, he seems to be a dinosaur, and this is all the more remarkable because it wasn't until the 21st century that modern paleontologists realized that many dinosaurs were feathered, just like birds, and that birds are, in fact, very small remnant dinosaurs.

The Asian Dragon

A Golden Chinese Dragon

The Asian Dragon, a sinuous, reptilian beast, is revered as a religious, mythical, astronomical, and astrological figure. This Dragon may be associated with water, or may writhe through the sky. It usually has four feet and no wings. It may have whiskers or fish-like barbels on its face, and emit flames from its mouth.

The role of the Asian Dragon, his guardianship of a precious flaming pearl, and his titular rulership of every 12th year of the Chinese zodiac are well known, even to non-Asians. If nothing more, they will encounter the Dragon on Chinese restaurant menus, where he stands out because he shares a spot on the Lunar New Year cycle with eleven other animals, all of whom are identifiable living species, while he is a creature of spiritual origin.

The Asian Dragon in Chinese Astrology

Asian Astrology, popularly known in Europe and America as Chinese Astrology, is a traditional system of determining a person's personality, characteristics, and destiny via a twelve-year cycle of animal signs, known as the Chinese Zodiac.

Each Chinese Zodiac sign begins at the New Moon that opens the Chinese New Year or Spring Festival, which is a variable date between January 21st and February 20th) and for the rest of the year its animal holds the luck of the year. The twelve animals of the Chinese Zodiac are, in order: the Rat, the Ox, the Tiger, the Rabbit, the Dragon, the Snake, the Horse, the Sheep (sometimes referred to as the Ram or Goat), the Monkey, the Rooster, the Dog, and the Boar (also known as the Pig).


The 12 animals of the Chinese lunar zodiac with their years of rulership and their rotation through the five elements, Earth, Air, Fire, Water, and Wood


Each year is named after one of the twelve lucky Chinese Zodiac animals, and, as with other forms of astrology, people born under these signs have certain personality traits.

* Rat: 1924, 1936, 1948, 1960, 1972, 1984, 1996, 2008, 2020: Resourceful, versatile, kind.
* Ox: 1925, 1937, 1949, 1961, 1973, 1985, 1997, 2009, 2021: Strong, dependable, determined.
* Tiger: 1926, 1938, 1950, 1962, 1974, 1986, 1998, 2010, 2022: Brave, confident, competitive.
* Rabbit: 1927, 1939, 1951, 1963, 1975, 1987, 1999, 2011, 2023: Quiet, elegant, responsible.
* Dragon: 1928, 1940, 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988, 2000, 2012, 2024: Confident, intelligent, enthusiastic.
* Snake: 1929, 1941, 1953, 1965, 1977, 1989, 2001, 2013, 2025: Mysterious, intelligent, wise.
* Horse: 1930, 1942, 1954, 1966, 1978, 1990, 2002, 2014, 2026: Animated, active, energetic.
* Goat: 1931, 1943, 1955, 1967, 1979, 1991, 2003, 2015, 2027: Calm, gentle, sympathetic.
* Monkey: 1932, 1944, 1956, 1968, 1980, 1992, 2004, 2016,2028: Sharp, smart, curious.
* Rooster: 1933, 1945, 1957, 1969, 1981, 1993, 2005, 2017, 2029: Observant, hardworking, courageous.
* Dog: 1934, 1946, 1958, 1970, 1982, 1994, 2006, 2018, 2030: Loving, honest, prudent.
* Pig: 1935, 1947, 1959, 1971, 1983, 1995, 2007,2019, 2031: Compassionate, generous, practical.

These twelve animal signs are modified by a yearly cycle of five elements, which are Metal, Water, Wood, Fire, and Earth. The five elements may also be expressed as colours, which are White, Black, Green, Red, and Brown. Each of these five elements takes its turn governing two sequential years, thus a Rooster may be a Metal Rooster, a Water Rooster, and so forth.

Each year also has a Yang (positive or male) or Yin (negative or female) character, and these alternate in polarity year by year.

* Yang Metal or White: Years that end in 0.
* Yin Metal or White: Years that end in 1.
* Yang Water or Black: Years that end in 2.
* Yin Water or Black: Years that end in 3.
* Yang Wood or Green: Years that end in 4.
* Yin Wood or Green: Years that end in 5.
* Yang Fire or Red: Years that end in 6.
* Yin Fire or Red: Years that end in 7.
* Yang Earth or Brown: Years that end in 8.
* Yin Earth or Brown: Years that end in 9.

In practice, the twelve animal signs of the Chinese Zodiac are described in terms of the polarity, the element, and the animal, making for a total of ten possible refinements of the basic animal sign, so if a Chinese astrologer does your chart, your sign may be, for instance, a Yang Water Horse, a Female Wood Ox, a Yin Metal Boar, or a Male Fire Dragon -- each of which has specific personality traits and is inclined to succeed best in certain forms of career, and to marry a person of a harmonizing sign. Thus one may be said to have been born in the year of the Female or Yin Ox or the Male or Yang Dragon.

12 animals x 5 elements x 2 polarities = 120: It takes 120 years before the Chinese zodiac cycle repeats.

There are further divisions and refinements of the lunar calendar, but for our purposes, all we need to know right now is that 2024 is the year of the Male Green Wood Dragon.

The Chinese language is written with ideograms, and although they are as variable as type fonts or handwriting in the Latin alphabet, this alphabetically sorted guide will allow you to read the names of the Chinese zodiac animals as they often appear on coins minted in each animal's year.


Chinese ideograms for the 12 zodiacal animals


It is customary at the Spring Festival or Lunar New Year to wish people "Gong Hei Fat Choy" ("Wish Happiness, Develop Fortune") and because at each year, a new animal of the Chinese Zodiac is celebrated, it is a popular practice to reinforce the wish for prosperity by giving the recipient of the wish a literal coin, minted that year and bearing an image of the current year's animal. 2024 is the year of the Dragon, and so we bring you many Dragon coins, with our best wishes!

Lucky Dragon Coins

The Chinese character "long" or "lung" ("Dragon") as it may appear on a Dragon coin

Coins with images of Dragons on them, popularly referred to as Dragon coins or Dragon money, have an extensive history of production in Asia, without respect as to whether the coins were minted in a Dragon zodiac year. Among these coins are various denominations of the Chinese Yuan, Japanese Yen, and Korean Won.

Of all the twelve lunar coins, the Dragon issues are by far the most popular, due to their historical association with the old Dragon Money of China, Japan, and Korea. Therefore, it seems fitting that although the Rat, not the Dragon, is the first of the lunar zodiac animals, and was issued by Australia in 1986, it was in the auspicious year 2000, the year of the Metal Dragon, that an unexpected multitude of Metal Dragon gifts first burst on the scene and made their way to popular online sales sites. In 2000, it was the fashion to design the Dragons so that their coils formed a cursive representation of the number 2000, and because 2000 was represented by a Metal Dragon, coins seemed like an obvious choice to make, and they sold very well.

With the diaspora of Chinese people leaving the oppressive regime of Communist China, the custom of giving Lunar Festival gifts embellished with the year's zodiac animal has spread around the world, and Chinese zodiac coins are now minted in a number of nations. Once the Dragon coins of 2000 had made a hit with non-Asian collectors, several nations with high Asian populations undertook to issue complete sets of zodiac animals. Some started their cycles with the year of the Earth Rat in 2008, but others joined the happy throng when the year of the Water Dragon came up in 2012. By this time online sales platforms had transformed how goods were sold, and more nations joined in the festive fun, and that again led to whole new cycles of Chinese zodiac coins and lunar astrology keepsakes in the form of stamps for each year's animal. With each 12-year lunar cycle, it seems that more nations have joined the list of those who produce lunar coinage or stamps.

We have now arrived at 2024. More and more Asian people are relocating away from the repressions of Chinese Communism, and bringing their beloved cultural traditions to the West -- and this year the number of nations issuing Dragon coins is astounding. Not only that, as non-circulating bullion coins, they are receiving a number of high-tech beautification, such as colourization, metalization, gilding, and three-dimensional sculptural relief, and are being issued in very limited numbers, to increase their collector value.

Meanwhile, in European nations with their own traditions of Dragons which are not connected to astrology, heraldic Dragon coins may be issued at any time.

Obverse and Reverse

When photographing collectible coins for sale, it seems to be the convention, both by mints and by secondary coin dealers, to consider the special or collectible image -- such as a Dragon -- to be the image on the obverse or front of the coin, even though it is technically the image on the reverse or back of the coin. This is especially the case with nations that have a standard obverse, such as the portrait of a monarch; it is boring to see the same obverse as the lead image on coin after coin, Thus the merchants, mints, and coin dealers wish to present the Dragon first, even though it is on the back of the coin. In other words, the Dragons are usually the first image shown, and thus either larger or placed on the left side of a composite photo. We have retained the proper designation of "reverse" for these dragons, while setting them in the left-hand position in our series for purpose of showcasing them.

Dragon Coins and Bullion by Nation

AUSTRALIA

Australia is a former British colony that is now sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. In 1901 it was established as the Commonwealth of Australia. The Australia Act 1986 provided an independent government for Australia while maintaining the monarch of the United Kingdom as the monarch OF Australia in an independent capacity. Thus all Australian coinage bears an image of the currently reigning monarch.

Of all the nations outside of China, Australia has been the most consistent producer of Dragon money since 2000, and has not limited its output to successive Years of the Dragon. The country began producing the Lunar Series I in 1999, and then becgan over with Lunar Series II coins in 2008, and continued with Lunar Series III coins.

Perth Mint

The Perth Mint, located in the city of Perth, is Australia's official bullion mint and is wholly owned by the Government of Western Australia. Founded in 19001, it is the older of Australia's two mints, the other being the Royal Australian Mint in Canberra, which produces Australian dollar coins for circulation as legal tender. The Perth Mint is known for the extremely high quality and beauty of its bullion coins, minted bars, and cast bars. It also functions as the official mint for a number of small nations that lack their own mints.

2000

2012

in October 2023, the 2012 Year of the Dragon Gold and Silver Bullion Coins were issued in seven different sizes, ranging from 1/20 ounce all the way to 10 kilo. All gold coins bore one design and all silver coins bore another.

Specifications for Australia 2012 Year of the Dragon Silver Bullion Coins

Size 	 Face Value  Maximum Mintage 	
10 Kilo  $300        500 	
1 Kilo   $30 	     unlimited 	
10 Oz. 	 $10 	     unlimited 	
5 Oz. 	 $8 	     unlimited 	Issued in a presentation case with a numbered CoA
2 Oz. 	 $2 	     unlimited 	
1 Oz. 	 $1 	     300,000    9 colourized variations: 5,000 each; full set of 10 variations: 2,500
1/2 Oz.  $.50 	     unlimited 	

Specifications for Australia 2012 Year of the Dragon Gold Bullion Coins

Size 	 Face Value  Maximum Mintage 	
10 Kilo  $30,000     100 	 
1 Kilo 	 $3,000      unlimited 	
10 Oz. 	 $1,000      unlimited 	 
2 Oz.	 $200        unlimited 	
1 Oz. 	 $100 	     30,000 	The 1 oz. High Relief Gold Proof was limited to 388 coins  
1/2 Oz.  $50 	     unlimited 	
1/4 Oz.  $25 	     unlimited 	 
1/10 Oz. $15         unlimited 	 	 
1/20 Oz. $5          unlimited 	 	

2017

2018

2019

2021

2022

2023

2024

BHUTAN

Bhutan, officially known as the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a small Asian nation in the Himalayas, between Tibet in north and India in the south. The capital city is Thimphu. To the people who live there, the name of the country is "Druk Yul" -- "The Land of the Thunder Dragon" and the national emblem of Bhutan consists of a double dorje symbol surrounded by two dragons. In a sense, this means that almost every coin from Bhutan is Dragon Money, because the national emblem appears on the obverse of almost every Bhutanese coin -- but for our purposes here we will only be showing coins with dragons on the reverse as well. The standard unit of coinage is the Ngultrum.

B.H. Mayer’s Kunstprageanstalt

B.H. Mayer’s Kunstprageanstalt, a small, private art-mint in of Karlsfeld, Germany, has produced at least some of the coinage of the Kingdom of Bhutan.

1996

In 1996 Bhutan issued a complete set of all 12 zodiac animals, in stylized form, each labelled "Year of the [Animal], with nine decades of the animal's calendar years imprinted around the image of the animal, and the words "300 Ngultrum." They weighed 31.5 grams or 1.012749 troy ounces, and were made of .9250 pure silver. We will only consider the Dragon coin here.


2000

2024

BURUNDI

The Republic of Burundi is an African nation whose coat of arms is a shield with a lion's head mounted on three point-up African spears. The motto of the nation on a ribbon below reads: "Unité, Travail, Progrès (French: "Unity, Work, Progress").

Unknown Mint

The mint that manufactured these coins is not known. Information will be gratefully accepted.

2024

CAMEROON

Cameroon uses the Central African Franc of the CFA (Communauté Financière Africaine or African Financial Community) as its currency, as do the nations of Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Republic of Tchad, Equatorial Guinea, and Gabon. Each CFA member country can strike coins bearing its own national symbols, and all of their coins are legal tender in the other members of the CFA bloc.

Scottsdale Mint

The Scottsdale Mint was founded in 2008 in Scottsdale, Arizona. Cameroon has used the Scottsdale Mint to produce some of its coins, as have the Cayman Islands, the Reserve Bank of Fiji, and the Central Bank of Samoa.

2018

CANADA

Canada is a former British colony that became a confederation in 1867 and, after a series of gentle, stepwise governmental changes was recognized as a completely separate nation under the Canada Act 1982. As a monarchy, Canada shares its reigning royal family with 14 other independent countries within the Commonwealth of Nations, all of them former British colonies. All Canadian coinage bears on one side an portrait image of the current living monarch.

Royal Canadian Mint

Canadian coins are minted at the Royal Canadian Mint in Ottawa.

2012

2019

2020

2024

CHINA

Chinese dragon coins are legendary. They became popular in the late 19th century and have continued to set the style for international dragon coins to this day. There are many copies of old Chinese dragon coins manufactured at this time, and they are variously considered to be counterfeits, fakes, fantasy coins, commemoratives, and restrikes.

The weight of old Chinese dragon coins (and their copies) is often given in maces and candareens. A candareen is equal to 10 cash and is one tenth of a mace. One troy candareen weighs 374 milligrams or 5.77 grams, so, for example, a coin marked 7 mace and 2 candareens weighs 26.84 grams or .86 troy ounces.

Another weight found on Chinese dragon coins is the tael. At one time the silver tael weighed 40 grams or 1.3 troy ounces; in 1959 it was standardized to 50 grams or 1.61 troy ounces. Sixteen taels are equivalent to a catty, from whence comes the English term caddy -- as in a "tea caddy" or chest of tea -- so back in the day, a catty of tea weighed 604 grams or 20.8 ounces -- about 1.33 pounds.

In addition to weights, Chinese dragon money may be denominated in yuan or dollars. The Yuan is a national unit of coinage, while the dollar is a remnant of the use of U.S. trade dollars as currency in Asia during the 19th century.

Chinese Provincial Mint Names

Despite the mint name that is stated on a contemporary Chinese counterfeit, restrike, fake, or fantasy coin, it is almost certainly just a courtesy name left over from a previous era. Some fakes that bear very old dates, as stated on the coins themselves, are also stated to have been minted in provinces that did not have mints during the stated time period. Enjoy these modern Chinese collector coins for their artistry and consider that if they are made of base metal, their value is in the pleasure of owning them and their authenticity is always a matter of conjecture best handled by experts.

1916

1988

1990

2000

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023

2024

Unknown Manufacturer

DJIBOUTI

Djibouti, formally known as Republique de Djibouti, is a former French colony in Africa and uses the CFA or Central African Franc as its denomination.

MDM Mint

MDM, short for Münzhandelsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG German Coin, a member of the Richard Borek Group, was founded in 1893. It is an international mint and an internationally active coin trading company that specializes in precious metal collectibles.

2024

FIJI

Many coins of Fiji bear the nation's Coat of Arms: A shield divided quarterly by the Cross of St. George; in the quadrants sugarcane, a coconut palm, a bunch of bananas, and a flying dove of peace bearing an olive branch , charged with a gold lion holding a cacao pod at the top, supported by twin Fijian warriors, one on each side, one armed with a barbed spear, the other with a pineapple club, topped with a canoe as the crest, at the bottom is the nation's motto: "Rerevaka na kalou ka doka na Tui" ("Fear God and honour the King" [1 Peter 2:17]). This coat of arms was adopted in 1908 by a British Royal Warrant and it has been the coat of arms of Fiji since that year, having been retained after independence in 1970.

Royal Canadian Mint

According to the Reserve Bank of Fiji, all recent Fiji coins have been minted by the Royal Canadian Mint. The Scottsdale Mint also states on its website that it has produced coinage for the Reserve Bank of Fiji.

Art of Coins

Art of Coins is a German private mint which specializes in high-relief collector coins for small nations. Their coins are shipped with Certificates of Authenticity signed by the mint-master, encapsulated and boxed.

2022

2023

2024

FRANCE

France is a nation in Western Europe.

Monnaie de Paris

Monnaie de Paris is the world's oldest continuously running mint, founded in 864 CE. It is also the world's 8th oldest company.

2024

JAPAN

Japan is a nation comprised of several islands off the eastern coast of Asia.

Asahi Refining

Asahi Refining and the Asahi Mint are wholly owned subsidiaries of the Japan-based Asahi Group Holdings Limited, a brewery and soft drink company. The name Asahi is means Morning or Sunlight. In 2015, Asahi Holdings acquired the historic Johnson Matthey gold and silver refining business which dated back to 1817 in England. As a multinational corporation, Asahi has many operations worldwide, including Asahi Refining in Salt Lake City, Utah. We list Asahi under Japan, due to its ownership, while recognizing that Asahi bullion rounds may be manufactured elsewhere.

2024

MACAU

Unknown Mint

2000

MONGOLIA

Bank of Mongolia

The mint that manufactures the Mongolian dragon coins is the Bank of Mongolia.

2024

NIUE

Niue is a self-governing Polynesian island country in the South Pacific Ocean in free association with New Zealand. It is not a member of the United Nations. Its 1,689 primarily Polynesian inhabitants are citizens of New Zealand, so Charles III is Niue's head of state in his capacity as the King of New Zealand. The name Niue means "Behold the Coconut." The capital city is Alofi.

European Mint

The European Mint is located in the nation of Estonia, It produces coins for small nations and provides custom private minting of gold and silver bullion.

2012

2022

2024

PITCAIRN ISLANDS

The Pitcairn Islands, officially the Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie, and Oeno Islands, are a British Overseas Territory, comprised of a group of four volcanic islands in the southern Pacific Ocean. Of the four, Henderson Island accounts for 86% of the land area, but only Pitcairn Island is inhabited. As of January 2020, Pitcairn Island had only 47 permanent inhabitants, a biracial ethnic group descended mostly from nine men who mutinied on the HMS Bounty in 1789 and their Tahitian consorts.

The Tower Mint

The Tower Mint in London, England, makes the coins for the Pitcairn Islands

2024

POLAND

Poland is a nation in eastern Europe.

Germania Mint

The Germania Mint produced these bullion pieces in Jelenia Góra, Poland.

2023

RWANDA

As of 2001, many coins of the Republic of Rwanda ("Repubulika Y'u Rwanda") bear the National emblem with the motto "Ubumwe-Umurimo-Gukunda Igihugu"" ("Unity, Work, Patriotism"), featuring a stem of Sorghum, a branch of a Coffee tree, and a traditional basket called an Agaseke. It also features 2 typical Rwandan shields, a cogwheel, and the Sun above; the whole is encircled by a square knot.

Unknown Mint

The mint that manufactured the Rwandan dragon coins is not known. Information will be gratefully accepted.

2024

SAMOA

Many coins of the Independent State of Samoa bear the nation's Coat of Arms with the motto "Fa'avae I Le Atua Samoa" (variously translated as "God is the Foundation of Samoa" or "Samoa is founded on God")

Scottsdale Mint

It is not clear which company minted the 2022 Samoan dragon coins, but the Scottsdale Mint states on its own page that it numbers among its clients the Cayman Islands, Cameroon, the Reserve Bank of Fiji, and the Central Bank of Samoa, and it definitely did produce the 2024 Samoa Year of the Dragon coins.

2022

2024

The 2024 Samoa Year of the Dragon silver coin came in three sizes: 2 0z., 1 oz. and 1/2 oz. Their appearance is identical, only the thickness differentiates the first two; the third is smaller in diameter.

ST. HELENA

Saint Helena is one of the three islands comprising Saint Helena, Ascension, and Tristan da Cunha, a British overseas territory located in the South Atlantic Ocean, west of the coast of south-western Africa, and east of Rio de Janeiro in South America. It is famous for being the site of Napoleon Bonaparte's second exile, following his final defeat in 1815. The British East India Company governed it 1821 from 1834, but currently its 4,897 inhabitants enjoy full British citizenship under the rulership of the reigning British monarch.

Unknown Mint

The mint that manufactured the 2021 and 2023 Saint Helena dragon coins is not known. Information will be gratefully accepted.

2021

2023

SINGAPORE

Unknown Mint

The mint that manufactured the 1988 and 2000 Singapore Dragon coins is not known. Information will be gratefully accepted.

1988

2000

SWITZERLAND

Switzerland is a nation in central Europe.

PAMP Swisse Mint

PAMP (Produits Artistiques Métaux Précieux) is aprecious metals refining and fabricating company established in 1977 in Ticino, Switzerland.

2012

TCHAD

The Republic of Tchad (also spelled Chad) uses the Central African Franc of the CFA (Communauté Financière Africaine or African Financial Community) as its currency, as do the nations of Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, and Gabon. Each CFA member country can strike coins bearing its own national symbols, and all of their coins are legal tender in the other members of the CFA bloc.

New Century Mint and Others

Tchad has authorized various foreign mints to strike collector coins bearing historical or cultural themes that are not related to the country itself. These coins may be given low mintage numbers -- as low as 50 and as high as 500 to 999 -- in order to increase their rarity. The most popular size is one troy ounce of silver. Mints that have recently produced coins for Tchad include the New Century Mint of Shanghai, China.

2023

2024

TOKELAU

Tokelau ("North Wind"), known previously as the Union Islands, is a dependent territory of New Zealand in the southern Pacific Ocean. Consisting of three tropical coral atolls: Atafu, Nukunonu, and Fakaofo, it lies north of Samoa and east of Tuvalu, and has a population of 1,500 people.

Unknown Mint

The mint that manufactured the 20222 and 2024 Tokelau dragon coins is not known. Information will be gratefully accepted.

2022

2024

TUVALU

Unknown Mint

2024

UNITED KINGDOM

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK, Great Britain, or Britain, is a country comprised of England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland and other small islands across its seas.

Royal Mint

The Royal Mint, founded in 886 CE, is the United Kingdom's official manufacturer of British coins. It is the oldest company in the United Kingdom and the 10th oldest company in the world. It has been located in Llantrisant, Wales, since 1968.

2000

2018

2024

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

The United States of American, also known as the USA, the United States, and the U.S., is a former British colony that fought for and won its independence in 1776.

Although the United States has issued a series of Lunar New Year postage stamps, it has never issued Chinese Zodiac coins. Private mints in the U.S. have sought to fill that gap.

APMEX

APMEX, The American Precious Metals Exchange, was founded in 2000 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. It is a wholesaler and retailer of gold, silver, platinum and palladium coins, bullion, bars, and ingots. It occasionally privately mints or commissions the minting of its own commemorative bullion rounds and bars.

2012

2024

JM Bullion

JM Bullion, founded in 2011 in Dallas, Texas, is a wholesaler and retailer of gold, silver, copper, platinum, and palladium products, including coins, bullion, bars, and ingots. The company occasionally privately mints or commissions the minting of its own commemorative bullion rounds and bars.

2024

Mesa Grande Sovereign Nation

The Mesa Grande Band of Diegueño Mission Indians constitute a United Stated Federally Recognized Tribal Government. Its citizens are direct descendants of the original aboriginal peoples who occupied northern San Diego County, California, since time immemorial. Their tribal council is located in Santa Ysabel, California. The mint that manufactured the 2024 Mesa Grande Sovereign Nation coins is not known. Information will be gratefully accepted.

2024


Macian Enterprises

2017

VANUATU

Many coins of Vanuatu bear the nation's Coat of Arms: A Melanesian warrior, armed with a spear, standing before a mountain; behind him a boar's tusk and two leaves of the namele (coconut palm), on the scroll is the Vanuatu National Motto, "Log God Yuni Stanap" ("With God We Stand" equivalent to "In God We Trust"), surrounded by the words Ripablic Blong Vanuatu ("Republic of Vanuatu").

Unknown Mint

2024

References

All Mints List at EMK -- https://www.emk.com/en-us/mints/all-mints/all-mints/

Coin Archives -- https://www.coinarchives.com/

Coin News Net -- https://www.coinnews.net

Dragon Dollar Chinese Coins -- https://www.dragondollar.com/

Numista -- https://en.numista.com/

Silver Stackers Forum -- https://www.silverstackers.com/forums/index.php

Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1801 - 1900. Colin R. Bruce II, Senior Editor. 4th Edition, 2004. Krause Publications, Iola, Wisconsin.

Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1901 - 2000. George S. Cuhaj, editor. 37th Edition, 2010. Krause Publications, Iola, Wisconsin.

Standard Catalog of World Coins, 2001 - Date. George S. Cuhaj, editor. 9th Edition, 2014. Krause Publications, Iola, Wisconsin.


See Also

To Discuss This Patreon Page

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And now, friends, we wish you a Happy Lunar New Year to you -- whenever you are reading this!

nagasiva yronwode
researcher, graphic designer, and curator
catherine yronwode
curator, historian, and docent
Your Wate and Fate