Portugal, 100 Escudos (World Cup) 1986

The autonomous region called the TransDniester Republic issued a most unusual set of coins in 2014. They are made of composite material, are semi-transparent, and have a textured surface. This territory was part of the Soviet Union, and later became an unrecognised Moldovan breakaway state, that is still recognised internationally as being part of Moldova. These coins are a plastic-type material but with a hardness that produces a stone-like sound when rubbed. They were issued by the 'TransDniester Republic Bank' and there are 4 denominations. 1 Rouble circular, 3 Roubles square with rounded corners, 5 Roubles pentagon-shaped with rounded corners, and 10 Roubles hexagonal with rounded corners. They have rounded corners for ease of use and for ease of machine readability at high speeds. These were an experiment and who knows if they will continue to issue them. But we thought that they were very interesting and rather well priced so we obtained 100 sets of them. Supplies are limited.

3 coins, 10, 20 & 50 ATT all dated 1980 and all one year type coins, some 40 years ago, not an easy set to find.

Leper colony coinage in Colombia circulated only in the country’s three government backed quarantine stations over fears that using regular coins could spread the infection to others outside. These 2 centavo coins, which we can offer in Very Fine condition, were minted in 1921. On the obverse they have a stylised cross with the word “LAZARETO” (the Spanish word for a quarantine station), while the obverse has the date and the denomination within a wreath. These special stations were closed in the 1950s and the inmates were allowed to exchange them for regular coinage at any bank.