So here is a relatively modern coin just over an inch in diameter (27mm) and a beefy 0.4 ozs (13.4g). it weighs so much because it is very thick, with the Chinese symbols for "Hong Kong Five Dollars" written around the edge. It is composed of a standard Copper Nickel alloy and was minted with a strong, shiny finish. There is also a proof issue for this coin.
The 1997 Hong Kong five dollar coin (about 65 cents US) does not just have one bat on it, it has five. And these are not supposed to be representative of bats as wildlife, but they have a symbolic meaning. As a symbol known as wu fu the five bat design represents: long life, wealth, health, love of virtue and peaceful death. This symbol is widely used in parts of Chinese culture and can be found on quite a number of objects. Unlike in so many places where bats are associated with the dark and scary, in Chinese culture they represent happiness and joy. And your Chinese lesson for the day is that the word for bat "fu" is the same word "fu" for good fortune. So here is a relatively modern coin just over an inch in diameter (27mm) and a beefy 0.4 ozs (13.4g). it weighs so much because it is very thick, with the Chinese symbols for "Hong Kong Five Dollars" written around the edge. It is composed of a standard Copper Nickel alloy and was minted with a strong, shiny finish. There is also a proof issue for this coin. The reverse of the of the coin has the Bauhinia flower on it, or more specifically the Bauhinia x blakeana flower on it. You can Google that if you want to sort out the history and taxonomy of the national symbol of Hong Kong.
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Austin, TX bats of Congress Avenue Bridge souvenir coin - largest urban bat colony in the world3/16/2017 In Austin, Texas they built a bridge. Originally called the Congress Avenue Bridge, it was renamed in 2006 the Ann W. Richards Congress Avenue Bridge in honor of the former Texas governor. And this is a fine bridge by any standard, especially if you like bats. It would seem that the size of the expansion cracks in the substructure of the bridge are just right for roosting Mexican free-tailed bats (Tadarida brasiliensis). And so the bats moved in, and in some big numbers. Bat Conservation International, based in Austin, estimates that there are between 750,000 and 1.5 million bats under the bridge in the summers (the bats migrate south for the winter). And in a major success story for the conservation of bats, the bridge has become a tourist site and attracts hundreds of visitors every evening to watch the bats fly out. So instead of trying to get rid of the bats, Austin has all but adopted them. Even their hockey team is called the Austin Ice Bats. So while this is arguably a "bat coin" it is a real coin with a bat on it and a neat story behind the location so I am putting it up there. This is a 199X Lincoln cent that was put into a souvenir machine that flattens out the coin and leaves a raised logo for the site. These are common at many tourist stops, but this is a cool one as it is for a bridge full of bats. And there's not much to see on the back, but the hint of the coin's original design.
2010 Samoa 1 dollar gold coin with bat - Samoan Flying Fox (Pteropus samoensis) - wrong bat picture3/16/2017 There are a number of bat coins made of shiny silver, but few are made of gold. Here is one. This coin is the 2010 Samoa 1 dollar coin and is 0.999 pure gold. And it is tiny, just weighing in at 0.5g (about 25% of the weight of the smallest bat) and a whopping 11mm (7/16 inch) in diameter. But it is a beautiful little coin and a proof issue with a mintage of 10,000. The coin has the same bat, the Samoan Flying Fox (Pteropus samoensis) on it as the 10 dollar silver coin, although it a wings-open flying pose instead of roosting, and there are no crystal eyes for this one. And given the size, the detail on the bat is remarkable. Facial features and tiny wrinkles in the wing membranes can be made out so clearly the engraving process was done with some high degree of skill. However, all that said, there is one serious problem with this coin. The bat on the coin is NOT a Samoan flying fox. It is not even a flying fox at all. The first dead giveaway even looking at the small coin from a distance is that between the legs is a full membrane (word of the day is Uropatagium, the membrane between the legs that often encompasses the tail if it has one, which the Samoan flying fox does not). The Samoan flying fox has a V-shaped uropatagium with the notch of the V where the tail would be. The bat on the coin has a full uropatagium with full tail extending to the edge of it. Second is the face, which shows a blunt nose (not the fox-like visage that gives the bat its name) and a triangular-shaped nose leaf. Clearly this is not even the wrong flying fox but some other type of bat altogether. I have given this a bit of thought, but am unsure at this point which bat they used as a model for the coin, but so far I haven't nailed it down. I will update the post if I ever get back to figuring that out, but for now I just don't know. The reverse of the coin is similar to the $10 coin, with the national arms, country and denomination listed.
The Samoan Islands essentially consist of the US territory American Samoa and the country of Samoa. And it is the country of Samoa (officially The Independent State of Samoa) that has issued a couple of very nice bat coins. And here is one of the best. This is the 2010 Samoa 10 dollar coin. It is made of 0.925 pure silver and weighs in at a hefty 0.80 ounces (25g). It is a legal tender coin, KM#173 in the catalog of world coins, and exactly no one would ever spend one. Only 2,500 of these were minted and all are proof quality coins, so on the rare end of the scale and oh so good-looking. The eyes, for reasons unknown to me, are inlaid red Swarovski crystals, which give the coin a very unique attribute and fortunately do not end up making the bat look evil. In real life, the bat has brown eyes. This coin features a great bat, the Samoan Flying Fox (Pteropus samoensis). And just for full disclosure, it is known as the pe'a vao in the local language. This bat is a big guy, coming in with a wingspan of around 3 feet, but not one of the giant bats. It is a fruit eater, but also chews on leaves and flowers (drinking the juice and spitting out the rest as a pellet). And, unlike most bats that fly at night, this large bat is quite easy to see as it is diurnal, foraging in the mornings and evenings when there is still plenty of light out to watch them. Overall, the bat is locally common, but unlike many flying foxes it roosts mainly alone or in small family groups and the males maintain territories. So it is hard to estimate the population of these bats as there aren't just a few large roosts to visit. And while it is known from the Samoan Islands and also Fiji, the overall trend seems to be that the population is declining due to habitat loss and in part to hunting (although strong conservation efforts have reduced the threat of hunting significantly). An interesting side note is that Samoa is, or was, home to one of the giant bats. With a wingspan over 5 feet, the Large Samoan Flying Fox was discovered on an expedition in the mid-1800s, but not actually described as a new species until 2009 (from the collected specimen found in a jar at the Smithsonian I believe). It has the Latin name of Pteropus coxi, and is widely considered extinct. The reverse of the coin is far more standard issue. It is the national arms along with the country's name and the denomination.
But, since this is a proof issue, it has the fun ability to look different depending on how you light it. So here is the same coin with different lighting to show the mirror-like finish on the flat surfaces and the cameo finish on the raised surfaces. This coin comes from the island nation of Fiji, and is a beautiful coin with an all-star bat on it. First the coin. It is a 10-cent piece (about 5 cents US), about the size of a US nickel and made of nickel-plated steel. The minting of these was done really well and uncirculated examples can be really sharp looking. On the obverse is the country name, the date, and the local name for the bat: Beka mirimiri. The bat is the Fijian monkey-faced bat or just the Fiji flying fox (Mirimiri acrodonta). There are six species of bats on Fiji, three of which are flying foxes, and this is by far the smallest of the bunch. It measures just about 4 inches from nose to butt, ignoring all the wing and tail membranes. It is among the cutest bats in the world, with a roundish face and, believe it or not, bright orange eyes. It is also one of the world's rarest bats, known only from above 3,000 feet elevation in the montane cloud forest of Des Voeux peak on the island of Taveuni. While the local people see this bat on occasion, for the most part it was only known from a few museum specimens until rather recently. Conservationists have worked hard to learn more about the bat, but it is so rare that this has been a very difficult task. Yet it has been captured in the wild, including a pregnant female, and work continues to learn more about what it eats, where it roosts, what its habitat requirements are and if there are any populations on other high peaks among the islands. The reverse has the 10 cent denomination on it. Note that pretty much all the world puts the number 10 on a coin worth 10 whatevers, but the US continues to confuse international tourists and new arrivals by NOT putting a 10 on its coin but the words ONE DIME. Just a bit of coin trivia there. The object in the middle is the traditional throwing club in the Fijian culture. Definitely one of the coolest bats on coins, and a very well-done coin at that.
Today's bat coin is a crossbreed. If you remember from the last couple blog posts, the 25 fils from the Sultanate of Pemba is technically a fantasy issue, and the Polish 2 Zloty is a legal tender issue. So what is this coin? You guessed it, it is both a fantasy issue and a legal tender coin. Essentially this is an aftermarket overlay on a real coin, kinda like painting flames on the side of a '57 Chevy. It's still a Chevy and you can still legally drive it, but it looks rather different. So here we have a standard 2016 2 Euro coin from Germany. The design under the bats is the Zwinger Palace in Dresden and this is considered a commemorative coin. The D visible protruding from roughly the center of the lowest bat is not a mint mark for Dresden, but the country code for Germany. The mint mark is a J in the field of orange in the upper right and shows that the coin was made in Hamburg. To the right of the J are the initials JT for the engraver (Jordi Truxa). And your German lesson for the day is that the word Sachsen, visible under the D and lowest bat, means Saxony in German. The bats, of course, are just some stylized Halloween bats with scary slanty eyes in a generally orange and black motif in keeping with the holiday, so I really don't have much to say about them from a naturalist standpoint. But they ARE worthy of note. The first thing is that three of the bats are more like real bat silhouettes, with normal bat ears and feet. The other two bats are classic Halloween make believe bats with Batman ears and a pointy tail with no feet. I find the use of two separate styles of bats to be most odd. But, there is a real mystery with the bats here. Did you see it? Look again if you haven't seen something wrong with this picture... ...Okay, that's enough time, as this one isn't too hard. I ask you, just how does a bat end up with its wing BEHIND the moon??? Either that is one remarkably huge and far away bat, or the art is just wrong. I don't know if the designer missed this bit or just did it anyway to allow for the composition of bats that he/she wanted. Well, there should always be some mystery surrounding bats at Halloween. The other side of the coin is just the standard 2 Euro design: Not much to say about that.
Anyway, this coin is marketed with a Certificate of Authenticity (COA) that gives the general stats. Apparently 2,500 of these were "minted" so there aren't a zillion of them out there. And I must say that it does come in a quite nice little display box. So, where in the wide world is the Sultanate of Pemba? Yes, I have ESP and read your mind. So let's get to the geography lesson first. About halfway up the east coast of Africa, sorta in that little nook, there are some islands off the coast of Tanzania. Of the two largest, the northernmost is Pemba, and the southernmost is...wait for it as you might have heard of this one...Unguja! Oh no, don't know it yet? Well most people just call it Zanzibar, after its capitol and largest city. Now you've heard of it. And, as a note, the island is officially part of Tanzania. But this coin is from Pemba, the island north of Zanzibar, and it does have a bat on it. This is part of a wildlife series for that year with a different animal on each denomination, although for some reason they put a sailboat (the famous dhow) on the 500 fils coin. So, let's take a look at the coin: A spiffy-looking coin. It is octagonal and just a hair bigger than a US quarter with lettering in both English and Arabic. The design is pretty clean with a clear focus on the bat. Which brings up the question of what bat is it? A generic bat or a specific bat? Well, I am going to have to guess here, but this should be right. Pemba is home to 12 species of bats, three of them are flying foxes. And one of the flying foxes is quite special. It is endemic to Pemba and is a true giant, having a wingspan of over 5 feet!!! So it would only be right to put that bat on the coin. The bat is the Pemba Flying Fox (Pteropus Voeltzkowi). Almost pushed to extinction by the 1990s, a major conservation effort has helped restore populations from a few hundred bats to a currently estimated 20,000 individuals. I love a happy ending, but there is only so much habitat on the island and measures need to stay in place to keep this amazing bat around for future generations to marvel at. The flip side of the coin is a flower motif and says "Pemba 2013" in Arabic. I don't like to guess too much, but since I started above I will continue here. My theory is that this symbol represents spices, since Pemba is part of one of several areas known as the Spice Islands and, for your fact of the day, there are some 3.5 million clove trees on the island.
And finally, for the true coin nerd, this is not considered a "circulating issue" but exonumia. Sort of that which is very coin-like but not legal tender, which is also sometimes referred to as a Fantasy Issue. And there you have it. Just thought it worthwhile to put up a coin with a bat on it once in a while. Today's coin is from Poland, a 2 Zloty (about 50 cents US) and part of what is called a Commemorative Series but I have no idea what they are commemorating with a bat on the coin. The coin was issued on 4/17/2010 and is composed of "Nordic gold." This is a mix of 89% copper, 5% zinc, 5% aluminum, and 1% tin. Um, did the Norwegians not know what real gold was or are the Poles just having a joke on their neighbors a short way across the Bering Sea the Danes and Swedes. Either way, there is no gold involved, other than in the name. And your Polish language lesson of the day is that Zloty mean "golden" in Polish. But the coin needs no precious metals to be a pretty solid bat coin. The bat on the front (or is it the back?) is the Lesser Horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus hipposideros). This is a pretty cool Old World bat with a pretty striking nose leaf which is clearly visible on the bat on the coin. The bat is in a pretty normal flying pose for bat art and nicely done (although the legs/feet appear too much like arms). And, did you see them? In the cloud above the main bat is another bat, only this time it is a stencil of a bat outlined where there is a bat-shaped hole in the clouds. Pretty neat. But keep looking, and up just a tad higher is third bat. This one is half stencil and half fully raised detail. How clever is that? Oh yeah, and did you see that perfectly round bit down below the bat's right wing (left side looking at the coin)? You would think the one thing easy to spot in the night sky is the moon, but it took me a good while to see that and then figure out what it was. Ahia! There is the date, so this is the front of the coin and the bat is on the reverse. And her on the front we have... You know, I am going to leave it up to the viewer to figure that one out. See, I believe it is supposed to be an eagle, but to me it looks quite a bit more like what birders would call a Red Jungle Fowl. And just to head off the barrage of trouble I will get for these photos being less than my usual quality, I will note that the coin is in a "slab." This is a sealed plastic case put on after the coin was graded (MS-64 means Mint State and fairly nice but not perfect) and I must say shooting photos through that plastic is not easy. Red Bat (Lasiurus borealis) 1 ounce silver bar - American Wildlife Collection Hamilton Mint3/5/2017 This bar is 0.999 pure silver, 1 troy ounce. And more importantly, has the eastern red bat (Lasiurus borealis) as the subject. There are something like 50 bars in this series, but this is the one I find most interesting. Note the open mouth close-up with all those teeth!!! But overall a decent rendition of an actual bat's anatomy. In the close-up, the bat's tragus would almost certainly be visible in the ear given the angle, but they are forgiven for that bit. And the back of the bar gives the common name and scientific name and possibly the shortest ecology section ever for an animal. And one kinda cool thing. The bar is a "proof" and the flat areas are very mirror-like. So if you hold it with something dark in the background the flat area reflects that and it turns to night!
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