Pay with The Force? Tiny Island Nation Mints 'Star Wars' Currency

By: Matt Peckham
From: http://newsfeed.time.com/

New Zealand Mint

Four words you'd never expect to hear: "Use the coin, Luke."

And you thought you were Star Wars die-hard. Apparently not as die-hard as the Pacific nation of Niue, a roughly 100-square-mile island located 1,500 miles northeast of New Zealand, sometimes called the "Rock of Polynesia," or just "The Rock" for short. These folks just opted to print coins adorned with color images of Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Darth Vader and other Star Wars fan favorites. We're not kidding: actual, usable, carry-in-your-coin-purse change.

The catch: the coins will be worth too much to justify spending. That, and you'll have to be one of Niue's 2,000 residents to actually use them, probably making this the world's most exclusive sci-fi-themed currency.

But still, honest-to-goodness, financially legitimate Star Wars coins? Who'd-'a-thunk.

Niue—whose name means "behold the coconut"—uses New Zealand's currency, the "Kiwi dollar," and the Star Wars coins are valued at NZ$2 each (or directly converted, about US$1.66). But their actual value, according to AAP New Zealand (via The Sydney Morning Herald), is upwards of AUD$100 (Australian dollars). The coins are apparently made of silver that's worth AUD$40 alone—the set includes eight one-ounce solid silver coins and 10 silver-plated base metal ones, and retails for about AUD$450, or about US$465 if you're looking to collect a set to ship stateside.

"You wouldn't want to go and spend them because they're only worth $2 [officially] but the value is much more than that," said New Zealand Mint Vice President of USA Operations Chris Kirkness (speaking to Fairfax New Zealand), quipping "No one is going to go buy an ice cream with them."

If you want a set, you'll have to be quick: They're only printing 50,000 of each coin, with some offered in special collectors' boxes (limited to 7,500). There's one modeled after Darth Vader (opening it triggers Vader's trademark mask-breathing sound) and another after the Millennium Falcon (opening it triggers a launch-engine sound).

Will the force be with your checkbook? You'll have to find out November 1st, when they're due to go on sale.

London 2012: Olympic medals timeline

From: http://www.bbc.co.uk/

Medals have been presented to event winners and runners-up since the first modern Olympic Games in 1896. For each host city, different medals are minted and the designs and sizes have changed through time. Explore them by clicking on the medals below.

• Summer Games
• Winter Games

1896

1900

1904

1908

1912

1920

1924

1928

1932

1936

1948

1952

1956

1960

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2012

Pound coin to scale

 

London 2012

Thickness: 7mmDiameter: 85mmWeight: 400gQuantity: --Designer: David Watkins

The biggest Summer Olympics medals to date. Artist David Watkins says the key symbols on front and back juxtapose the goddess Nike, for the spirit and tradition of the Games, and the River Thames, for the city of London. On the back of the medals is the 2012 branding, representing the modern city as a jewel-like, geological growth. The logo is shown against a 'pick-up-sticks' grid which radiates the energy of athletes and a sense of pulling together. The River Thames runs through the middle as a celebratory ribbon. The bowl-like background recalls ancient amphitheatres, with a square balancing the circle to give a sense of place. The sport and discipline is engraved on the rim of each medal, all of which will be produced by the Royal Mint at Llantrisant, South Wales.

Rare 2,200-year-old gold coin found in Israel

By Les Neuhaus, CNN

From: http://edition.cnn.com/2010/

The obverse, or 'head' of the coin, portrays Queen Arsinoe II Philadelphus.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• The coin dates back to 191 BCE
• It is only the second gold Ptolemaic coin found in Israel

RELATED TOPICS

• Egypt
• Archaeology

(CNN) -- A rare gold coin dating back 2,200 years was discovered by a combined university research team in Israel, a top Israeli antiquities official said Thursday.

Dr. Donald T. Ariel, head of the Coin Department of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), said the coin ranked in the top five of the rarest finds in that country's history.

"Intrinsically, for coin research, it's a very exciting find," Ariel told CNN. "This is an amazing numismatic find. The coin is beautiful and in excellent preservation. It is the heaviest gold coin with the highest contemporary value of any coin ever found in an excavation in Israel."

Ariel said the coin weighs almost one ounce (27.71 grams), while most ancient gold coins weighed about 4.5 grams. It was minted in Alexandria, Egypt, by Ptolemy V and dates to 191 BCE. It is only the second gold Ptolemaic coin ever found in Israel.

The obverse, or 'head' of the coin, portrays Queen Arsinoe II Philadelphus.

The reverse, or 'tail,' illustrates two "overlapping cornucopias decorated with fillets," according to the IAA.

In the parlance of antiquities experts, the coin's denomination is referred to as a "mnaieion," meaning a one-mina coin, and is equivalent to 100 silver drachms, or a mina of silver.

The meaning of the word Philadelphus is "brotherly love" and in this context relates to the fact that Queen Arsinoe II Philadelphus was married to her brother, Ptolemy II, who was her second husband. She was first married at age 15 to Lysimachus, king of Thrace, who was one of Alexander the Great's generals.

Ariel said it was not uncommon in that period of history for siblings to intermarry.

The coin was found by U.S. researchers working for the University of Michigan and the University of Minnesota on June 26. It was embedded in a stone wall "separating the northwest storeroom of the Hellenistic administrative building from a room currently identified as a kitchen," according to Ariel.

Ariel speculated it was possible the coin had been secretly hidden and the owner, or the person who possessed the coin at the time, may not have been able to retrieve it for unknown reasons.

This crazy world - the biggest gold coin of the world

by Asya

The biggest coin in the world “Canadian Maple Leaf”, made of gold with incredible purity of 99.999% can now be seen in Vienna‘ museum devoted to history of art. It is granted to the museum for an indefinite period of time by the firm Auer von welsbach. The precious gold piece of art has the face of Queen Elizabeth II on one side and on the other a maple leaf can be found. It’s weight is 100 kg, thickness is 3 cm, and the diameter - approximately have a meter. The coin will be preserved in a special display protected against thievery and breakage, because the current price for the coin is stated to be 2 mil € and it is insured for 3 mil €. The unique coin is created by the Canadian Monetary Agency for it’s hundredth anniversary.

Today five such coins can be found. At first eleven should have been created but later the count went down to six. Unfortunately one of the original six was written off because it was two grams lighter. In the neighboring display the world smallest gold antique coin can be found. Its weight is just about 0.24 gr. It was most probably issued during 2nd century B.C in a downworth Austrian Celtic Village. It would fit its “greater” sisters volume exactly 400 000 times.