I wonder which of the rulers (presidents, dictators, etc.) were depicted on the coins of their countries during their lifetime. Of those I could remember: Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in Turkey, Mariano Melgarejo in Bolivia, Francisco Franco in Spain, Rafael Trujillo in the Dominican Republic, Alfredo Stroessner in Paraguay. Who else?
Simón Bolivar was depicted on the coins of Bolivia, but he ruled there before it was called Bolivia (he was the dictator of Peru, and Bolivia was its part, and then a newly created state of Alto Peru).
Practically all monarchies in europe had their kings/queens and similair statesheads on their coinage during their lifetime. Some still does to this day, Sweden still has their king on the 10 sek coins, netherlands used to have and i think still do have their ruler on their euro, same for monaco i wanna remember etc.
Turkmenistan with their president Saparmurat Niyazov in 1993
Saparmurat Niyazov was a real fruitcake who loved himelf too much.
Aidan.
I do not know him personally, the question was about rulers on coins…..
Niyazov died in 2006 - & even today, Turkmenistan is still run as an oppressive state.
He loved himself too much - which is why he had his ugly mug stuck all over the Turkmen Manat banknotes & coins.
Aidan.
I know what you are saying about this man seems to be true, but it has nothing to do with the question about coins with rulers-portraits on it…. Let us try not to end in another useless political dispute here.
Practically all monarchies in europe had their kings/queens and similair statesheads on their coinage during their lifetime. Some still does to this day, Sweden still has their king on the 10 sek coins, netherlands used to have and i think still do have their ruler on their euro, same for monaco i wanna remember etc.
Poster's question was about non-monarchs, (other types of heads of state).
I would like to add Francisco Macías Nguema and Teodoro Obiang Nguema of Equatorial Guinea to this list . They had their portraits on Circulating coins while they were alive .
Edit - Calvin Coolidge , 30th president of the USA ,is the only president to have a coin bearing his likeness issued during his lifetime -
The coin in question is the Sesquicentennial ( 150th anniversary )of American Independence Half Dollar, issued in 1926 .
And you forget about us colleagues - we in the heart of Europe also had a president who liked to pose in front of cameras and even on a horse like a monarch even though he fought against it and received the death penalty from the authorities for breaking the monarchy of Austria-Hungary.
And for those colleagues who have not yet learned how such a silver ten-crown was produced, there is a short period film with the Kremnica mint, which has been producing coins continuously for 700 years (there is no disruption of good business, only prosperity)
Not only popular with collectors, but also people's loving coins made of honest silver and during the first republic - the seventh most developed country in the world (yes, and today - the biggest energy prices and everything goes to shit)
On Brazil, president Epitácio Pessoa appeared in 1922, together with emperor Pedro I of Brazil, on the commemorative coins for the 100 years of independence (KM #521-523):
Mimicking those issues, in 1972, president (dictator) Emílio Médici appeared, again together with Pedro I, on the commemorative coins for the 150 years of independence (KM# 582-584):
It was conjectured that president Jair Bolsonaro could appear on the coins for the 200 years of independence in 2022. It didn't happen, perhaps to avoid issues with election laws (general elections were to be held less than one month after). It's also debatable if such kind of self-promotion was admissible by the current Constitution.
It's just not a circulation coin, but a commemorative one coin, on this commemorative coin we had in these communist times. Our president at the time of ,,Stalin,,- Klement Gottwald- Dude, he was a superstar and a mannequin -he let himself be photographed and sculptures and climbed everywhere, even in the pantry in the kitchen.
Just my memory of the 1970s - my dad got the same as all the other workers in the monthly salary bag, in the paper pay envelope was a 100 CZK silver coin - non-circulating annual. Employees sometimes received these silver coins for the same value as commemorative coins-for the value that was minted on the coin, usually 100 CZK or also 200 CZK and even 50 CZK (I don't remember 50)
Only the shops did not take these commemorative coins, so the poor ( And they were all poor) employees still had to go to the national bank and exchange for the value of the coin.
In South Africa, presidents Nelson Mandela and Frederik Willem de Klerk appeared on bullion coins on series honoring the South African Nobel laureates.
In South Africa, presidents Nelson Mandela and Frederik Willem de Klerk appeared on bullion coins on series honoring the South African Nobel laureates.
In South Africa, presidents Nelson Mandela and Frederik Willem de Klerk appeared on bullion coins on series honoring the South African Nobel laureates.
I find it funny, how some people seem to think its completely okay for a ruler/monarch to appear on a coin, but a non royal leader not to.
Seems we have this cult of venerating so called “Royal families” but not commoners who made it to the top.
I am sure no one has mentioned this guy, who appeared on coins from 1939 to 1975 of Spain
Francisco Franco may have been king in all but name, but he was from a well off, but not noble family and ruled Spain like a fiefdom (Many Spanish today still despise his memory) and actually allowed Juan Carlos to “resume” the monarchy at his death.
Not forgetting Popes, who have appeared on Vatican/Papal States coins from the 16th century to 1870 and 1929 onwards. Popes
may be “Archbishops of Rome” and “Ordained by God”, but last time I looked they were not kings and queens of anywhere. Archbishops
in most kingdoms answer to the King or Queen.
Greek coins between 1968 and 1973 present a special problem. Constantine II was overthrown on April 21 1967, but tolerated until December 1967 when an attempted counter coup failed, yet for some unknown reason, not only did he appear on Greek coins up to
1973, but he was still referred to as a king (Basileos) - yet in 1971 when this coin came out (Which celebrates the coup of all things) he
was not even welcome to be in Greece (He came back for a visit in 2004 and died recently).
Finally in later 1973 this series was replaced by one showing Greek artefacts and culture and later from 1976 Greek personages appeared
on a new series of coins, none of these showed a Royal (Unless you count Pericles as royal, and he wasn't as he was elected by the demos (People).
I love coins. Especially silver, gold and anything really old.
Member of the Royal Numismatic Society of New Zealand and the Auckland Numismatic Society
The Popes of Rome are titled as both ‘Bishop of Rome’ & ‘Sovereign of the Vatican City State’.
Prior to 1870, the Popes of Rome were absolute rulers of the Papal States.
Since 1929, they have been Sovereigns of the Vatican City State.
Therefore, the Pope of Rome is classed as a monarch - as is the Episcopal Co-Prince of Andorra, who is also the Spanish Bishop of Urgell.
As for Franco, he was a fascist dictator who functioned as a Regent for life - unlike Miklos Horthy in Hungary, who ruled as Regent from 1920 until 1944, when Nazi Germany overthrew him.
I wonder if anyone is thinking is Aidan and Moneytane are the same person. I can assure they are not - but I have my shadow following me.
I love coins. Especially silver, gold and anything really old.
Member of the Royal Numismatic Society of New Zealand and the Auckland Numismatic Society
I find it funny, how some people seem to think its completely okay for a ruler/monarch to appear on a coin, but a non royal leader not to.
Seems we have this cult of venerating so called “Royal families” but not commoners who made it to the top.
Depicting monarchs on coins is a very old tradition. And already disappearing little by little. But some over-ambitious rulers try to present themselves not just as temporarily elected servants, but as "God's anointed". It is one thing to continue by inertia an old anachronistic tradition, and quite another thing to try to renew this tradition by giving modern rulers the "divine" status of monarchs of previous centuries.
I am sure no one has mentioned this guy, who appeared on coins from 1939 to 1975 of Spain
Francisco Franco may have been king in all but name, but he was from a well off, but not noble family and ruled Spain like a fiefdom (Many Spanish today still despise his memory) and actually allowed Juan Carlos to “resume” the monarchy at his death.
…
I almost puked a little reading this reduction of the Franco years to just a common guy success story, and a parenthetical dismissal of the living memory of what fascism did to Spain in those years.
Jamais l'or n'a perdu la plus petite occasion de se montrer stupide. -Balzac
I am sure no one has mentioned this guy, who appeared on coins from 1939 to 1975 of Spain
Francisco Franco may have been king in all but name, but he was from a well off, but not noble family and ruled Spain like a fiefdom (Many Spanish today still despise his memory) and actually allowed Juan Carlos to “resume” the monarchy at his death.
…
I almost puked a little reading this reduction of the Franco years to just a common guy success story, and a parenthetical dismissal of the living memory of what fascism did to Spain in those years.
I apologise if it sounds like I was defending Franco, because I was not. He was a horrible horrible man. Thousands of innocent people died during the civil war and his barmy rule of Spain.
I would never and have never supported fascism. I apologise if you think I was defending Franco, Hitler, Mussolini or any other clown like that for a second. I am against false monarchies and dictators.
I love coins. Especially silver, gold and anything really old.
Member of the Royal Numismatic Society of New Zealand and the Auckland Numismatic Society
Julius Nyerere & Ali Hassan Mwinyi both appeared on coins during & after their times as Presidents of Tanzania.
Aidan.
Don't forget Abdel Ahmed Karume, so called ruler of Zanzibar in the Tanganyikan occupation phase.
He is on the 200 Shilingi coin, but I have not a photo of it, but here is the Emperor Jones himself, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, whose Ujamaa Socialism experiment destroyed Tanzania.
This man was high chief and head of state, but not a king or ruler. Malieatoa Tanumafili of Samoa and his successor Tui Tupua Tamasese Efi
I love coins. Especially silver, gold and anything really old.
Member of the Royal Numismatic Society of New Zealand and the Auckland Numismatic Society
Ghana with their first president Kwame Nkruma on the 1958 issue, and Libya with Idris the first in 1952
Indris was the King of Lbya - but he was overthrown by Muammar Gaddafi in late 1969.
Kwame Nkrumah was Prime Minister of Ghana in 1958, but he does appear on the 1965 coinage as President though - & he was a dictator all the way through until he was overthrown in early 1966.
Another one is Josip Tiso a fascist leader of Slovenia or Slovakia (I get them confused), basically he supported the Nazis and he appeared on a big silver coin from 1944.
General Alfredo Stroessner appeared on multiple Paraguay coins - he was a dictateur for at least 40 years.
South African Presidents appeared on coins during the Apartheid era.
Ignore Half crown at right, but left two coins show Verwoerd and Swart.
I love coins. Especially silver, gold and anything really old.
Member of the Royal Numismatic Society of New Zealand and the Auckland Numismatic Society
And Kenya, both of their 2 earlies Presidents appeared on coins.
10 shillings of Kenya 1997, 2nd President Arap Moi (Overthrown 2003 and voted out)
Jomo Kenyanatta the first president, coins before 1971 had a portrait with no writing.
I love coins. Especially silver, gold and anything really old.
Member of the Royal Numismatic Society of New Zealand and the Auckland Numismatic Society
Nelson Mandela appeared on several coins from 2000 to 2008.
F.W. de Klerk appeared on at least 1 medal-coin honouring him as a Nobel Prize recipient. He was the only State President of South Africa not to be depicted on a circulating South African coin - & he was the very last State President as well as the last one living from 2007 until his death.
I’ve seen mentions of Napoléon I and Pétain, but Napoléon III, who before he declared himself emperor was President Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte of the Second Republic (1848-1852).
I agree he was of royal blood but as a president of a republic one can argue that he is not a monarch, and used his face on the coins until they bore his likeness on their imperial editions
I’ve seen mentions of Napoléon I and Pétain, but Napoléon III, who before he declared himself emperor was President Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte of the Second Republic (1848-1852).
I agree he was of royal blood but as a president of a republic one can argue that he is not a monarch, and used his face on the coins until they bore his likeness on their imperial editions
Emperor Napoleon III was Napoleon Bonaparte's nephew, not his son.
The Bonapartes were originally from Corsica, where the surname was originally spelt ‘Buonaparte’.
They were not of royal descent - as that belongs to the Bourbons, along with their junior cadet lines, such as the Bourbon-Orleans branch.
I’ve seen mentions of Napoléon I and Pétain, but Napoléon III, who before he declared himself emperor was President Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte of the Second Republic (1848-1852).
I agree he was of royal blood but as a president of a republic one can argue that he is not a monarch, and used his face on the coins until they bore his likeness on their imperial editions
Emperor Napoleon III was Napoleon Bonaparte's nephew, not his son.
The Bonapartes were originally from Corsica, where the surname was originally spelt ‘Buonaparte’.
They were not of royal descent - as that belongs to the Bourbons, along with their junior cadet lines, such as the Bourbon-Orleans branch.
Aidan.
I did not say that Napoléon III was the son of the first. I was just saying that as president he had his face on coins until his imperial tenure.
As Napoléon I crowned himself emperor, you could argue that his relatives became those of a self-made royal family, which I why I specified that Louis-Napoléon was a president of a republic before exploiting his familial links to the previous Empire
Not sure if Martin Coles Harman counts here, as self-proclaimed king and owner of Lundy: N#18004
Editing: the presidents of Equatorial Guinea (18th response, by Alrumon) were mentioned already, this thread is getting long.
Besides coins I love geometry. The avatar consists of each of the 35 hexominoes used precisely once. With the 5 large yellow shapes placed like this, the solution for tiling the remaining 30 hexominoes is unique.
Sir Dawda Jawara appeared on Gambian banknotes & coins from 1971 to 1994, when Yahya Jammeh overthrew his government.
Sir James Mancham was a ceremonial President of the Seychelles from 1976 until 1977, when France-Albert Rene overthrew him.
Aidan.
Jawara was everywhere, he was on the stamps and banknotes of that country too. This was common on most African banknotes. Mobutu, Kaunda, Banda, Bokassa, Sierra Leone Presidents Stevens and Momoh (Who looks like Notorious BIG) Nkrumah, Sekou Toure, Agostinho Neto in Angola and then Dos Santos there, Various members of the Cabral family in Cape Verde. Yes Independence meant that these “heroes” had to be posted everywhere.
One More - Jamaica 1969 Alexander Bustamante - not sure if he was still alive, but he and Michael Manley (And his father Norman) appeared on various coins whilst alive.
He was a popular Prime Minister and called “Buster” by the people. He was more right wing and the Manleys were left wing. Political violence reached a head in 1976 when Bob Marley was nearly killed in a peace concert he ran in Jamaica then. It was the subject of a Netflix documentary (Who shot the sheriff).
I love coins. Especially silver, gold and anything really old.
Member of the Royal Numismatic Society of New Zealand and the Auckland Numismatic Society
Alexander Bustamante is an interesting case here, as he retired from politics in 1967, the first coin with his image is from 1969 and he died in 1977. The original question was: non-royal rulers on coins of their countries before they died, so it is a definite yes!
Another interesting case: Sukarno is shown on 1962 coins meant for circulation in parts of Indonesia while still alive (Irian Jaya and Riau Archepelago), but only on some non-circulating Indonesian coins after he died (in 1970). It is up to ciscoins to decide wether Sukarno belongs in this thread or not.
Besides coins I love geometry. The avatar consists of each of the 35 hexominoes used precisely once. With the 5 large yellow shapes placed like this, the solution for tiling the remaining 30 hexominoes is unique.
I would like to add Francisco Macías Nguema and Teodoro Obiang Nguema of Equatorial Guinea to this list . They had their portraits on Circulating coins while they were alive .
Edit - Calvin Coolidge , 30th president of the USA ,is the only president to have a coin bearing his likeness issued during his lifetime -
The coin in question is the Sesquicentennial ( 150th anniversary )of American Independence Half Dollar, issued in 1926 .
Senator of Arkansas Joseph T. Robinson, while not a head of state, somehow managed to get his face on the Arkansas-Robinson Centennial Half Dollar
Just details: Fidel Castro always appeared “sharing” other commemorated events, as I can remember, never only as ruler. Raul Castro appeared in coins before he reached Presidency.
Also I heard he asked not to be commemorated on coins or notes after his death.
Just 10 options: you understand binary, or you don't.
Catalog Referee Coins, Banknotes & Exonumia: Uruguay, Cuba, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Paraguay, Costa Rica, Venezuela, Panama, Ecuador, Zamunda, Parva Domus and more.
