Portuguese Colonial Coins [επιλυμένο]

Good Afternoon All,

Happy New Year!

Stupid question, What side is the Face of the Portuguese Angolan 2$50 Escudos, everywhere is different, is it the side with the amount or the year?

Thanks

Are you talking about this coin?

N#2933

And are you talking about the Obverse? Face? Or are you asking something else?

Hi King,

Yes, i'm talking about this coin

I'm talking about the Reverse (The Face)

Which side is classed as the Reverse, The Side with the Angolan Coat of arms or the side with The Portuguese coat of arms

According to the Numista guideline, if there is a local authority on one side (Angola) and a colonial power on the other (Portugal), the local authority side is the obverse.

Hi SGreg,

Thank you for clarifying that for me

I would have definitely said; Angola side as the obverse - the obverse being the side of most importance, ruler, country, amount, etc - although the last often is irrelevant now. It seems Numistas own guidelines back this up with countries and colonial powers. However, each and every country decides themselves which side is the obverse and reverse, above are just the historical norms, and there isn’t a rule to follow when designing and minting coins.

Portugese catalogues of the 70s and 80s will probably have the correct Obverse and Reverse noted, assuming they have done the correct research from the Mint or Bank that released the coins. To find the only true answer, you need to find the original documentation on the coins from the Bank or Mint, as obviously from your question, someone somewhere has recorded them the other way around.

What the Bank or Mint designates as the obverse/reverse doesn't matter. At least that's what I've been told.

It's an interesting matter, I think for me being British, I'm used to see the Amount as the Face of the Coin and QEII/KCIII as the back, so atm now i'm cataloging my British west africa coins, I see the Name of the Monarch or “Legend” with the Amount as the Front of the Coin and the Star with the country and date as the Back, but on numista, it's the other way round.

Amateur_Collector1992

It's an interesting matter, I think for me being British, I'm used to see the Amount as the Face of the Coin and QEII/KCIII as the back, so atm now i'm cataloging my British west africa coins, I see the Name of the Monarch or “Legend” with the Amount as the Front of the Coin and the Star with the country and date as the Back, but on numista, it's the other way round.

The UK and its commonwealth countries (those that place the monarch on the coins) are the easiest to know.

Monarch = Obverse 

The correct terms are obverse & reverse. The obverse is from the observable side (historically) as a legitimacy of the coin, the Reverse is the back of the obverse.

You seem to be using Face as Reverse and Back as Obverse, which is completely the wrong way around and = lots of confusion.