Theme : Volkswagen Beetle - 19

With theme collections, collectors tend not to limit their collection to one specific item.
Most of the time, anything that is "related" to the theme is accepted.

With my theme collection on Volkswagen Beetle, I do lots of miniature cars, books regarding the theme, posters... even magnets as I posted in previous articles.
But as this blog is mainly about stamps, coins and banknotes, I should limit my 'related' items to a strict mininmum.
However, today's post is an acceptable collectible.

I was on an auction, and bought a stamp album for a very low price.
I had looked into the album but I didn't see all items that were in it.
After buying it, I had a closer look to what I just purchased.

A postcard (with address, but never sent - or at least not cancelled) with a picture of the 'economic miracle"'.
The term 'Wirtschaftswunder' (economic miracle) is often given to both Volkswagen and former Chancellor of West-Gemany, Ludwig Erhard.
Erhard rejected the Nazi regime and worked on an economic reconstruction plan before the war was over yet.
He became Minister of Economics under Konrad Adenauer, and under his influence, the new German Mark was introduced, a brave decision that made the newly introduced neoliberal based German economic flourish again (for the record : the correct term is ordoliberalism).
In this perspective, he was given the title 'father of the German economic miracle.

Ludwig Erhard

Ludwig Erhard on stamp 1987 Germany

Detail from the card : Erhard, Volkswagen 1948, new german coins (1948)

Oh... there's a Volkswagen dealer in Neufahrn (north of Munich (Germany)),
in the Ludwig Erhard street n° 15. (Autohaus Neufahrn)

to be continued...

Odd Banknotes - 06 Thailand

Back to my beloved country, and the amazing banknotes that have been released so far.

On September 9, 2002, the Bank of Thailand celebrated it's centennial.
A good, (but for Thai not a mandatory) reason to celebrate.
Since it's the anniversary of the Bank of Thailand (BOT), the best way to celebrate is with a special banknote.

100 years earlier, the first Thai banknotes were released unders the auspices of King Rama V.
He turns up on many commemorative issues (stamps, coins and banknotes) as he was ruling 100 years ago of course.

The banknote is a copy of the first banknote:

100 tickal note 1919 (original - not in my collection)

commemorative note front side

1. face value of the original note : 100 Ticals (= 100 Baht)
In English : one hundred Ticals ; in Thai : roi Baht (100 Baht)
Thailand's 1st series of banknotes were issued in 1902. These notes, by Thomas de la Rue, were printed only on one side and are known as the Uniface series. There were 7 denominations in all - 1, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100 and 1000 Ticals.
At that time : 1 Tical = 4 Salung = 16 Sik = 32 Sio = 64 Atts = 128 Solot
In 1909, 1 Baht (Tical) became 100 satang.

2. there is Siamese wrinting on the note (middle) as well as Chinese (left) and Jawi (right)

3. signature 1 (on the copy of the original note)

signature 1 (TH) - as on the original note

The back of the original banknote (1902) was left unprinted.
On the commemorative note, we find the images of their Majesties King Phumibol Adulyadej and King Chulalongkorn (King Rama V) in their regal attire, as the Thai banknotes was issued for the first time during the reign of King Rama V.

back side of the commemorative note

Catalogue (Krause) mention 2 types of signatures on this note :

signature 74 (TH)

signature 75 (TH)

However, according to my information, this is an error and there is no such banknote with signature 75.
9,999,999 copies were made from this commemorative banknote.
The note is presented in a folder with the royal intitials and the information in the folder is only in Thai language.

folder containing a 100 baht commemorative note

back side of the folder - the king talking to his people

and there's more ...

Commemorative coins of Turkey : 03

I reported previously about Turkish commemorative coins depicting endangered animal.
Today's post is about 2 new coins (dated 2011 - issued 2012).

The first coin bares the image of a bear.
The 'Boz Ayı' is better known as the Brown bear (Grizzly Bear) or Ursus Arctos.
Altough the coins are about endangered or (nearly) extinct animals, the Brown bear is quite common.
He can be found from teh northwestern part of Canada, over Alaska, to the north part of Russia and Finland. But also in the Balcan area, and parts of Turkey.

1 Lira coin 2011 - issued 2012 - brown bear

Face Value: 1 Türkish Lira
Metal: CuprıNickel

Diameter: 26,15 mm

Weight: 8,3 gr

Bimetallic with plain edge

Max. Issue: 11.000 in Turkey, 4.000 to export

Design: Nalan Yerlibucak

Released : 02.01.2012

For the second coin, I have a little question:

Does the name "Aslan" rings a bell?
For those who haven't seen 'Narnia' (Narnia, the lion, the witch and the wardrobe), "Aslan" is the son of the Emperor-beyond-the-Sea, and comes from the land or world – its exact nature is unknown – known as Aslan's Country.

Aslan is also a (Turkish) name (derived from Arsaelan, and means 'lion').

You will have discovered now that the second coin in this 2011 set (date on the coin) is about the Asiatic Lion (Panthera leo persica) aka Persian -, Indian - or Eurasian Lion. (Other types of Asiatic Lions are the Arabian Lions and the Bengali Lions).
The "asya aslanı" once lived from the Mediterranean to the northeastern parts of the Indian subcontinent. Now it's a highly endangered animal, with about 500 species left in India.

1 Lira coin 2011 - issued 2012 - asiatic lion

Face Value: 1 Türkish Lira

Metal: CuprıNickel

Diameter: 26,15 mm

Weight: 8,3 gr

Bimetallic with plain edge

Max. Issue: 11.000 in Turkey, 4.000 to export

Design: Nalan Yerlibucak

Released : 02.01.2012

Odd stamps : 08 Stamps with special cuts - 01 h

Ever played Lotto?
I didn't start my article asking if you ever WON Lotto, as the change on a positive reply might be more limited.  And chances, that is all about the lottery game.

People have played lottery games for ages.
And we can rufly identify three types of lottery games:

First type is a ticket with a unique number, your ticket has one number, that no one else has.
The winning number can be drawn in advance (your ticket number has to be scratched for example);
or the winning number is drawn after all, or most tickets are sold.
The odds depends on the numbers in play, and the numbers drawn.
If only one number is drawn and there are 1,000,000 tickets, your chance will be one in a million.

Such a type of lottery was already known in the 16th century !
A famous example of this lottery was introduced by Queen Elisabeth I, in 1566.
The tickets were sold over a period of 3 years and on the lottery tickets, the prizes were depicted.
Each participant won a prize, and among the prizes were silver plates, and other valuable commodities. The total amount raized was returned to the winners.
In fact, it was a type of loan the gouvernment needed to raize money for social works.
Rare, because in that era, most 'lotteries' were to raize funds for wars, or other personal interests of the rulers.

Queen Elisabeth I lottery ticket (16th century

Lottery ticket with a fixed number (19th century)

A second type of lottery is with multiple numbers.
Some with numbers that are drawn in advance, or with fixed numbers on your ticket.
Compare to the old Bingo game, where you play with fixed cards with several numbers.
Similar is the Keno game, that was known in ancient China.
It is said that the construction of the Great Wall was partly financed with money raized by Keno players.
In Keno, 20 numbers are drawn out of 80. The chance of winning the Jackpot (all 20 numbers) is aproximatly 1 in 3,535,316,142,212,173,800.000 !

Online (gamble) version of Keno

Finally, the last type, is where you choose your a set of numbers out of a total of possible numbers, hoping those numbers will be drawn at the end of the week.

I can write a lot about the odds, about the types of games, but as i'm not a "lotologist", you'd better find out those things is specialised websites.
Still I want to come to the reason I wrote this article : a special stamp edition of the Austrian post, displaying a lottery ball, on a round stamp! (how original)

25 years of Austrian Lotto (2011)

Attached to the sheet with the stamp, a voucher to get a free lottery chance.

Odd Banknotes - 05 Thailand

Another 'odd' banknote, and guess, from Thailand indeed.

This time, it's not the king who's central in the picture, but the queen!

Portrait of H.R.H. Queen Sirikit

At the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the Queen, the Thai banknote company issued a special and unique banknote of 80 baht. However it was sold for a higher price, as a part of the money was given to the foundation that supports the well being of the Thai people, as well as for the conservation and restoration of Thai arts and culture.

front side of the commemorative banknote of 80 baht

The front side of the banknote, shows the royal couple, the royal garuda at the left upper corner, and at the bottom we see a serial number.
As I told you in my previous post, the serial number starts with a "9", referring to the nineth king of the Chakri dynasty (King Rama IX).
This time the letter, following the nine, is not a K (King) but a Q (Queen).

serial number 9 Q

Very special is a print design in blue metallic ink.
Right of the Queen, the flower that is shown all over the banknote, is printed in a way that can not be seen when looking frontal to the note.
Only when the banknote is tilted, the design becomes visible (but hard to show on a scan).

hidden print of a flower

If you look closely, you can see :
1 : leaf of the flower
2 : branch of the flower
3 : flower upside down

The back side of the banknotes showes images of the life of the Queen and her family.
We also can see a security thread on the surface of the paper, at regular intervals. This security thread is in blue and shows numerous "80's"

back side of the commemorative bankonte

details and security marks

4 : security thread with "80" (dark blue images)
5 : watermark with queen's initials

The queen's initials are a watermark in 2 colours (dark and light) and swap colours when the banknotes is lightened from the back side.

two letters of the queen's initials
seen backwards

Queen's initials

more odd notes to follow ...

Odd Banknotes - 04 Thailand

Whenever I come to the topic of 'odd bankotes', Thailand is not far away.

His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej accessed the throne in 1946.
This makes him the longest reigning monarch in the world.

For those who follow my articles on zodiac signs, we all know that there are 12 signs in western zodiac and in chinese zodiac.
After 12 years, one 'cycle' is completed, and you're back in the sign you were born under.

The banknote I'm presenting today, celebrates the 7th Cycle Birthday Anniversary.
In English this means : 7 x 12 = 84th birthday.

front side of the cover with the 100 baht note

The size and the value of the 100 baht note are not special, but it's a limited emission and a superb printed bankote.

The banknote is presented in a cover with a plastic holder. The see-through window allows us to see both front and back side, without having to touch the note.
On the front, we find the portrait of H.R.M. King IX, and next to him, a silver foil circle, baring the King's initials.

front side of the note - detail

We see the King's portrait in a yellowish glow.
When the banknote is lifted the yellowish glow becomes a gold print.
Mark also the special serial number : "9" ; this refers to the king, who's the nineth king (Rama IX) of the Chakri dynasty.

the "9" in the serial number refers to king Rama IX

At the back of the note we see scenes from the life and works of the king: King Rama IX with camera, holding papers, during his visit to Mae Roem Reservoir Project; Rama IX kneeling with a group of Thai people; royal Garuda emblem; Rama IX playing the saxophone; Rama IX planting an experimental plot of vetiver grass; four aircraft employing Super Sandwich cloud-seeding technique; Kwai Noi Bamrung Daen Dam in Phitsanulok Province and Chaipattana Low Speed Surface Aerator.

back side of the banknote

The banknote bares no date, but was introduced on 2 December 2011. Shortly before the birthday of the king (5 December)


Another link to the '9' of king Rama IX, is the fact that 9,999,999 banknotes were printed.
With the help of my friend in Thailand, who sent me the banknote, I can present one of those notes to you today.

To becontinued...