Symbolism on Coins

brogine

Some of my coins - from widely scattered places - have on the reverse two kinds of leaves. Some I take to be laurel and oak, which I assume represent honor or glory and strength (roughly analogous to our olive branch and arrows). Others have two different unlobed leaves. Any ideas about what they might represent?

spoon

There are tons of coins with wreaths on them. But I can't think of very many specifics right now... which ones are you thinking of? from which countries?

oldshep

Many coins also use the Olive Branch and leaves to represent peace.
Shep

bidask

No mistake what this one symbolizes.

brogine

Leapt before I looked. (How unusual!) I mean I shouldn't have even brought this up when I can't post pictures.

You probably all see any number of variations of rookie fever.

I was thinking a single kind of plant might be just ornamental, but two different ones might mean there's an interesting symbolism. Anyhoo ... right now I'm looking at a 1917 Peru 1 libra and a 1932 Tunisia 20 franc. They have nearly identical pairs of strings of leaves, one kind long and narrow, the other shorter and wider.

The Tunisia - I was excited that, with the help of Wikipedia, I could read the date in Arabic (1351) and correlate it with 1932.

Sapyx

<< <i>Some of my coins - from widely scattered places - have on the reverse two kinds of leaves. Some I take to be laurel and oak, which I assume represent honor or glory and strength (roughly analogous to our olive branch and arrows). Others have two different unlobed leaves. Any ideas about what they might represent? >>


Some of the plants used in wreaths have deep, ancient symbolism behind them. A laurel wreath, for example, was used by the ancient Greeks and Romans as a symbol for victory, either athletic or military. The olive branch, as part of a wreath or by itself, is symbolic of peace. The oak was a sacred symbol of Zeus/Jupiter and has long been a symbol of strength.

More normally, "national" wreaths use plants native to the country as a simple geographic symbol. For example, old Canadian coins show a wreath of maple, Indian coins featured a wreath of Lotus blossoms and New Zealand coins feature a wreath of silver fern.

As to your specific examples: the Tunisian coin's picture is a bit blurry in Krause, but it's probably laurel or olive.

The Peruvian coat of arms is supported by a wreath of laurel and oak.