KINGDOM OF WALLACHIA: According to their Web-site (http://valasske-kralovstvi.cz/), “You will find the Wallachian Kingdom in the old good Europe, in the Czech Republic, in the region of east Moravia.” In order to appeal to prospective tourists, “We named year 2003 the ‘Year of true Wallachian hospitality’. The main reason is that we want to entice for a visit as many of you as possible, and we also want to boast to you. We certainly have something to boast about! You can admire unique museums, historic castles and chateau, beautiful nature and primarily the famous folklore, hospitality, cakes called ‘frgále’ and plum brandy. For this purpose we prepared for you series of thematic routes, which will lead you to the most remarkable sights our kingdom can offer and which also will hide everything you should not see.”
GRAND DUCHY OF WESTARCTICA: In August of 2001, “an enterprising young man” named Travis McHenry discovered that a large wedge-shaped portion of Antarctica — Marie Byrd Land, in West Antarctica — was the only unclaimed sector of the frigid continent. Upon further research, “he realizes that the Antarctic Treaty only prevents governments from issuing new claims to Antarctic lands, but does not prevent individuals acting on their own accord from doing such. He resolves to claim the area for himself, his family and his friends.” His “first and most immediate concern became the future of this untamed area. I decided to prevent any greedy corporation from polluting the territory by claiming it as my own.” At first, Consul-General McHenry calls his unheld chunk of western Antarctica (including all its seas and ice shelves) the “New Land Claim”, but later changes the name to the Achaean Territory (in honor of the heroes in The Iliad). It should be noted that Travis spent the month of October 2001 “corresponding with scientists in Antarctica to brainstorm possibilities for building an infrastructure and attempting to find out more about living and working on the continent.” On October 31, “Consul-General Travis signs the claimant letter declaring his intention to establish the Achaean Territory of Antarctica in Western Antarctica.” On November 2, “The claimant letter is sent to the polar administration offices of Russia, France, Norway, Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, Chile, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Actual date of the foundation of the Achaean Territory.” Not one of those nine world governments challenged Travis in his endeavors, so he presumed his claim was valid. On June 5, 2004, “His Eminence has a ‘religious experience’ with Cathryn, the future Marquise of Walgreen [she would become his wife — as well as the Grand Duchess — in November of that year] and changes his views on Christianity.” The following day, Travis becomes a Christian. On June 10, the Consul-General dissolves the Chancellery and proclaims the establishment of an interim/provisional government — a sovereign Grand Duchy named Westarctica. Travis McHenry assumes the position of Grand Duke. On June 13th, His Serene Majesty “has an epiphany…and pledges to make the new Grand Duchy a Christian nation.” Westarctica’s constitution, the Grand Ducal Mandate, is passed into law and decreed on June 30. In March of 2005, “COLORS Magazine, an international publication, reports that Westarctica's claim to Antarctic land is as valid as any nation in the Antarctic Treaty.”
PRINCIPALITY OF WIKINGLAND: This micro-nation was founded by Reinhold Wendling, a native of West Germany, on June 7, 1977. In Stockholm, he boldly proclaimed himself a prince and took the name Reinhold I. His ultimate aim was to create a modern state in the Baltic Sea. The first step would've been the anchorage of a large vessel in international waters, where different kinds of activities could be pursued. “We are seeking members”, announces an untitled 16-page booklet published in the mid 1980s by the Wikingland Foundation, “pioneers, people with a progressive spirit, purposeful youth tired of the system”. It goes on to solicit associates for a fee of 150 Swedish Kronor per year, followed by a list detailing the advantages of paid membership: a 10% discount on Wikingland products, like stamps and coins; preference for being chosen to establish commerce both aboard the ship and on the island; members will be favored for winning Wikingland citizenship; the privilege to purchase stocks in Wikingland Staatsfinanz Ltd., which was registered in the U.S.A. and which was to serve as their future bank; preferential consideration for being able to own some of the soil which was to be distributed in the new state; the receipt of a promissory note, which could later be used as a means of payment in Wikingland, worth 50 Wiking Mark (value equal to the Deutsche Mark). The Principality, as Reinhold envisioned it, would serve as a haven from oppressive taxation; free from the rule of tax collectors, it would be a financial centrum not only for Nordic people, but for overtaxed citizens from other countries as well. The incomes of its productive denizens would not be taxed, they would pay “only a symbolic tax on personal fortune.” Wikingland would derive necessary revenues from several sources: corporate/ship registration, money deposited in its banks (“total secrecy”), tourism (duty-free shopping), entertainment (casino), the selling of honorific titles (baron, knight, lord, minister, attaché, ambassador, consul), medals of merit, citizenship (which costs 850 SEK, including title and passport), and philatelic/numismatic items. Perhaps even a select few would be admitted into one of Reinhold's distinguished Orders (his Private Order or the Order of Faithfulness). Flanking a photograph of Prince Reinhold is the phrase “Do not deceive in this time, join behind Reinhold I for a brighter future” to its left and the motto “Justice, Freedom, Future” to its right.
XENOSTROV: This special coin-issuing entity was conceived by a colleague named Mr. Thomas E. Havelka, who also happens to be a fellow member of the Unrecognised States Numismatic Society (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/UnrecognisedStatesNumismaticSociety/ and http://www.usns.info/). As a long-time coin collector, he eventually noticed — like many of us have — “that, alphabetically, there are no countries, real nor imagined, that begin with the letter ‘X’ that have issued any coins…To fill this alphabetical void, numismatically speaking, I have created the fantasy realm of Xenostrov. To honor this event,” he has minted a Xenostrovian coin (antique bronze-finish) valued at 100 Tomaš and dated 2008. “Xenostrov is my fantasy world located in Bohemia in the Czech Republic, the homeland of my ancestors. The country name s derived from ‘xeno’, of Greek origin, meaning strange or foreign, and from ‘ostrov’ which in the Czech language means island. The design on the obverse of the coin is meant to represent an ‘H’ for Havelka and an ‘X’ for Xenostrov. The denomination of 100 tomaš is based on a Czech variation of my first name, Thomas. The legend on the coin is ‘Havelka D.G. Dux Fan. St. Xen.’ meaning ‘Havelka, by the Grace of God, Duke of the fantasy state of Xenostrov’. The owl on the coin (in honor of my extensive collection of owl coins, tokens, and medals) is a Eurasian Eagle Owl (Bubo bubo), found in Bohemia.” I received one of these intriguing coins directly from Mr. Havelka in October of 2007. Based on my personal communications with Mr. Havelka, the idea to produce “an ‘X’ country coin…was planted in my mind 2-3 years ago at a coin show. I had done an exhibit and was talking with some other exhibitors and a friend of mine who has helped me so much with my collection of ‘real’ coins, Harry Tileston. They had all mentioned that an interesting exhibit would be to have a coin from every country in the alphabet, but that it wasn't possible, because there were no ‘X’ countries. That got me started in doing some research to see if that was really true.” Mr. Havelka, who was by now concentrating on collecting foreign coins, tried every source he could think of: books, catalogs, and Internet sites/forums. “I made my decision, then, to try to come up with my own ‘country’. I spent a lot of time trying to decide on the country name, starting with Xanadu. I was afraid, though, that there might be copyright problems, as that name is used for companies, etc. Another friend of mine, David Daniell, is a retired college biology professor. I told him about my idea, and he gave me a list of prefixes beginning with ‘X’, along with the meanings.” The one that really stood out was xeno-. “The next step was to find the root word to add the prefix onto. That's when the idea of incorporating my family's Czech heritage came into play. After that, the legend on the coin and the denomination followed quickly.” The rest of the design took several months because “I really wanted to ‘get it right’.” Mission accomplished, in my opinion! Mr. Havelka enjoyed “all of the steps in working toward the final product…And I'm glad I didn't rush through the process, but took time to think everything through…I dated the coins 2008 because I felt it would take longer to decide on a company and to have the coins made.” In our numismatic hobby, the most poetic thing I can think of is for a designer to infuse his/her coin with as much personal symbolism as possible. It elevates what would’ve otherwise merely been a decorative, run-of-the-mill “fantasy” coin to a whole new meaning-filled, autobiographical level.
NATION OF YAN: This micro-nation is the idea of a man named Yan Pagh. In formal situations, he prefers to be addressed as Lord Pagh (as opposed to Mr. Pagh). “I am really old nobility in real life, although it is mostly unimportant nowadays thanks to liberalism however, not less than the truth, coat of arms, and all the shabang is real. My family commited the liberal mistake of ‘forgetting’ the titles, however with the emergence of old values in Europe it becomes imperative today.” Though Lord Pagh was born in Brazil, he currently resides in Copenhagen, Denmark. He is very disturbed by the troubling/ongoing socio-political situation — the suffering, the poverty, the corruption — in Brazil. Currently, “I am more Yanian than Brazilian or Danish, because at the moment I am really trying to truly create a nation.” According to its official Web-site (http://www.nationofyan.org/index.html), “The Free Nation of YAN (short for whY A Nation?) is based on a small group of people who simply desires to exercise the right to self-determination by way of autonomy.” Its motto is “If other people can, why not a nation of YAN?” Its goals are simple: “Success of our project revolves around attaining absolute sovereignty, peacefully of course, since International law today forbids the use of military expansion as means of achieving recognition.” One of the main reasons Lord Pagh created the Nation of YAN is freedom of speech. “Nothing should prevent any individual from having a well sustained argumentation, nothing nor nobody, because how can a society evolve and improve itself if what is defective is not allowed to be pointed out? Here you are free to speak. Truth is everything in our nation.” Lord Pagh hopes that the Independent Nation of YAN (as it is also known) continues to attract new citizens: “By joining you will be helping to shape our future by incrementing our culture. The Nation has people interested in many different areas, help us build our future by being who you truly are.” Governmentally, “Every community of the nation elects its own representatives who then form the National Council as advisors. The Council presently consists of the Council Leader and two Council Secretaries to administrate the nation.” The Nation of YAN has its own Constitution; the preamble states: “We the People of YAN, in Order to form a more perfect nation, establish Justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common sense, promote peace, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for YAN.” The Web-site also offers a “set of guidelines” pertaining to “Yanism”, the philosophy of Lord Pagh: “I created this page and called it by a similar of my own name in order to mock self importance, what I believe to be one of the major problems of today, when people are badly educated to be Rock stars without even having a fair chance to become so, believing they are always justified without even having a reason.”
KINGDOM OF ZAMUNDA: This is a 1988 5 Pounds coin, featuring Prince Akeem, sole heir to the throne of Zamunda, a fictitious monarchic country in Africa. The Continental Coin Corporation was commissioned by Paramount Pictures to produce this coin to help publicize the '88 film Coming to America. The May 17, 2004 issue of Coin World mentions that the piece in the movie was gold-plated. I obtained this promotional item on one of the occasions in which it surfaced on eBay.
In addition to my A-Z listings of micro-national and/or fantasy coins (the page you are currently viewing is the final segment of my alphabetized compilation), here is another Web-site that deals briefly with this numismatic category:
To Be Continued (I hope!)...
If I may inject a personal sentiment, a postscript of sorts, I truly am of the opinion that in terms of the types of coins we like to amass, our specialty being those from varied pseudo-états, honesty is the best policy (this is not to say that I don't enjoy a measure of pseudonymously feigned, overimaginative fictitiousness from time to time). It is admirable when the issuers of these collectibles are up-front and earnest about who they are and what motivates them. At least these inventive folks are stepping up to the plate and claiming responsibility. They are not eschewing authorship/ownership of these items by making themselves virtually impossible to be identified. They are not purposefully misleading or eluding us, remaining incognito, uncommunicative, and/or evasive for apparently no good reason. They are not reveling in the confusion they've precipitated, needlessly perpetuating all the bewilderment we collectors sometimes experience. They are not snickering mischievously at our frustrations, while we are ensnared by their wares and forced to play the part of super-sleuths, fruitlessly searching for needles in haystacks. Instead, they seem rightfully proud of the coins they've produced and they stand behind their creations, which they want to openly share with the world at large. They are leaving their personal mark in a positive and straightforward way. They're not out to confound us with a charade of made-up facts or a fable rife with fibs; they're not focused on “pulling a fast one”. They are contributing something worthwhile to our discipline. In our day and age, with all the richness of the Internet at our fingertips, I marvel at the ease with which information can be disseminated by any of our local/regional/national clubs/organizations, or posted on a simple, no-frills Web-site. Nevertheless, as collectors of “unusual” coins, we sometimes feel as though we are amateur scholars involved in a time-consuming quest for impeccable information (if not the fleshed-out body of truth, then at least the underlying skeletal structure of trueness) about the curious pieces we’ve encountered. And because worthwhile facts are so difficult to uncover, we often place a very high premium on this elusive type of numismatic knowledge. Unfortunately, our delight will probably continue to be tarnished by deceitful individuals who prefer to remain slinking in the shadows. And while it is their prerogative to remain faceless and/or nameless, they consequently give our hobby a “bad rap”. Hiding, their silence can be easily misinterpreted as trickery or equated with fraudulence. No wonder these coins we fervently adore, and which deserve renewed respectability, are sometimes viewed by our brightest professionals so negatively, with loads of skepticism and suspicion. They don't like to be made to appear foolish, and I can hardly blame them for not wanting to be duped. The numismatic community will take these coins seriously only when they feel absolutely confident that no one is playing games with them. I don't mind being tantalized by a slender aura of mysteriousness, but utter inscrutability is downright unnecessary. There have been times in which I've tried to contact an unresponsive coin-maker or two, yet finally admitted defeat and called it quits after several attempts, with no other option left but to honor their privacy. I mention all of this only because I find it tragically sad that we may never discover who hatched the United Maxxico America and 1933 Atlantis coins, or most of the Occussi-Ambeno coins. Furthermore, we know preciously little about who fathered the Barbe Island, Brechou, Cherokee Nation, Mundinero/Universaro, and some of the Wikingland coins. I can only imagine the inestimable amount of knowledge and expertise those individuals could impart to us, their captive audience. That is tremendously valuable stuff, and once it's lost to the world, it will be gone, irretrievably and forever. Regrettably, we will all be the losers. It's a shame, but it needn't be that way. The aim of this Web-space is to share tidbits of news and scraps of arcana; to provide an up-to-date, up-to-the-minute index to our empowered, well-informed clique. We all need a place where we can relish the fruits of our investigative legwork and research. I encourage all of you to clue me in on anything factual I've overlooked or mistakenly omitted. I can't pretend to have all the answers, but someone out there probably has at least one of the missing pieces to this ever-growing puzzle! After all, what's the big secret?
The Wallachian Web-site also has a link to a very entertaining “Guide” to the Wallachian Kingdom entitled How and why you should emigrate to the Wallachian Kingdom (http://valasske-kralovstvi.cz/media/files/pruvang.pdf), authored by Tomás Harabiš and Dagmar Gábová. According to this 93-page guidebook, “If you clamber up onto Mount Radhošť, you can see the entire Kingdom. Slovakia lies on the eastern border, Lašsko on the northern border, Haná on the western border and in the south the Wallach’s neighbours are the Moravian Slovaks and the Luhačovický forested region. Thanks to our positive foreign policy, we have managed to expand the territory of the Kingdom...We also have designs on several attractive territories in areas, which would appear not to actually belong to us — North America, Asia and the South Pacific.”
In the preface, Mr. Harabiš (The Wallachian Minister of Foreign Affairs) writes: “That’s got you thinking, hasn’t it? Europeans, Yanks, folks from down under, everybody, who we are about to introduce to the back of beyond. The Wallachian Kingdom? What’s that? Where is it? I can just see the confused looks on your faces, as you try to remember if by chance you’ve read something about it in the National Geographic or heard something on the BBC or even seen something on CNN. Maybe you have. None of the international television or radio stations could have been absent during the establishment of our kingdom. Today, we already have a pretty big chunk of history behind us…Right here, I would like to present to you a freshly established monarchy, similar in stature only to the Roman or Macedonian Empires, which is quietly growing and subtly expanding into the heart of Europe in the eastern part of the Czech Republic. The Kingdom is gaining large numbers of new supporters and citizens from throughout the world thanks to its open foreign policy, the traditional hospitality of the majority of its inhabitants, its rich culture and, last but not least, its liberal immigration program. And now you too have the chance to be part of it and to become a citizen of the Wallachian Kingdom. We have collected heaps of practical and impractical information for you in this guide as to how and why to do it. So, welcome to the Wallachian Kingdom!”
The main purpose of this jocular guide — as evidenced by its straightforward title — is to provide an explanation, punctuated by frequent chuckles, as to why a person should become a citizen of the Wallachian Kingdom. “There can be many reasons. It depends wholly on who you are, where you come from, what interests you have, etc. Furthermore, admit to yourself — who would not want to become a citizen of a kingdom in which he does not have to pay any taxes? A kingdom that has had such a prominent affect on the development of the world? A kingdom that during the last three years developed its own currency, acquired many interesting territories around the world and whose citizens reach unprecedented successes in all fields of human endeavors? The people who become citizens of the kingdom usually have a sense of humor, like to enjoy themselves, accomplished something interesting or they want to assist in developing something that they can influence. We constantly discover more historical facts which indicate that most of our planets population has roots in the territory of the Wallachian Kingdom. During such research it is essential to realize that important facts, circumstances and time factors are not essential, but conviction that it is like that, is. On the bases of such information we are trying to create an ‘immigration program’ suited to the country, nationality, culture and mentality of the place of your origin. So far our program only includes a few countries. It does not matter what country you come from, if you have an interest in working with us to develop the Wallachian Kingdom, contact us with your ideas and suggestions on the previously mentioned contact details.” The guide goes on to provide several pages of compelling arguments (some quite believable, some utterly fanciful) enumerating why foreigners should “immigrate to the Wallachian Kingdom”. One of the reasons why the English should, for instance, is because “James Cook…was a British sea captain and discoverer who got his name from his father — a descendant of the Wallachian Celts. ‘Kuk’ is ‘cook’ in English, and in Wallachian means ‘peep at, look at, discover...’. This later fundamentally influenced his life and the lives of other ‘Cooks’ — Thomas Cook etc.” The Scottish should, partly because “After drinking ten pivos (beers), both Scots and Wallachians speak the same language.” Similar highly and/or slightly convincing reasons are also given for the Australians, the French, the Irish, and the Italians. “To be a citizen of the kingdom has plenty of practical and unpractical advantages.” All that is needed is a Wallachian Kingdom passport and a Certificate of Native Domicile, both of which can be ordered via their Web-site. Then, the new Wallachian will finally be able to visit his adopted Kingdom and leisurely “take a look at this country, which has no doubt become your Promised Land.”
The manuscript contains a plethora of humorous sections, including a chronological history (most of which seems to be purposefully silly). The first entry is from June of 1997. By September of 1998, “The Wallachian Kingdom is beginning to take shape.” In December, “The Wallachian flags are made and erected at significant sites. The number of royal facilities is increasing at an appreciable rate.” In January of the following year, “The Wallachian Kingdom receives a further recruit — Dáša Gábová.” The Kingdom now has 2 citizens! “We declare 1999 to be a year of the opening up of the Wallachian Kingdom to the world.” By February, “We have expanded further.” The Kingdom now has 4 citizens! In May, “The kingdom’s first independent currency backed by straw comes into being”. Also, “We acquire our first international airport at Ostrava-Mošnov.” In June, “The first real guide and map of the Wallachian Kingdom sees the light of day. We begin the ‘Wandering with a Wallachian Passport’ competition.” From July-August, “‘Wallachomania’ breaks out and thousands of crazy visitors flood the Wallachian Kingdom. The media increases its interest in the affairs of the Kingdom…The Wallachian passport is unofficially recognised by several countries, which do not wish to be named. Our adventurers, discoverers and explorers have erected Wallachian flags at various sites around the world — the Dolomites, The Northern Polar Circle, Machu-Pichu and others.” The following month, “In order to increase the probability of a second attempt to place the Wallachian flag on the Himalayan eight-thousand-metre Cho-Oyu (The Turquoise Queen) in the Alpine-Wallachian style, we undertook a first attempt, which was purposefully unsuccessful.” They also manage to erect the well-travelled flag at the summit of the Indrahara Pass in India (the following year, additional flags would be planted on Mt. Blanc, in Australia, New Caledonia, and Vanuatu). Also in September, “Václav Havel became a Wallach at the Wallachian Kingdom’s first fortified castle — Štramberská Trúba.” In January of 2000, “We declare the first immigration program for the Wallachian Kingdom.” In March, “We issue international Wallachian passports in 7 different languages.” In July, the Kingdom celebrated “The return of the first Wallachian cosmonaut from space. On the 22nd of July, our hero successfully landed in the Kacabaja fish pond in Hodslavice.” On September 10th, “Boleslav Polívka I the Kind Hearted was officially crowned as the King of the Wallachian Kingdom.” Mr. Harabiš concludes the comical chronology by declaring: “During my three years of working on the Kingdom, I have become convinced of one great truth, which was first postulated by the Greek mathematician and researcher, Archimedes of Syracuse (2288-2212 before the New Age) — ‘Give me a fixed point and I can move the Earth’. Today, we can without doubt state that this fixed point is the Wallachian Kingdom. Now all we need to do is put together a few capable people, come to an agreement and then give a good shove.”
In terms of government, “The head of the Wallachian Kingdom is the King — at present, the reigning monarch is Boleslav Polávka I the Kind Hearted. The King is surrounded by a group of ministers, who more or less take care of the running of the Kingdom. The practical functioning of the Kingdom is, however, my duty, i.e. the duty of Tomás Harabiš, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and his team. We are the ones, who have prepared this guide for you as well as everything else, which is associated with your emigration to the Kingdom. We take care of everything, so that you will feel at home in the Kingdom and so that you will be able to be proud of your new country.”
As for the economy of the farcical kingdom, it “is highly stable and the inhabitants haven’t even noticed that there has been an economic crisis. I am of the opinion that this positive phenomenon is probably caused by the fact that the economy of the Kingdom was already in its own stable economic crisis long before. Most of the money in the royal coffers comes right from you, so have no mercy on us! Buy Wallachian (our) products as a citizen of the Wallachian Kingdom. You’ll actually be supporting yourselves!” The waggish guide is also of numismatic interest: “At present, the most commonly used currency within the Wallachian Kingdom is the Czech Crown (CZK).” Nevertheless, in May of 2000, a new currency was introduced: the “JUROVALŠÁR” (JV). They “are the size of a ten-crown coin and finished in Nordic Gold. The first metal currency in the history of our monarchy was issued at the occasion of its planned entry into the European Union. One side of the coin depicts the head of the pagan god, Radegast, silhouetted mountains and stars symbolizing the Union’s present and future members. The other side includes the coat of arms with the Wallachian coat of arms, including a Wallachian hat and a pair of crossed shepherd’s crooks. The designer is the academic sculptor, Vladimír Oppl.” The exchange rate for the JV “has been set at 1:1 to the Euro and the dollar (we will stick to whichever of them proves the strongest). However, only use these coins for payment when in the greatest need (it may happen that they will be accepted in some places in the Kingdom), because it is against the law. If payments using Jurovalsar coins should somehow become all the rage, don’t forget that they will put me away. I hope that at least you would come to visit me, if they did.”
In all actuality, Wallachia (oftentimes spelled as Walachia) was a bona fide principality (not a “kingdom”, as suggested by Mr. Harabiš’s whimsical writings) that is traditionally considered to have been founded in 1290 by Radu Negru (“Radu the Black”), a voivode (military governor) of Făgăraş in southern Transylvania (then part of Hungary), who crossed the Transylvanian Alps and settled at Câmpulung. Its name is derived from that of the Vlachs, who constituted the bulk of its population. The new principality — bounded on the north and northeast by the Transylvanian Alps, on the west, south, and east by the Danube River, and on the northeast by the Seret River — was dominated by Hungary until Basarab I (reigned ca. 1330-52) defeated the Hungarian king Charles I in 1330, winning Wallachian independence. Though Hungary tried to restore its domination, the Ottoman Turks steadily extended their domination over the Balkan Peninsula during the 14th century. Numerous princes continued Wallachia’s resistance to the Turks, but the principality increasingly submitted to Turkish domination. By 1391, Prince Mircea the Old (reigned 1386-1418) was obliged to pay tribute to the Turks, and in 1417 he acknowledged Turkish suzerainty. Subsequently, Wallachia was allowed to retain its own dynasty, territory, and religion. During the 18th century, Russian influence in Wallachia intensified. They were soon intervening heavily in Wallachian affairs. Under Russian guidance, political reforms were undertaken, including the adoption in 1831 of a constitution. The European powers ended Russia’s protectorate after the Crimean War (1856). Wallachia’s ruling assembly, influenced by growing Romanian nationalism, voted in 1859 to unite with Moldavia (another independent principality of the Vlachs) under Prince Alexandru Ion Cuza and to form the single state of Romania — which achieved its independence (as a monarchy) from the Turks in 1878. Wallachia became a division of the Kingdom of Romania, and it consisted of 2 provinces: Oltenia (Lesser Wallachia) and Muntenia (Greater Wallachia). The eventual redistricting of Romania’s historic provinces eliminated Wallachia as an integral unit of the state.
As for the Vlachs themselves, these are a European people who today are the major element in the populations of present-day Romania and Moldova, as well as smaller groups located throughout the Balkan Peninsula, south and west of the Danube River. Unlike other nations with shepherds, the whole of the Vlach people are nomadic and have long been shepherds and muleteers. The term wallach, from the Germanic for “stranger”, occurs in many languages. This gives us Slavic word Vlach, which can be used for any non-Slav, and the Greek Kutsovlakhi or just Vlakhi, which can mean any shepherd. Although their Slavic neighbors gave them the name Volokh/Woloch, the Vlachs/Wlachs prefer to call themselves Romani (or variants of that name, such as Romeni, Rumeni, or Aromani).
The origin of the Vlachs — a blanket term for a number of Latinised peoples united by their language — is a historical puzzle. Before the times of the Roman Empire the Balkans were inhabited by Illyrians in the west, Thracians in the south, Dacians in the north and Greeks in the far south. During the period of regional Roman rule, nearly all of the Illyrians and Thracians tribes were converted to Latin speakers. It is less certain how many of the Dacians were converted to Latin, as there was only just over one hundred years of Roman rule and the area they held did not include all of the territory where the Dacians roamed. The Vlachs traditionally claim to be descendants of those ancient Romans who in the 2nd and 3rd centuries A.D. occupied Dacia as one of their umpteen provinces (it was located in the regions of Transylvania and the Carpathian Mountains of modern Romania). Another theory suggests that their ancestors were a Thracian tribe which intermarried with the Roman colonists and soldiers, thereby assimilating their language and culture. After the Romans evacuated Dacia (271 A.D.), the Romanised Illyrians and Thracians continued to live in their homelands. Soon, the region of Dacia was subjected to a series of “barbarian” invasions. It is possible that the highland lifestyle of the Vlachs — they were pastoral nomadic peoples of the mountains, and this olden way of life has continued almost uninterrupted until the present day — kept them safely separated from the waves of migrating eastern tribes who took the lowlands by preference as they came from the lowlands of Germany or from the steppes. The Slavs were one of the invading tribes, and they started settling in the Balkans during the 6th century. Unlike other migrating peoples, there has been considerable interchange between the Slavs and Romanised peoples (many customs are common between the Bulgarians and Romanians today suggesting that the Thracians were assimilated into the Bulgarians; the Romanians have absorbed much from the Slavs). Scholars are not in agreement as to exactly what happened to the Romanised races during this time. They could have remained in the area (probably taking refuge in the Carpathian Mountains, where they remained for several centuries until conditions settled and they could return to the plains) or they could have moved south of the Danube (or elsewhere) when the Romans left Dacia, only to move back to the area from their Romanised homelands after most of the barbarians had departed. Regardless, it was in the late Middle Ages that the Vlachs truly emerged into history and spread over much of the Balkans. The lands south of the Danube became the center of the Vlach population. These Vlachs even played a major role in the formation and development of the Second Bulgarian Empire (also known as the Empire of Vlachs and Bulgars, it was mostly Slavic — the Bulgars having already been assimilated by the more numerous Slavs), founded in 1184 (it has even been suggested that south of the Danube, the Vlachs were once more numerous and occupied a much greater area than now). As the Bulgarian empire stretched northwards, it spilled across the Danube into the scarcely populated plains. In search of better pastures, many Vlach shepherds emigrated there. By the 13th century, the Vlachs were re-established in the lands north of the Danube, including Transylvania (where they comprised the bulk of the peasant populace). From there, they also wandered into Moldavia. More importantly, the northern pilgrimage was made by so many Vlachs that the land between it and the Carpathian Mountains became known as Wallachia (“Land of the Vlachs”). Coming from the overpopulated and poor, ragged lands of the Balkans, they had found an ideal settling place and a new home.
Over the centuries, besides the separation of some groups during the Age of Migration, other Vlachs split into smaller groups and settled in other regions of the Balkan Peninsula, mixing with neighboring populations such as Greeks, Albanians, Cumans, and others. Most notably, the Macedo-Vlachs, or Tzintzars/Tsintsars, settled on the mountains of Thessaly and founded the independent state of Great Wallachia; another Vlach settlement, called Little Wallachia, was located in Aetolia and Acarnania. The Vlachs can also be found as far north as Poland and as far west as the territory Moravia. The latter locale — a historical region in the easternmost part of the Czech Republic, near the Slovakian border — seems to precisely correspond to Mr. Mr. Harabiš’s chuckle-worthy kingdom. It is a mountainous expanse known as Moravian Wallachia (the name Wallachia was formerly applied to all the highlands of Moravia and neighboring Silesia, although in the nineteenth century a smaller area came to be defined as ethno-cultural Moravian Wallachia; this very specific territory, still referred to as Valašsko [Wallachia], is currently located in the Moravian-Silesian Region, an administrative unit [kraj] of the Czech Republic). The Vlachs can also be found as far south as present-day Croatia. In fact, almost all modern nations in central and southeastern Europe have native Vlach minorities.
The linguistic and cultural links between the northern Vlachs (Romanian speakers) and the equally nomadic southern Vlachs, who call themselves the Arumani/Aromani (meaning “Romans”), were broken by the 10th century (the Aromani language is a Latin language similar to Romanian, but separate to the Romanian of the northern Vlachs; Aromanian is thought to have separated from the northern Vlach language as early as the 6th century A.D., when waves of Slavs moved into Illyria). Since then, there were different cultural influences: the Romanian culture was influenced by neighboring people such as Hungarians and Slavs and in the 19th century saw an important opening toward Western Europe and cultural ties with France; the Aromanian culture developed initially as a pastoral culture, later to be greatly influenced by the Byzantine and Greek culture. Today, the northern Vlachs live in northeast Serbia, northwest Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova, and a few in the Ukraine and Hungary. The southern Vlachs live in Greece, Albania, Macedonia, and Bulgaria.
Since the creation of the Romanian state, the term Vlachs in English has mostly been used for those living outside Romania. In many of these areas, although the descendants of the Vlachs have gradually lost their original language (their traditional dialect — rarely heard these days — represents a mixture of elements from Czech and Slovak, and has a distinct lexicon of Romanian and Balkan origin relating to the pastoral economy of the highlands), they’ve managed to preserve much of their culture (especially folklore, customs, songs, costumes, and the way of life of the mountain people) and their livelihood (namely sheep breeding). In fact, one of the remarkable aspects pertaining to the Vlachs found everywhere along the western Carpathian Mountains is that their lively traditional Romanian culture has endured despite the evolution in language — especially the traditions regarding sheepherding and rural architecture (cottages, churches, etc…), which remain essentially identical along the entire belt of the Carpathian Mountains from Moravia to Romania and then along the adjacent mountains into Serbia and Bulgaria. The legacy of the Vlachs also survives in the place names of Romanian or Aromanian origin that are spread all across the region. All is not without some measure of discord, however. From time to time, in the main Vlach-populated areas (current Romania and Moldova), significant rifts do arise along geographical, historical, cultural, and linguistic lines.
I purchased one of the Kingdom of Wallachia’s Jeden (One) Jurovalšár pieces, dated 2000, on eBay.
It is important to provide some information about West Antarctica. Also called Lesser Antarctica, this is one of the two major regions of Antarctica, lying on the Pacific Ocean side — the west side — of the Transantarctic Mountains and comprising Marie Byrd Land, Ellsworth Land, and the Antarctic Peninsula. All of West Antarctica lies within the Western Hemisphere. It is separated from the main land mass of the continent by the Ross Sea and Weddell Sea, and resembles a giant peninsula that stretches roughly from the South Pole towards the southern tip of South America. The name has been in existence since circa 1902/05, but its greatest use followed the International Geophysical Year (1957-58) and explorations disclosing that the Transantarctic Mountains provide a useful regional separation of West Antarctica and East Antarctica (see my listing for McMurdo [Station], located hereinabove in the M section of this Web-site). West Antarctica is basically one massive ice sheet referred to as the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS); this ice sheet rests on frozen water — contrary to the East Antarctic Ice Sheet, which rests upon a large land mass.
There are many interesting things worth mentioning about Travis. To begin with, this resident of Norfolk, VA “is descended from the High Kings of Ireland and is a direct descendant of Patrick McHenry, Baron of Dunluce in the 1600s. Travis retains this title and is known throughout the United Kingdom as Baron Dunluce.” Between 2001 and 2004, he completed three successful naval deployments and fought in the Persian Gulf during Operation Iraqi Freedom (in at least one deployment, immediately after the U.S. declared war on Iraq in March of 2003, Travis had “the primary mission of Anti-Terrorism/Force Protection analyst”). He earned numerous honors/awards/commendations for his actions. The Achaean Territory, though “officially neutral,” supported the war. Travis was also a part of the operation to remove President Taylor from power in Liberia in 2003.
Since June of 2002, Westarctica has been split into two major dukedoms: the Duchy of Ellsworth and the Duchy of Byrd. There are also ten other minor regions (Marquisates, Baronies, Vicounties). “The citizens of Westarctica do not currently reside within its geographic borders, but a relocation project has been underway since 2003 to build new cities and restore old research stations for use as living and working quarters.” Eventually, however, other pursuits came Travis’ way. “I was no longer able to function as the ruler of my icy domain, and therefore I passed responsibility for leadership onto the most capable of my many noblemen.” On January 14, 2006, Travis abdicated his throne and transferred the title, office, right of succession, and all responsibilities of Grand Duke to Philip Karns (Duke of Ravencroft and Minister of Information), who was subsequently crowned as Grand Duke Philip of Westarctica. In his final “Royal Decree”, Travis wrote: “In light of repeated requests by my family to give up the rudder of state that I have hewn from the ice of the Antarctic continent and focus instead on the lordship of the Barony of Dunluce Castle and the leadership of the McHenry Family Clan, I hereby abdicate the royal throne of Westarctica and forfeit the right of succession for my sons and all my descendants…I now quit altogether public affairs and I lay down my burden of state. I shall always follow the fortunes of Westarctica with profound interest, and if at any time in the future I can be found of service to His Majesty in a private station, I shall not fail.” The two men signed declarations of succession, which made the changeover official. “HSM Grand Duke Philip vows to continue on the path that his predecessor has started us all upon, working towards recognition of Westarctica as a fully-functional and operational world government/entity.” According to Travis, who has not been involved with the project for a number of years, “the project was a success in some ways…The amount of people I was able to attract was pretty impressive, towards the end, we had a citizen count of over 50 people. The current Grand Duke has shut down the website [http://www.westarctica.com/] due to increasing maintenance costs and has informed me that the project is no longer functioning as an active government, although he still considers himself the heir of the claim to the territory.”
Whilst in power, it seems that Grand Duke Philip launched a “replacement” Web-site. According to the Mission Statement found at the Westarctica Ministry of the Environment (http://www.freewebs.com/westarcticadevelopment/index.htm), “At this point in time none of you probably have been present in our homeland. Our government is one in exile. Still Westarctica is much more than yet another micronation. Our nation is more than just a few web pages on the internet. A lot of work is being done behind the scenes. Very dedicated people are trying to realise the founding of a new country. Westantarctica will become a wonderful place to life. Some describe the surroundings of Antarctica and it's nature as a piece of heaven on earth. But there is a big threat to that nice picture of our nation's surroundings and it's future. Although one of the harshest environments on the planet, Westarctica is also one of the most vulnerable, we must feel committed to protect for our next generation of Westarcticans. Despite the vastness of our country, and its harsh climate, the Westarctic environment is very vulnerable to human impact. Without controls, those who come to visit this wilderness as tourists, scientists or in support roles, may damage the very values that attract them. To protect the Westarctica species of animals we established the Ministry of the Environment.”
Furthermore, the older Achaean Territory site still exists and is “maintained for a historical record”: http://www.geocities.com/achaeanterritory/.
Westarctica's first 3 coins, all of them versions of the 2005 1 Westarctican Dollar (WA$1), are made of timber: one commemorates the 75th anniversary of Richard E. Byrd's first expedition; another shows three emperor penguins; another celebrates their Constitution, and the date in which it was adopted. I obtained the set as a gift from their Treasurer. Also dated 2005, there is a copper-nickel 10 Westarctican Dollars, colorfully adorned with green and yellow enamel. Westarctica later issued a copper-nickel 25 Dollars piece, dated 2006. It commemorates the “Treaty of Friendship Between Westarctica and Molossia”. In honor of this alliance between the two nations, the Republic of Molossia (see my separate listing for this entity) issued a matching 50 Valora piece. Lastly, Westarctica issued a copper-nickel/brass Ten Dollars piece, dated 2008.
GOVERNMENT OF THE BALLENY ISLANDS: Located in the peri-Antarctic region (islands and archipelagos situated outside/north of the Antarctic Convergence Zone), they form part of the Ross Dependency, which is claimed by New Zealand. The Balleny coin was the idea of Mr. Jorge Fernández Vidal, of A Coruña, a city in an autonomous region of northwestern Spain named Galicia. He learned about these islands on the Internet, while he was trying to find claimable land in Antarctica to serve as a “base” for his numismatic undertaking. “I settled on the Balleny Islands coin-project in March 2004”. He also discovered, based on a close reading of the Antarctic Treaty (signed in Washington D.C. on 1 December 1959 and entered into force/ratified on 23 June 1961) and a few related articles, that the islands perhaps did not belong to New Zealand after all, and were therefore still up for grabs. The Balleny islands were not a part of New Zealand's claim to begin with; only subsequent to signing the Treaty did New Zealand assert its right to the lands in question. In Mr. Vidal's view, they were still surrounded by international waters, “officially unclaimed. A beautiful free land to mint a coin.” Soon afterwards, he stumbled upon the Westarctica Web-site. He was amazed, and applied for citizenship. Luckily, the Balleny Islands were clearly outside of the official Westarctican “wedge”, and had not been included in McHenry's claim. On Westarctica's major map, they were shown as being in the neighboring, N.Z. slice of the chilly, white pie. Mr. Vidal also asked the Grand Duke if he intended to mint a coin; sure enough, he was told that Westarctica was actually seeking a “head” to be in charge of a numismatic project. This was, of course, a perfect role for Mr. Vidal, who became Westarctica's Minister of the Treasury (he was responsible for minting all of the Westarctica coins listed above. McHenry’s “involvement was limited to some creative input and final approval of the coin designs.” The two gentlemen “had an arrangement whereby Jorge would accept 100% of the risk in minting” and Travis “would get three copies of every coin set as a ‘tribute.’”). So this is how a serendipitous union of two separate projects came to pass. Balleny became a colony of Westarctica when Westarctica formally annexed it from New Zealand on January 14, 2005. Mr. Vidal was appointed its Governor, and Balleny was given special status/autonomy. He was granted another title: Count of Sturge.
The obverse of the 2005 Balleny $1 coin bears the Westarctica coat-of-arms. The reverse depicts the groups's 3 main volcanic islands: Young, Buckle, and Sturge (as a tribute to John Balleny, the map chosen by Mr. Vidal is based on the first one made of the region by that English sealer/whaling captain in 1839). The words “Westarctica Territories” further confirm Balleny's ties to its adoptive Grand Duchy. The coin, which I swapped for one of my 2005 Zilchstadt pieces, is to be used solely in the B.I. colony and its dependencies.
GOVERNMENT OF PETER I ISLAND: Located in the Bellinghausen Sea, and claimed by Norway. It is the only oceanic island in the extreme South Pacific zone of the Southern Ocean. From Mr. Oded Paz, I obtained a nickel-silver $5 piece, dated 2005 (a version in silver also exists). There is an additional bronze $1 piece.
GOVERNMENT OF THURSTON ISLAND: This is an ice-covered, glacially dissected offshore island in West Antarctica, within the Antarctic Circle. Situated between the Bellinghausen and Amundsen Seas, it lies a short way off the NW end of Ellsworth Land and is separated from the mainland by Peacock Sound. According to the terms of the Antarctic Treaty, all islands south of 60°S latitude don't belong to any country; this includes all of the antarctic islands (those in the Southern Ocean or in the seas around Antarctica south of the Antarctic Circle) and some of the sub-antarctic islands (those in the Southern Ocean around Antarctica north of the Antarctic Circle). Its coin is a $1 piece dated 2006.
SHERMAN ISLAND: This is an ice-covered land formation, lying south of Thurston Island in the middle of Peacock Sound. The feature rises above the Abbot Ice Shelf, which occupies the sound. This is a $1 piece dated 2006 (which I obtained from Mr. Oded Paz in partial exchange for one of my 2006 Héliopolis coins).
CARNEY ISLAND: Carney Island is an ice-covered formation, with all but its northern coast lying within the Getz Ice Shelf. It is located between Siple Island and Wright Island along the coast of Marie Byrd Land, in West Antarctica. The Getz Ice Shelf is an extensive icy platform located along the Hobbs and Bakutis coasts of Marie Byrd Land (ice shelves are permanent, floating sheets of super-thick ice that are attached to land and are constantly fed by glaciers). The Getz Ice Shelf, which stretches out into the Amundsen Sea, is held in position by Carney Island other nearby islands. This is a 2.50 WA Dollars piece dated 2007. I obtained it as a trade for one of my 2007 Zilchstadt medallions.
BURK, GRANT, PINE, SIPLE ISLANDS: Burk Island (actually Burke Island) is an ice-covered isle lying 37 miles southwest of Cape Waite, King Peninsula, in the Amundsen Sea; it is located just south of Pine Island Bay. Grant Island is also an ice-covered site, lying 5 miles east of the smaller Shepard Island off the coast of Marie Byrd Land; both of them are surrounded by the Getz Ice Shelf on all but the north side. Pine Island (actually Pine Island Glacier) is a broad “ice stream” flowing west-northwest along the south side of the Hudson Mountains into Pine Island Bay, Amundsen Sea; located adjacent to Thwaites Glacier, on the Walgreen Coast of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, it is the fastest flowing glacier in Antarctica. Siple Island is a snow-covered island lying east of Wrigley Gulf along the Getz Ice Shelf off Bakutis Coast of Marie Byrd Land; its landmass is dominated by Mount Siple, an enormous albeit dormant shield volcano. Burk, Grant, Pine, and Siple Islands “are all within the territories claimed by Westarctica,” according to Mr. Vidal. This, the final installment in the “Westarctica Territories” series (in spite of the demise of Westarctica as an active micro-nation, “somehow I wanted to do just one last issue”), consists of 4 triangular coins (each dated 2008) which — when pieced together — form a rectangular coin. “The 4 coins together are actually WA$1, and each coin is WA25¢, but the fact that I wanted to mint them individually make the whole design to look a bit awkward and it's hard to see the WA$1 in the obverse of the coins.”
Mr. Vidal has rapidly become an ubiquitous presence in our corner of “unusual” numismatics. His laudable contributions are ongoing, and he has already made such a positive impact in our hobby that we may even have to start referring to our micronational/fantasy coins as those having been issued B.J.E. (Before the Jorge Era) and A.J.E. (After the Jorge Era). Mr. Vidal has lent a helping hand to several aspiring coin-makers: “Sometimes, enthusiasts with a nice project cannot mint a coin, because they do not have the resources or because they don't know how to do it.” When these folks lack the sufficient wherewithal (the proper channels of distribution, time) Mr. Vidal is able to offer them whatever help they require, even “designing, producing, and distributing some of the coins.” He is also the founder of the Hunger Aid and Development Foundation (please refer to my listing for this coin-issuing entity). As of November 2007, Mr. Vidal finally has his own Web-site, where we can marvel at this pre-eminent numismatist’s ever-expanding output/catalogue: http://www.jfvcoins.com/index.html.
All of the abovementioned Westarctican coins were available from their Treasurer ([email protected]), and they could be seen/purchased from the Central Bank of Westarctica (formally established on March 1, 2005):
http://www.westarctica.com/cenbank.htm
Images of the Westarctican cluster of coins can also be viewed at the Coin Library of the USNS (http://www.usns.info/coin-westarctica.html) and at the Web-site of Mr. Haseeb Naz (http://chiefacoins.com/Database/Micro-Nations/Westarctica.htm).
The pamphlet, translated for me by the son of numismatist Lars-Bertil Nilsson, Martin, also reproduces 2 newspaper clippings: one written by Mosse Wallen in the March 25, 1981 edition of LT (Länstidningen Södertälje), and the other from the April 1, 1985 issue of Expressen (text by Lars-G. Holmström). The article from '81 declares that the 50 year-old head-of-state planned to assemble the resources for getting the project started by distributing Bonds worth 185 million Wiking Mark. It shows a snapshot of the small, slender man arriving at Taxinge-Näsby castle with his private chauffeur in a rented limousine adorned with streamers. He, dressed in a new uniform onto which golden decorations were pinned, was there to inspect some rooms he intended to rent. In his view, setting up office space in the stately residence would lend credibility to the business of selling “bond-loans” and fund-raising; all for providing the financial foundation needed to lift Wikingland from below the surface of the Baltic. Reinhold had already consulted a dredging company, and they expressed an interest in participating in his endeavor even though it would take a tremendous amount of work; their preliminary calculations indicated that a budget of 450 million SEK would be required for the job of raising the land east of Öland's southern shallows 4.5 meters above sea-level in order to form an island of 2 square kilometers on the Northern Midsjö Bank. For that large sum of wealth, they would be able to produce a 2,000,000 square-meter sandbank — having long, shallow beaches — atop the Northern Midsjö reefs (centered in the “Midsjöshallows”, to use a term coined by Martin), just beyond the Swedish territorial border. “Technically” they reassured him, “the project is without doubt possible”. According to experts in the field, Reinhold could realize his grand ideas for a permanently standing, firmly planted Principality without having to seek any permission whatsoever from Sweden. In addition to its main island, which was still located underwater — 3 nautical miles east of Öland's southern point, outside of Swedish territory — Wikingland (according to a flyer distributed by Reinhold) included Hoburg Bank and Southern Midsjö Bank in the Baltic Sea, Doggers Bank in the North Sea, and the Mediterranean “Colonies” of Skerki Bank, Pantelleria Island, and Talbot Shoal. One is forced to wonder if law enforcement had ever taken a mistrustful interest in the Prince's farfetched claims. When asked if they'd ever interfered in his activities, he replied, “I've been accused a couple of times by some people in Germany and the police have investigated it all, but have always closed the case when they found out that I'm not out to trick anyone. I only have good intentions. I also make it easier for the authorities when I do something.” Ever the idealist, he then describes the kind of social order he would like to foster. “It will be a society without political parties.” These will be forbidden. Furthermore, life on board the man-made offshore facility will be “Free from ideologies. There will be no military force and all the citizens will be free to live anyway they like.” It was already made clear, in a declaration that “We, Reinhold I, by God's grace prince of Wikingland” published (perhaps, our translator suggests, he refers to himself thusly because “he just likes to use the diplomatic and utterly correct language that is inspired by the French. Meaning that you shall never refer to a person as him, I or you (singular). But as we and you (plural). Just a polite thing.”), that Wikingland “will be a monarchy, that all power will come from the prince”; it will be a neutral state, the official language will be Swedish, and “every citizen will have the right to property, work and education”; nuclear power will be prohibited, and “electricity will come from windmills”. The Prince also decided, amongst other things, “that male citizens can enter into two or more marriages if he can manage the economic duties” of all his families. Later, the booklet mentions that here will also be freedom from religions and from bureaucracy.
The article from '85 discloses that the Prince lives in town called Sundbyberg. He “owns no phone. With a little luck you might get in touch with Reinhold I through his son who lives nearby. But since Expressen started to ask of his whereabouts he seems to have disappeared.” The journalist points to Wikingland's series of realistic-looking postage stamps, which were being widely advertised at the time (sometimes in full-page color layouts). Many philatelists who have seen them think that they are “a tad too expensive and might even give the advertiser a good income, especially from” hobbyists who gain particular excitement from special stamps. He interviews Gösta Ohlsson, “chairman of the Swedish collectors' alliance”, who dismisses them because they “are clearly bogus.” But the reporter admits that even though it might strike some people as an April Fools' joke, the ad “can hardly be called deceitful.” It makes clear that the Principlity headed by Reinhold was still “nothing more than submerged reefs in the middle of the Baltic Sea”. Whilst his nonexistent state still consisted of water-covered reefs that needed to be filled with tons of mud, Reinhold imagines the final phase of the project and “visualizes in front of him the raising of several smaller islands where the most modern of cities will flourish.” But for now, while he is attempting to strenghen Wikingland's assets in any way possible, one of the only trails leading to real, palpable evidence of Wikingland's material existence is a post-office box in the Swedish capital, belonging to a mysterious company bearing the murky name “Söderbolagen Progress”. It has been impossible to ascertain what this entity actually does. “And its phone number is secret.” Even the purpose of the Wikingland Foundation, which is the recipient of all the proceeds from the stamps ordered by collectors, “can only be guessed. It is unknown to both the provincial office, where all foundations above 20,000 Kronor are registered, and to the tax office which has a certain insight into all minor organizations. To obtain its postal account Wikingland demonstrated its aim through a protocol whereby the Prince himself as well as his son stand as responsible.” Sven Rune Johansson, from the mail office, concludes that “As far as I can see he is not doing anything directly illegal...but it got a hint of swindle.”
The Foundation's treatise also reveals simplistic maps/drawings of Valhall, the proposed capital of Wikingland (with enough space for railroads and airport), which will be built beneath a giant, protective “cupola” in the center of Northern Midsjö Bank. It will offer “the same comfortable climate in the summer as well as in the winter.” From this domed city, a monorail over the Baltic will lead to the three satellite-cities of Odin, Tor, and Balder. These, to the northwest of Valhall and grouped together like a triangle, “rest on gigantic pillars that stretch down to the bottom of the sea. There are docks for hovercrafts and helicopter pads.”
In accord with one of his tenets, Reinhold wants Wikingland to be the place where people can envisage “The human and life in focus.” He exhorts the reader to not be foolish; “Do not deceive in this time, gather up.” He “gave a great deal of his life for his ideas. Give him your support to accomplish his goals. Join him from the beginning, so that You can reap of his success.”
Prior to acquiring the above-referenced tract, the only other useful bits of knowledge I'd ever seen about the Fürstentum Wikingland had been provided courtesy of Mr. George Cruickshank, Emperor of Atlantium. These amounted to 2 brief passages from 1981 and 1986 issues of Atalaya, a philatelic periodical from Sweden. The earlier one states that Reinhold's original plans were to construct a huge, artificial island in the North Sea. The previously mentioned “Doggers Bank was selected for this project. However, these plans seem to have been abandoned in favour of a site in the Baltic where conditions are more favourable.” It also mentions that Wikingland's seat of government “is currently in Stockholm where Prince Reinhold I resides.”
My 1985 10 Wiking Mark coin came from eBay. The reverse honors Vinland, which was one of the sites where the Vikings first settled in North America (reputedly a large region which includes much of the rich lands around the Gulf of St. Lawrence: Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and coastal New Brunswick). The 1979 Jahr des Kindes (Year of the Child) “crown” came from Mr. Michael “Valgard” Murray. He informed me that his Wikingland coins came directly from Mr. Serge Huard, who was the driving force behind a few of these Wikingland coins (there were at least two other numismatists involved in the remaining issues, one was a German, the other was an Austrian). Quite fascinatingly, the creative energies the prolific Monsieur devoted to his two thematically related projects actually overlapped: three Wikingland issues share the exact same obverse image with three Vinland/Midhgardhr coins (namely, the 1985 Vinland Discovery, the 1993 Thor's Hammer, and the year 2244/1994 24-rune Norse/Germanic “Elder” Futhark). And if that weren't enough, the exact same Thor's Hammer die was incorporated by Mr. Huard into one of his 1993 Trade Dollars de Commerce (perhaps this one could be characterized as a “mule”).
Based on communications with Mr. Edward J. Moschetti and Mr. Greg MacLean, there are at least 2 other unlisted types apart from the ones I already mentioned (including a 1979 1 Wiking Mark featuring a profile of Prince Reinhold, and a 1981 25 Wiking Mark showing a drakkar boat; these, along with the '85 10 Wiking Mark, are also pictured in the Foundation's booklet, which also mentions that banknotes “in 8 different values and five colors shall be printed through the sponsorship of a company in Thailand.”).
In October of 2008, Mr. Havelka sent me a newly-minted second Xenostrovian coin (I later sent him one of my 2008 Héliopolis medallions)! This is a 250 Tomaš piece (shiny silver-finish), dated 2009. Visually and thematically, it adheres to the overall eye-pleasing style of the first Xenostrov piece: “I agonized over trying to find a new design, but found nothing I liked better for this particular coin than my original design.” This time, the owl featured “on the reverse of the coin is a Snowy Owl (Bubo scandiacus), also found in Bohemia.”
Images of the Xenostrov coin can be viewed at Mr. Havelka’s Web-sites:
http://xenostrov.blogspot.com/
http://home.rr.com/havelkat
Additional images can be viewed at the Web-site of Mr. Jorge Fernández Vidal (http://www.jfvcoins.com/Productos/micronations_english=catTZ.html) and at the Web-site of Mr. Peter Geelen (http://www.jezuss.nl/xenostrov.htm).
According to Lord Pagh, “The nation was created about 1994 first webpage in 1996, but because it was a free website it was just up for a year, vanishing somewhere near the end of 1997, being replaced by another vanishing at the end of 1998 as it was more for a purpose of learning how to design websites that I created it. It was offline for some years as I was busy on real life and later on it developed into a Role Playing Game, and after 2005 finally as a philosophic insight pro freedom of speech and a project on the real world. The official founding date for the nation with more than one member however was on May 2000. I am not sure about the quality of my English on the website, but there are people joining the idea so it must be at least understandable.” Even though the Nation of YAN has no physical territory, “my country is the whole world, this is my nation…I live here, and so do you, and so does he, and so does she.” Lord Pagh designed the Nation of YAN to be a metaphysical place of truth, freedom and change — a free initiative for its citizens to use their own philosophy in order to initiate their own nation states.
The Nation of YAN uses an interesting time-reckoning system. According to Lord Pagh, “The calender is a mix between the estimated age of the homo sapiens on earth and the Central American calenders that dates the birth of human kind around the same period of time”. He later elaborated: “About the date, it is a mix between the Central American calenders (the ‘Suns’, that I consider to be the most ancient of humankind and the aproximated date of the existence of Homo Sapiens on earth, that somehow seem to fit pretty well together. Each ‘sun’ of the Central American mythology has 26000 years, as it takes our sun that amount of years to circle the galaxy, and gathering all the suns so far, this is the aproximate date we are at [in 2009]: around 129.997 years (129996 was last year [2008]) calculating from winter solstice of the northern hemisphere. Coincidentally, it seems to be the time homo sapiens has existed. So I decided for this date. Our calender has for instance 13 months, with one of them having one day more for leap years.”
In 2008, the Nation of YAN hosted what was essentially the fifth Intermicronational Olympic Games (the first one was held in 2000 by the Republic of Molossia). Interestingly, the Nation of YAN changed the name of the event to the “The Free Olympics”. In order to commemorate this biennial program, the Nation of YAN issued its first coin in February of 2009. It is a “One Yan” piece. The obverse features the eye-pleasing symbol for the event (designed by Lord Pagh), as well as the phrase “Free Olympics” and the date “129.996”. The reverse features the profile of “Yan I Emperor By the Grace of God”. This coin was designed/produced with the assistance of Mr. Jorge Fernández Vidal (for more information about this numismatist, please see my listings for HADEF and Westarctica). According to a description of the coin at the Web-site, “The coins represent the virtual national event amongst national projects from all over the world, and it is a mark in the new forms of national identity that are emerging. The craftmanship of Jorge is legendary around the globe.” In one of his e-mails to me, Lord Pagh stated that “Jorge is a very good craftsman I am really impressed by the quality of his work.” He also mentioned “that as soon as the 100 commemorative coins of the micronational olympics of 2008 are sold out I will revert to a current design so these coins will indeed be unique — there will be really only a hundred of them.” I acquired a specimen directly from Mr. Vidal. Lord Pagh thanked me for having purchased the coin because “it is really important for yanians, as it is an inch more towards recognition for every coin we manage to get out there.”
Images of the Nation of YAN coin can be viewed at the Web-site mentioned above and also at the Web-site of Mr. Vidal:
http://www.jfvcoins.com/Productos/micronations_english=catTZ.html
Images of the Zamunda coin can be viewed at the Web-site of Mr. Haseeb Naz (http://www.chiefacoins.com/Database/Movies/Zamunda.htm) and at the Web-site of Mr. Peter Geelen (http://www.jezuss.nl/zamunda.htm).
FERENGI ALLIANCE (FERENGINAR): The monetary unit of the Ferengi, a space-faring humanoid species native to the planet Ferenginar, used in all interstellar commerce, consists of “gold-pressed latinum”. Denominations, in order of increasing value, include the Slip, Strip, Bar, and Brick. Gold-pressed latinum is also honored as a currency by most species with which the Ferengi have had contact, if for no other reason than to expedite trade. As such, it is now a common exchange unit throughout the Alpha Quadrant. Latinum (technically, latinum ditensenide) is a rare metal — silver in color — that happens to be liquid at standard room temperatures. It is considered valuable because it is a naturally occurring compound that, due to its complex molecular structure, cannot be replicated with any known or projected technology. For ease of transaction, latinum is usually suspended within gold to produce “gold-pressed” latinum. This currency was featured in episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993-99). The Ferengi, however, were introduced in “The Last Outpost”, an early episode in the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-94). Gene Roddenberry's original Star Trek, it should be noted, aired from 1966-69, though the original 16-page outline/1st draft is dated March 1964. I purchased a gold-pressed latinum Slip from Mr. Eric A. Stillwell, who was a script coordinator on ST:TNG (he co-wrote the episode “Yesterday's Enterprise”). He also worked on ST:DS9, Star Trek: Voyager (co-author of “Prime Factors”), Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, and Star Trek: Insurrection. He also co-wrote a DS9 novel entitled “The 34th Rule”. This is an authentic, screen-used prop piece which hails from the sets of DS9. It previously belonged to the personal collection of Lolita Fatjo, who served as script coordinator on that series. It “is the smaller version of the Latinum props — the coin version of the currency, you might say. It appears to be made of some kind of plastic, painted gold. The lettering seems to be set down into the surface of the piece, not raised.” Mr. Stillwell was able to pinpoint a bit more accurately when this particular Slip was made/handled: “Due to wear & tear and attrition of props, I would guess this one comes toward the latter years of the series, probably 1996-1999.”
In terms of Ferengi exonumia, there is also a gaming token that was made especially for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. These props were used in Quark's Bar, Grill, Gaming House and Holosuite Arcade (commonly known simply as Quark's) — a popular recreational facility located on station Deep Space 9. Quark's was the vibrant, multi-level central attraction of Deep Space 9's Promenade, drawing crowds of travelers and station inhabitants with its offerings of drink, food, gossip, gaming (the establishment also operated as a casino, hence the chips) and fantasy fulfillment. The proprietor of the establishment was Quark, a Ferengi entrepreneur and sometimes petty criminal. Business in Quark's was conducted in gold-pressed latinum, of course. The gaming chip — it was used in a Ferengi roulette-style game of chance known as “Dabo” — consists of a six-sided piece of sturdy acrylic plastic (dark blue, red, green, yellow, perhaps other colors) that surrounds a carefully embedded metal coin bearing Quark's face and the word “QUARKS”. There purportedly was also a small Ferengi coin present on an episode of DS9 entitled “The Nagus”. According to the “Memory Alpha” (“a collaborative project to create the most definitive, accurate, and accessible encyclopedia and reference for everything related to Star Trek”) Web-site (http://www.memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Coin), “It is unknown if that coin was a modern, latinum-based coin or simply an antique.”
While we are still on the topic of Star Trek, the Shire Post Mint (please refer to my separate listing for this important numismatic entity) has also produced a coin inspired by the television show. It is a massively thick, triangular “K’huluk” coin, “believed to have been minted on the Klingon homeworld long ago during the First Empire. (Historically analagous to the Empire of Alexander the Great on Earth)”. It is made of copper. The obverse “features the face of the cultural hero Kayless the Magnificent (spellings vary)”; the reverse shows the imperial Trimaris (Klingon insignia). In the Star Trek franchise, however, the founder of the mighty Klingon Empire is actually Kahless the Unforgettable (Mr. Maringer deliberately altered the name in order to avoid any legal complications). He is a legendary mytho-historical Klingon figure who unified the Klingon people and became the first Warrior King and Emperor of the Klingon Empire. The Klingons are a warrior race in the fictional Star Trek universe. They were recurring antagonists in the original Star Trek television show — they were introduced in an episode from 1967 called “Errand of Mercy” — and were later featured in all five spin-off series. The proper name of the Klingon homeworld is Kronos, but the formal name is Q’onoS. The capital of the Klingon Empire is “First City”. Mr. Maringer has also made a coin for the Vulcans, a humanoid species in the fictional Star Trek universe who hail from the planet Vulcan (called T’Khasi by the Vulcans). Their capital is Shari’Kahr. In early episodes of the original Star Trek series, they were sometimes referred to as “Vulcanians”. They were the first extraterrestrial species encountered by humans. As a civilization, Vulcans were instrumentally responsible for the founding of the United Federation of Planets. Vulcans are featured in all six Star Trek series, four of which featured a Vulcan as a main character. The Vulcans were once an extremely violent and emotional people (even by Earth standards) who waged almost constant warfare on one another. As their level of technology improved, the Vulcans eventually reached a point where their violent nature threatened species extinction. In an effort to avoid this fate, a Vulcan named Surak developed a new philosophy thereby igniting the “Time of Awakening”. Surak maintained that the root cause of all the problems on Vulcan lay in the uncontrolled outpouring of the people's emotions. His followers swore to live their lives by an ethical system devised by Surak and based purely on logical principles. Emotions were to be controlled and suppressed/repressed. Mr. Maringer’s octagonal “blood” token was minted in honor of Surak, the revered peacemaker. It “is not a token of ordinary commerce, but a symbolic piece used to pay a ‘blood price’ in lieu of ritual combat in modern Vulcan society.” The obverse features a portrait of Surak; his name is also written in both of the Vulcan languages (Irik and Lahai). The reverse features the K’irShara, a vessel (a holographic archive) constructed by Surak to contain and convey his true teachings (the doctrine of C’thiya); the word “C’thiya” also appears in both of those systems of writing. The token is minted in pure copper, which “symbolizes the basis of Vulcan blood.” Furthermore, Mr. Maringer also struck a limited number of pieces in pure hafnium, anodized so as to achieve the exact appearance of “Vulcan Blood Green”. His careful attention to detail corresponds nicely to the fact that Vulcan blood is a copper-based compound and is green in color. “I did the copper first…they were hand trimmed on the edges and baked for the color. Then the hafnium last…as the fifteen hafnium strikes pretty much toasted the dies. (It takes a LOT more pressure to strike). I left the hafnium untrimmed…didn't want to throw away metal that's three times the price of silver!” Mr. Maringer described these coins at a major numismatic discussion forum: “Vulcan was a world of hot emotions, bitter feuds, and a tradition of personal mortal combat to assuage any insult. There was a devastating war between the Irik and Lahai factions that escalated into nuclear weapons and threatened to annihilate the population of the planet. Surak arose in that time. He was the philosopher who formulated the doctrine of C'thiya, which we humans translate as ‘logic’. But the word has deeper meaning, translating more as ‘recognizing what is real’. As regards war and conflict, Surak followed the logical process showing that all are harmed by war, both victor and the defeated. Therefore war itself is illogical since there is no benefit. Those who refused Surak's counsel and declined to denounce war gathered themselves together and departed in a fleet of ships to found the Romulan empire. So there was a split in Vulcan society, with those remaining on the homeworld dedicated to peace and stability through the practice of a meditative self-discipline. As was noted in the responses…the Kir'Shara was an holographic device made by Surak and which contained Surak's original teachings, in order that they not be lost or distorted. But the Kir'Shara was lost for a long time and only through the events detailed in the previously referenced 3 episodes [7/8/9 of Star Trek: Enterprise, season 4], was it brought back to the knowledge of scholars and philosophers on Vulcan, saving the planet from a return to warlike ways. It is my own addition to the story to say that Surak instituted the blood token. In Vulcan tradition someone who offers any insult, no matter how slight, can be challenged to mortal combat. The core tradition is too much a part of Vulcan culture to eliminate it entirely, but Surak stipulated that in lieu of combat, the blood token can be offered, and if offered it MUST be accepted. In the early days of the reformation of Vulcan culture many different tokens were thus used and many were quite valuable (which discouraged the offering of insults). Most highly valued of all were tokens made of the very rare element hafnium (Hf, #72 on the periodic table) because it was the use of hafnium radiation armor that allowed the core of Vulcan population to survive the nuclear holocaust and rebuild their society. By the times of Spock hundreds of years later, the use of actual metal tokens had fallen off and the offering and acceptance of them had been reduced to a simple hand gesture, scarcely noticed by offworlders. But still the surviving tokens found use as focal points of meditation on the futility of war and are kept as a remembrance of chaotic times passed. C'thiya adepts still prefer to use the hafnium tokens when they can afford them, but the modern copper reproductions are deemed a reasonable substitute, and being less costly they are avidly collected by tourists from Earth who buy them in the Vulcan spaceport as souvenirs. The few examples that exist here on earth today are thought to have been left by Vulcans who crash landed on Earth in the 1950s and assimilated for a time into our culture.” One of the fascinating things about this piece is how Mr. Maringer “found a guy who knew how to write in both the Vulcan languages. He was willing to translate the inscription into BOTH languages for me, so the coin is bilingual…but he refused to show me how to interpret the symbols. Apparently he is working with government cryptographers and they are very interested in the use of obscure and even fantasy languages [and scripts] as means of conveying secret messages.” Quite fascinating!! “Ever since the ‘Windtalkers’ of WWII fame, the use of obscure languages and epigraphy has fascinated the cryptographic community, and apparently they are taking fantasy languages seriously in this regard.”
Images of Mr. Maringer’s Klingon and Vulcan coins can be viewed at the site of Mr. Haseeb Naz’s private collection:
http://chiefacoins.com/Database/Micro-Nations/Kayless.htm
http://chiefacoins.com/Database/Micro-Nations/Blood_of_Surak.htm
TWELVE COLONIES OF KOBOL: Battlestar Galactica, a science-fiction drama created by Glen A. Larson, was broadcast on the ABC network from 1978-79. Initially, Larson (the Executive Producer of the original series) envisioned Battlestar Galactica as a series of made-for-TV movies (a three-hour pilot and two two-hour episodes) for the ABC television network. A shortened version of the three-hour pilot, Saga of a Star World, was released theatrically in Canada, Western Europe, and Japan in July of '78 (before the series aired) but it didn't appear in U.S. theaters until May of '79 (after the series aired). Instead of two additional movies, a weekly television series followed. Though the original series was cancelled after only one season, the franchise would later be relaunched in 1980 (Galactica 1980). Despite attempts to revive Battlestar Galactica over the years, none came to fruition until it was re-imagined as a miniseries in 2003 (followed by a regular television series the following year). A series of book adaptations, original novels, comic books and video games have also been based on the concept. Larson has stated in many interviews that he originally conceived of the Galactica premise in the late 1960s, which he originally called Adam's Ark. However, he was unable to get the project greenlit for many years. Battlestar Galactica was finally produced in the wake of the success of the 1977 film Star Wars. In fact, 20th Century Fox sued Universal Studios (the studio behind Battlestar Galactica) for copyright infringement, claiming that it had stolen 34 distinct ideas from Star Wars. Universal promptly countersued, claiming Star Wars had stolen ideas from the 1972 film Silent Running (notably the robot “drones”) and the Buck Rogers serials of the 1940s. The lawsuit was eventually dismissed in 1980.
All of the Battlestar Galactica productions share the same premise: in a distant part of the universe, a civilization of humans live on planets known as the Twelve Colonies of Kobol (a.k.a. the Twelve Colonies of Man), which were founded by tribes from Kobol, the ancient birthplace/homeworld of humanity. The Twelve Colonies, therefore, constitute the main human civilization in the original Battlestar Galactica television series and in the series re-imagining. In the original series, after an ecological disaster purported to have been created by technology, the tribes of humanity fled outward to the stars (according to the re-imagined series, this took place approximately 2,000 years prior to the Fall of the Twelve Colonies). These twelve tribes eventually passed through a magnetic void and settled on twelve different planets in an unnamed multi-star system within the fictional Cyrannus (or Cyranus) galaxy (a thirteenth tribe made another exodus to a planet known as Earth). The new series (the 2003 re-imagining) has never clarified their relative positions in space; however, Executive Producer Ronald D. Moore has stated that all the Colony planets are in the same star system, as described in the original series. The Twelve Colonies were named after constellations of the Zodiac. The Colonies of Caprica and Scorpia, for instance, correspond to the constellations of Capricorn and Scorpio. I have also read that the tribes' namesakes and icons/symbols originally corresponded to the twelve signs of the ancient tribes. The humans of the Twelve Colonies were virtually exterminated by the Cylons (a cybernetic civilization at war with the Twelve Colonies of humanity in the original 1978 and 1980 series as well as in the 2003 re-imagining; in the '78 series, the Cylons are also the race who created the robot Cylons), who launched a sudden sneak attack on the Colonies, laying waste to the planets and devastating their populations. A few thousand of the human survivors flee into space aboard any spacecraft they can reach. Of all the Colonial Fleet, the battlestar “Galactica” (a combination warship/fighter carrier that represented the Colonial planet of Caprica) appears to be the only military ship that survived the attack. Under the leadership of famed military leader Commander Adama, the battlestar “Galactica” and its crew take up the task of leading/guarding the small fugitive fleet of civilians/survivors into space in search of a fabled refuge known as Earth.
Numismatically speaking, I acquired a rectangular, domino-shaped “Colonial Cubit” made of solid brass. According to Mr. Robert J. Miller, the person from whom I obtained it, “These prop pieces were struck in the same manner as real coins and are extremely well made.” He also assured me of its authenticity, and that it “is an original prop Cubit used during production of the television series Battlestar Galactica.” In regards to the obverse side of the coin, Mr. Miller states that “I don't know if the pyramid design…has any intended significance or meaning.” He theorizes that it may be connected to the overall “Lords of Kobol” theme of the series (names, costumes, architecture), whose civilization was influenced by Egyptian (and other classical) sources. There were, for instance, pyramid-shaped buildings in Caprica City. This was the largest metropolis on the Colony of Caprica, a large blue-green planet that was the center of Colonial civilization. It was the home of the central government of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol and was its largest, most urbanized, most industrialized planet. Caprica was the seat of politics, culture, art, science, and learning. It was also one of the wealthier Colonies. The reverse side of the intergalactic Cubit bears a curvilinear symbol which I initially suspected might indicate the denomination of the coin, which would've been used by the Colonial Fleet. Mr. Miller, who has met several people “who worked on the various aspects of BG over the years”, provided a clear explanation for the significance of this amorphous character: “when I discuss the BG Cubits with other collectors they are referred to as ‘L’ and ‘G’ Cubits” and these letters are, in reality, the stylized initials of Glen Larson. The “L” Cubits (they clearly bear a more rectilinear “denomination”) were used only in Galactica 1980 (the short-lived, less expensive sequel/spin-off), and are “made of a lighter cast metal.” The '80 show also used some “G” Cubits that were nearly identical to the ones from the original epic drama. Mr. Miller reveals that when Battlestar Galactica was cancelled after its 1st and only season, no further episodes were planned. This later changed, at the request of ABC-TV. Nevertheless, the show's Cubits “may have been lost/sold/taken” while a final decision was still being made on a possible re-launching of the project. “My understanding is that a limited quantity of Cubits were needed for a scene in an episode of Galactica 1980. I believe the ‘L’ Cubits can be seen in an Earth police car that catches on fire with the Cubits on the seat...The Galactica 1980 Cubits are slightly different in color in person but the most noticeable difference is the weight...the BG Cubits are heavier and of a better quality than the lighter ‘cold cast’ Galactica 1980 Cubits. The BG Cubits are made of brass and are ‘struck’ in the same manner as Quarters, Dimes, etc. whereas the Galactica 1980 coins were made via a ‘cold’ casting process using what some people have described to me as a white metal material. It's a less expensive process and probably why they used this method instead of the original versions of the BG Cubits since their objective was to get” an additional “season filmed so they could more easily sell the BG series into syndication. At least that's what I was told.” After both Battlestar Galactica and Galactica 1980 were cancelled, “Universal Studios sold off most of the original props and costumes at an auction”. Mr. Miller knew one of the people who was present at that auction and who bought many of the items, including a large lot of the Cubits. This person then consigned some of the pieces to another Hollywood auction, and this is where which Mr. Miller obtained them. “They confirmed these were the Cubits that they acquired at the Universal auction.” I've also seen a non-metallic, resin version of the Cubits; Mr. Miller says that “To the best of my knowledge, none of the original set used prop Cubits were made of resin...only the fan reproductions.”
According to “Battlestar Wiki” (http://en.battlestarwiki.org/wiki/Cubit), an online encyclopedia of the Battlestar Galactica sagas, “Cubits are a form of government-regulated currency used throughout the Twelve Colonies in both the Original Series and Re-imagined Series...As a system of currency, the Cubit is somewhat analogous to the Euro, the international currency of the much of the European Union. Cubits, like Euros, are universally accepted across all twelve Colonies and most likely became the common currency after the federal government was established with the signing of the Articles of Colonization [signed 52 years before the events that ultimately destroy almost all humanity, this document — apparently drafted in response to the Cylon War to unite mankind against a common enemy — formed the united government of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol; before the Articles, each colony appeared to behave more as a sovereign nation, and there was open fighting between the colonies]. While the other EU member countries still use their non-Euro currency, no mention has been made of any pre-federal currency native to the individual Colonies as of yet.” In the original series, Cubits were normally seen in coin form. Frequently, viewers see Cubits wagered in pyramid games (a high-risk chancery game played with hexagonal cards; a Colonial version of poker), usually while Lieutenant Starbuck (the handsome, fumarello-smoking, womanizing, smart-aleck Colonial Warrior; he's also one of the battlestar's finest pilots) is playing (such as in the episode entitled “The Man with Nine Lives”). In Galactica 1980, the Cubits are much the same in terms of appearance from the original series (it was revealed, however, that they were made out of “auric”, the Colonial term for gold). In the re-imagined series, the Cubit typically comes in two forms: coin and paper.
More recently, I have seen a set of 4 fan-made replica Cubits for sale on eBay. They are made of brass, but with “gold” and “silver” plating. One silver/gold pair is from Caprica and the other is from Scorpia. According to the seller, Mr. Kevin Ericon, they are replicas of props used in the re-imagined BG series. “They're made according to extensive research of screen caps [screen captures are still frames from the show]. They bear the resemblance of the old coins, but they had cut-corner design like all things in new series. They are seen every time they play cards. And also seen as assassination signature, or used to flip coins.” The image on the obverse — it looks somewhat like a phoenix — “is also on a patch, so I think it stands for ‘twelve colonies’ like the bird logo in new series.” After conducting some research on the Internet, I learned that the symbol in question is referred to as the Colonial seal. It is the official emblem of the Twelve Colonies and is used by both civilian and military authorities. It consists of a stylized bird with outstretched wings enclosed by a circle. The reverse side of the new coins “presumably [features] a zodiac symbol” (these unique “colony symbols” suggest that each colony had different coins). I later discovered that these coins do indeed bear the appropriate abstract symbols pertaining to Caprica and Scorpia. From Mr. Ericon, I purchased a silver Cubit from Scorpia and a gold Cubit from Caprica.
GILLIGAN’S ISLAND: This is a “1½ Coco Nuts” token (“If you happen to go a boat cruise & end up on Gilligan's Island, this coin may be worth a few coconuts!”), which I chanced upon on eBay. According to information provided by the seller, Mr. Bill Yee, the token was made by “One of the guys at our golf club” in Scarborough (Ontario, Canada). This “golfing buddy” started out with a pair of humorous “Golf Addicts Anon” ball markers (“When you're having one of those days on the course, just pull out this coin.“) — good for “1 Mulligan” and “2 Mulligans” (“Whether it's per hole or round is your decision!”) — which “he gave out to everyone at the annual tournament”. I then asked him if there was any particular reason his friend selected Gilligan’s Island as a theme for one of his pieces: “I don't think there's any real story behind the themes he chose, other than maybe too much sun, beers & caesars at golf. At dinner, we were talking about his golf coins and one thing led to another as far as other funny coins he should make.” Gilligan’s Island was, of course, the renowned TV sitcom which aired on the CBS network from 1964-67. In addition, the same enterprising golfer also made a “Republic of Nigerian Scams” token, dated 2992, bearing the denomination “2 Skams” (“Good for payment on 2 scams!”).
REPUBLIC OF MARS: This humorous token features Marvin the Martian (anterior view on the obverse, posterior view on the reverse), a popular character that appeared in “Looney Tunes” cartoons (this Warner Brothers series, which preceded the “Merrie Melodies” series, ran in many movie theatres from 1930 to 1969). Marvin the Martian, who hails from the planet Mars, was created by animation director Chuck Jones. The prolific voice actor Mel Blanc, until he passed away in 1989, supplied Marvin’s voice. The lovable character made his debut (and met Bugs Bunny) in 1948's Haredevil Hare (written by Michael Maltese). Interestingly, he was never identified onscreen as “Marvin” in the original shorts of the “classic era” and he remained unnamed for quite a long while. This was remedied somewhat in The Hasty Hare (1952), where his character is referred to by the term “Commander of flying saucer X-2” (many Internet sources refer to the early Marvin as “Martian Commander X-2” and/or “Commander X-23”). It was only decades later — when the character attracted merchandising interest — that he obviously needed a catchy name and the current one was selected. Marvin the Martian also appeared in several other vintage “Looney Tunes”/“Merrie Melodies” cartoon productions (usually opposite Bugs Bunny), most notably: Hare-Way to the Stars (1958), Mad as a Mars Hare (1963), and Spaced Out Bunny (1980).
The lighthearted token was purportedly used for admission to Marvin the Martian in the Third Dimension, a 3D short film made especially for the Warner Brothers Studio Store. Located on Fifth Avenue in New York City, this was the studio’s flagship retail store. It closed in February of 2001 (a total of some 130 Studio Stores worldwide were closed by the end of October). This 3D cartoon, directed by Douglas McCarthy (he was also one of its 5 writers), was released in 1996 to select venues (apart from the Manhattan location, the film was also shown at Warner Bros. Movie Worlds on the Gold Coast, Australia and in Bottrop-Kirchhellen, Germany). Marvin the Martian in the Third Dimension was the second of two Duck Dodgers short film sequels to 1953’s seven-minute cartoon Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century, which was written by Maltese and directed by Jones (it was a spoof — featuring the brash and egomaniacal Daffy Duck as the hero of the story — of the popular Buck Rogers in the 25th Century and Flash Gordon science fiction serials of the 1930s). The first sequel, written by Maltese/Jones and directed by Jones, was entitled Duck Dodgers and the Return of the 24½th Century and was released in 1980. Furthermore, a third short — Duck Dodgers in Attack of the Drones — was made in 2003.
The obverse of the token features the phrases “The Republic of Mars” and “Good Until the 24½th Century”. The reverse features “Warner Bros. Studio Store NYC” and “In Gluteus Maximus We Trust”.
Images of the Republic of Mars token can be viewed at the site of Mr. Peter Geelen’s private collection:
http://www.jezuss.nl/mars.htm
HELION PRIME: This planet was one of the major settings for The Chronicles of Riddick, a sci-fi extravaganza released in 2004 by Universal Pictures (it is a sequel to Pitch Black, from 2000). All Chronicles of Riddick stories take place in the same shared universe, where humans have mastered space travel and have colonized numerous planets. Helion Prime, a major planet, is home to a progressive multi-cultural society based in a city called “New Mecca”, which serves as the capital and power center of the Helion System. Another important setting is Crematoria (of the Igneon System). Described as one of the last remaining “triple maximum security” prisons, this planet is a harsh penal colony reserved for only the most dangerous criminals. Crematoria was probably named with a “crematorium” in mind, based on its deadly daytime climate. The surface of the sun-scorched planet is not habitable because the temperatures fluctuate back and forth between the highest extremes of hot and cold. In fact, a person would either be incinerated if exposed to sunlight during the day or frozen solid at night. This makes it almost impossible for convicts to escape from the subterranean prison, as there is only a buffer of about 20 minutes where travel on the surface is possible. Other planets include Planet 6 (of the U.V. System), Aquila Major (of the Aquilan System), Furya, and Lupus Five. The type of money used in the Riddick universe is the UD (Universal Denomination). There is a scene in The Chronicles of Riddick which shows a safe/vault in the prison on Crematoria, and it is filled with “currency chips” and “currency bonds” (the incredibly detailed paper notes are printed with what looks like Cyrillic text on both sides). I even found, on the Internet, an image of the inside of the prison safe used by the set dressers to maintain continuity between takes. I purchased a specimen of this prop money (“used in the production of The Chronicles of Riddick”) from White Lady Arms and Autographs (http://whiteladyarms.com/). The “currency chip” is a 10K UD double-sided, see-through object (featuring ornate designs as well as an attractive prismatic effect), measuring 8.5 x 5.5 centimeters. It is purportedly made of Perspex (commonly called acrylic glass or simply acrylic, and also manufactured under numerous other trade names, such as Plexiglas and Lucite). The “currency chip” — this is how it is described according to one source — is more commonly referred to as a “banknote”. In my personal opinion, the term “currency chip” is most definitely a better name for the piece than “banknote”. These items are certainly not coins/tokens (they are too big), but they certainly fall in the range of exonumia. The UDs look so much like casino chips that it feels perfectly natural to call them “currency chips”. I can understand that the UDs have to function like banknotes, but because they do not have the requisite weight/thickness/appearance, we cannot call them by that name (a banknote, by definition, has to be made of paper — or some thin paper-fabric-polymer admixture). Apart from the 10K piece, I have also seen a 1000K piece. For all I know, there might even be a 100K piece, too. These UD “chips” are sold individually, but I have also seen them in bundles/stacks (bound together by a slender strip of material secured at the seam with a wax/lacquer seal). Out of curiosity, I asked a fellow member of the Unrecognised States Numismatic Society (http://www.usns.info/ and http://groups.yahoo.com/group/UnrecognisedStatesNumismaticSociety/) named Vladimir Startsev to take a look at the “currency bond”. He reported that “This is tsarist russian government conversion bond to the amount of 750 rubels. 1898 year. On 3 8/10%.”
Vaako, one of the moderators from the Riddickstyle fansite/forum (http://www.riddickstyle.net/ — a site that is maintained and updated by fans of the Riddick films, video games, books, etc…) provided me with an excellent overview of the UD: “The Universal Denomination is a fictional unit of currency in the Riddick franchise. The name ‘Universal Denomination’ is a play on words, as the Chronicles of Riddick was produced by Universal Studios. As the name implies, the UD is accepted on all planets (‘the worlds of man’, as the movie trailer described them). Because of this universality, there isn't any one ‘main’ planet that uses the UD as all the planets supposedly do. The closest real-world analog would probably be the Euro. Unlike the Euro, the UD is a form of a futuristic banknote only. There is no UD coin. The UD note is a semi-transparent sheet with some holographic printing and bundled forms of the note look like translucent clear plastic bricks with a sealed wrap.” I then asked him if there was a single over-arching governmental entity (an empire, federation, etc…) that rules over all the planetary Systems (including our own Solar System, since the Earth is part of the Riddick universe). He stated that there isn't any evidence of the existence of a single government entity ruling over the different inhabited planets and systems in the Riddick universe. “After the last 40 years of Star Wars and Star Trek, it seems there's an automatic assumption there HAS to be some sort of single totalitarian governing entity, either a fascist Empire like in Star Wars (the Original Trilogy), or some sort of more or less overtly socialist system like the ‘Old Republic’ (in the New Trilogy, Episodes 1-3) or the United Federation of Planets in Star Trek.” But no such governing body was ever mentioned in either of the 2 Riddick movies, the Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury cartoon, or the Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay video game. “At present, these constitute the entire Riddick core franchise. If we include non-movie material, the field widens out as it becomes increasingly obscure.” The novelization, by Alan Dean Foster, “elaborates only in part on the specific government of Helion Prime. It makes references to delegates, including clerical (in the religious sense) delegates, a defense minister, etc. Much of the discussion these officials have involves debating whether or not to help other surrounding worlds even within their own solar system. There's no mention made of any obligation to any central governing body beyond that, or even the existence of such a body.” He also points out that there isn’t enough material in the films to suggest “that Earth or any other planet is the capital of the Riddick universe, or that there even HAS to be a capital. A universe of independent worlds bound only by trade routes is, I think, more likely than The Old Republic, The Empire, or The Federation.” Because Helion Prime plays a dominant role in the economy of the Riddick universe, I wondered if this planet could well be the “home base” of the currency. Whether or not there is a “central bank” located there, the notion of a Universal Denomination (the unrestricted “prevalence” of the UDs) implies that some sort of economic agreement — one that specifies/regulates a common currency — must exist between the different planets/colonies. More than likely, the minting of UDs is allowed on various planets. “The very vastness of space would imply numerous mints.” Whatever the case may be, there is clearly some sort of financial cooperation going on between planetary Systems. “The Russian bonds seen in the film raise an additional point. As they were in the safe, they must also be a form of currency or perhaps a local validation for the UD. This points to the probability that there are multiple systems of currency in use alongside the UD (just as there are other currencies being used in conjunction with the Euro). This is also supported by the novelization of the Chronicles of Riddick. Author Alan Dean Foster writes that the bounty for Riddick was ‘One point five million. Universal denomination or specific currency of choice. Hard cash.’ This clearly shows other currencies in use. This is, however, Mr. Foster's expanded interpretation of the film script. However, both the distinctly Russian bonds alongside the UDs in the film, and the novelization do support the premise that other local currencies are traded in the Riddick universe in addition to the UD. In the movie, we see UDs and bonds being taken out of the safe as payment. In the novel, the mercenaries are paid only in UDs. Foster writes, ‘Now he was taking out universal denomination money. No credit; real currency. Electronic credit transfers were all very well and good, but u.d. cash could not be monkeyed with, siphoned off, or put in some other fool's name at the touch of a button.’ The UD features most prominently in two main places. 1.) as payment in the movie for the mercenaries who bring Riddick to Crematoria and 2.) as currency used to buy equipment and packs of cigarettes (used to open up bonus content) inside the Butcher Bay Prison in the video game. As the franchise stands now, those brief scenes of UDs and bonds in The Chronicles of Riddick are the only substantial, film-based examples of a money. Beyond Mr. Foster's novelization, there is no official fictional ‘backstory’ surrounding the UD or the economy that uses it. The world of Riddick has never been fleshed out in the same detail as the vast ‘Expanded Universe’ of Star Wars (or the even larger body of material for Star Trek). The unit of currency, UD or Universal Denomination was never explicitly stated in the movie. Toombs tells the Riddick the bounty is ‘one mil’ then, after a little prodding from Riddick corrects himself, ‘one point five.’ When Toombs begins dangerously haggling with the prison ‘slam boss’, again, no specific currency is mentioned, only the values.” Apparently, consensus is tenuous amongst Riddick aficionados as to what is the proper abbreviation for the Universal Denomination: u.d. or UD. “The currency unit UD and the abbreviation UD for Universal Denomination were introduced on Universal's promotional site for Riddick, the relevant sections of which are no longer available. For a short time, it had the distinction of being both a fictional unit of currency and one with real monetary value. Universal Studios used the UD as a unit of electronic ‘site currency’ Riddick forum members could collect and redeem for themed merchandise at the site's online store. For example, getting a friend to join the forum on your referral would net you so many ‘UDs’. Participation in various publicity events was rewarded with still more ‘UDs.’ After you collected enough ‘UDs’ in your account, you could buy Riddick ballcaps, posters, DVDs, or similar items. Contradicting Universal's official site was the simultaneously released official movie tie-in novel by Alan Dean Foster. He abbreviated Universal Denomination as ‘u.d.’ Later on, when the game ‘Escape from Butcher Bay’ was released, it returned to the earlier abbreviation, calling it ‘UD Money’ in both the video game and the Official Prima Strategy Guide.” I commented to Vaako that I found it peculiar that the studio would go through all the trouble of making a handsome “currency chip” only to refrain from showing them in more scenes or in a couple of nice close-ups. He responded: “It doesn't surprise me so much care went into making UDs so visually interesting, even though they got almost no screen time. The Chronicles of Riddick had a $120 million dollar budget and an enormous amount of that budget was liberally spent on incredibly extravagant costumes, sets, and props. One of the most amazing things about the movie is the sheer richness and beauty of the visual elements, with literally no expense being spared even on very minor props like UDs…There are a ton of gorgeous props that were made and never used or made and used in scenes that were later cut. Extra denominations of UDs fall into a similar category. The viewer never gets a good look at ANY UD denominations, in spite of all the effort that went into making them. A number of the UD bundles with the seals got broken up and sold individually by some prop re-sellers, so it's possible there are several different denominations floating around.”
BANK BEDROCK: The town of Bedrock, of course, is the setting for The Flintstones. This classic animated television series was created by the legendary team of William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. The first cartoon made for prime-time, it originally aired from 1960 to 1966 on ABC (it was also the network’s first series to be televised in color). From Mr. Jack Phillips (he was the publisher of Fun Money, the quarterly newsletter of the American Play Money Society, which ceased operations in 2002; he now has a Web-site — http://s88204154.onlinehome.us/pmjack/index.html — that focuses on “play money”), I purchased these cute plastic tokens: a “Baby Puss” piece bearing a “1” denomination, a “Betty Rubble” piece bearing a “5” denomination (I later sent it to a fellow collector), a “Wilma Flintstone” piece bearing a “10” denomination, a “Barney Rubble” piece bearing a “25” denomination (I later sent it to a fellow collector), and a “Freddie Flintstone” piece bearing a “50” denomination. Each token is shaped irregularly around the edges in order to resemble the outline of a pebble. Furthermore, each one is holed, so perhaps they were all meant to be worn on a bracelet. I’ve also seen a “Dino Dinosaur” piece bearing a “1” denomination. Sometime during the mid-1960s, the Whitman Publishing Company issued some type of “Bank of Bedrock” paper money. I don’t know if there simply was a “One Pebble” bill or if there was a series consisting of several banknotes. This play money, and perhaps also the Bank Bedrock tokens, may have been packaged/sold together. I have searched the Internet for Flintstones-related board-games and none of them seem to have contained any paper money or plastic tokens.
Interestingly, in August of 2004 (according to The Associated Press), “Federal regulators shut down a phony Internet bank claiming to be located in the tiny Colorado town of Bedrock — population 10 — near the Utah state line. Through its Web site, the First National Bank of Bedrock offered deposit accounts, investments, debit cards and credit cards, according to the federal Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. The address listed for the bank — 7729 S. Granite Ave. — doesn't exist, said Bedrock postmaster Ruth Swain. Regulators said it was unclear if the Web site was a joke, perhaps in reference to the fictional town on the old Flintstones TV show. But the Web site could have been an attempt to collect personal information, said Kevin Mukri, spokesman for the currency comptroller's office. ‘There are a lot of scams out there,’ he told the Los Angeles Times. ‘Usually, they're after the same thing, personal information and account numbers.’ The Web site seems to have been registered under a fictitious name, the office said. Bedrock, an old mining town, still receives mail for Fred and Wilma Flintstone and their cartoon pals, Barney and Betty Rubble, said Swain. She stamps them ‘Return to Sender: Fictitious Cartoon Character.’”
http://www.qns.org.au/Articles/Diplomatically_Challenged_Coins/Diplomatically_Challenged_Coins.htm.
And let's not forget the aforementioned, unparalleled sites of Mr. Chaim Dov Shiboleth (http://www.taedivm.org/micronations.html), Mr. Haseeb Naz (http://www.chiefacoins.com/Database/Micro-Nations/), Mr. Jorge Fernández Vidal (http://www.jfvcoins.com/index.html), Mr. Peter Geelen (http://www.jezuss.nl/index.htm), and Mr. George Cruickshank (http://www.imperial-collection.net/index2.html); they contain an informational bounty and each one is a magnificent feast for inquisitive eyes.
But arguably, the most marvelous place of all has been the Unrecognised States Numismatic Society at Yahoo Groups (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/UnrecognisedStatesNumismaticSociety/). It was created by Mr. Oded Paz on 6/21/03, not too long after he purchased one of my Zilchstadt coins. We ended up exchanging several informative e-mails, and this interchange quickly resulted in his desire to reach out to even more collectors. He then resolved to establish an exciting spot for all of us to congregate and to discuss our common/unique findings. The locus is loaded with messages, files (including over a dozen must-see Atalaya articles), and images that you won't see anywhere else. It has also eclipsed the older Micronational Monetary Union (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/themicronationalmonetaryunion/, founded on 8/14/00 by Andrew Williams IV), which hardly ever receives any new messages (but is still worth visiting, since some of the posts are quite fascinating, especially the ones describing the development of the Nova Roma and Microna coins). The USNS has evolved to such an extent that as of 12/8/04, it has had a Web-site of its own: http://www.usns.info/. There, you will encounter a fantastic hangout in which to make and share new discoveries. Come and visit, you may want to join us! Already, the USNS has been featured in the February 2005 issue of World Coin News (top of page 4!). The group and the coinage of unrecognized states are also illustratively spotlighted in a 3-page article (beginning on page 16) in the August 22, 2005 edition of Coin World. The USNS was also mentioned in the December 2008 issue of the ANA’s The Numismatist (the “Internet Connections” segment on page 25). Furthermore, the USNS has placed an eye-catching, half-page ad in the long-awaited 4th Edition of Colin R. Bruce II's Unusual World Coins (page XIII). This was repeated in the 5th Edition (page XI). On 3/15/06, the Unrecognised States Numismatic Society was officially incorporated in the State of California. Largely due to the efforts of USNS members, the online auction/shopping site eBay became aware that there was a need for a numismatic section specifically devoted to fantasy coins. The eBay Classification Team therefore added a special “Fantasy Issue Coins” branch under the “Exonumia” heading of its “Coins & Paper Money” category in mid-July of 2008.
Erik Victor McCrea
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