The Grand Duchy of Finland was Finland’s political status from 1809 to 1917, when it was an autonomous part of the Russian Empire under the Russian emperor, who held the title of Grand Duke of Finland.
From an era that is considered many to be the peak of the British Empire. Interestingly, while Queen Victoria was on countless coins circulating in Hong Kong at the time, Victoria herself never actually set foot in Hong Kong. Funny to think about.
Its also fascinating to me to think about how people living in 1891 were using this specific coin for commerce, and had no clue how much bigger and richer that city would become.
Disclaimer: the text below is a machine translation, so there may be errors in it.
After the end of World War II, in one of the defeated Axis countries, one of the remaining retired aircraft designers sat and thought about witches. In the second half of the forties of the twentieth century, witches were not sweet. The sky was full of airplanes, radars were actively developing, where could a poor witch on a broom go? Another transport was urgently needed, which would allow witches to move around post-war Europe without attracting the attention of paramedics. Why not do something small to get around, even if not high, but fast? And that the price would not be much more expensive than a high-quality broom?
Whether it was true or not, history is silent. But there is no doubt that in 1946 the Italian concern Piaggio registered the rights to the design of a scooter designed by aircraft designer Corradino D'Ascanio. To advertise this scooter, the Italians used the image of a witch sample of the middle of the century - an emancipated and independent lady. Actually, it was this poster that inspired me to write today's text. After last year's story, which featured Italian motorcycle ads (and almost naked native women), one of the subscribers regularly began posting all sorts of works of Italian (and not only) designer poster art. And not so long ago, a respected German witch lit up the aforementioned poster with a moped. A moped, by the way, called Vespa, i.e. Wasp in Italian has gained such popularity that it has become a cult technique. And so much so that even in the USSR they released a copy of it, although without any licenses at all.
Among other things, Vespa promoted Italian ideas in the Italian colonies. More precisely, in the last of the remaining ones.
During the Second World War in 1941, during the East African Campaign, Italian Somaliland was occupied by British and South African troops, and the British administration began operating in this territory. In November 1949, by decision of the United Nations, the territory was placed under the control of Italy for 10 years, which was supposed to prepare it for independence. On January 1, 1950, Italy gained control of its former colony.
As the guardian, Italy had an obligation to ensure that Somalia were prepared for the transfer of power. In the previous fascist era, the state pursued a repressive educational policy towards its colonized subjects — the "natives" did not need to know more than enough to work as domestic servants, soldiers, translators and clerks. Somalia could attend primary schools run by missionaries and segregated by race only up to the fourth grade, and even this minimal education was mainly provided to children of capi stipendiati ("chiefs" who worked for the State) and those who served in the colonial administration or the army. Only a few hundred children were enrolled in these schools each year, which was far from the number needed to create an educated ruling class.
In addition to fulfilling the UN mandate, the creation of a new public education system based on Italian national curricula was also a means of forming a new Italian-speaking elite that would maintain Italian influence for decades. This generation of cosmopolitan Somalians studied Dante and Machiavelli in school, drank cappuccino, rode the aforementioned Vespa scooters and Fiat 500 cars, and spoke excellent Italian, some of them without leaving Mogadishu. (Other children were sent to study in Rome and Milan on scholarships from the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.) They considered themselves ilbahs (ilbax), a Somali word for a modern, sophisticated worldview oriented both East and West. One of the most important differences between these Mogadorians and the people they considered inexperienced newcomers from the hinterland, Reer Baadiyo, was their fluency in Italian.
Although Somalia officially gained independence in 1960, it remained the last bastion of Italian culture on the African continent until the 1990s. Italians and Italian-speaking residents could walk through the streets of a significant part of southern Somalia or the territory that used to be Italian Somalia without feeling very disconnected from Italian culture. Symbols of Italian culture, including Vespa scooters, could be found everywhere, especially in the capital, Mogadishu. This continued until the outbreak of the Somali civil war, but that's another story.
Few people know that in addition to the two-wheeled version of the Vespa, the Piaggio concern also produced a three-wheeled monitor lizard, which was used as a commercial vehicle, under its own name Piaggio Ape.
But even fewer people know that Piaggio Ape Calessino is the father and mother of all tuk-tuks, without which it is difficult to imagine Southeast Asia. If possible, I will write a separate story about this, and now I will note that the Piaggio Ape Calessino was used as a taxi not only in Asia, but also in Africa. For example, in Mogadishu in the 1960s, a ride on tuk-tuk cost 10 centesimo. That is, they could have paid for it with a coin, with one of the best, in my opinion, numismatic images of an elephant on the obverse.
The 10 centesimo of the Somali Trust Territory, KM# 3, were created by designer Giuseppe Romagnoli and minted in Rome in 1950 in bronze with a circulation of 7,400,000 copies. In my humble opinion, this absolutely wonderful piece of colonial numismatic art should be in every collection.
That's all for today.
In the attached photos:
10 centesimo Trust Territory of Somalia, KM# 3
Vespa Advertising Poster
Perfectly restored Piaggio Ape Calessino
A similar Piaggio Ape Calessino on the streets of Mogadishu carries passengers for 10 centesimo.
World Giraffe Day is celebrated annually on June 21. The holiday is timed to coincide with the summer solstice, the longest day of the year, which is symbolic for the tallest mammal in the world. Congratulations to all subscribers on this significant event!
Naturally, we cannot pass by and show you the halfpenny of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland!
This piece is somewhat problematic as Krause claims it is a not a coin while Numista and Belgian catalogs claim it is. It was struck on 10 centimes blanks, most probably sold at modest premium (US collectors will recognize the idea) and once the novelty wore off large part of the mintage ended up in circulation. I show it here because of the charming 18 year old youth - it is our Leopold II, the man behind the conquest of Congo, known from Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness. The coin celebrates his marriage, unhappy as it quite soon turned out.