The United States of America has issued some strange denominations over its lifetime.  I will talk about most of these excluding the two and a half dollar piece, as I will write an article on United States gold coins, and half dimes, as they have a value of five cents, like a nickel.  The lowest denomination, the half cent, was worth half a cent; these were phased out with the large cents in 1858.  The half cent's value was worth enough to be used so it was abolished. The next denomination, the two cent piece was one of the shortest lived in U.S. history, lasting for only a few years near the civil war.  It was also the first coin the have the motto, "In God We Trust," on it.  The two cent piece was also the inspiration of the shield nickel.   The three cent piece had two different varieties.  The first is the three cent silver, and is the harder of the two to find.  The total mintage of these coins is not event thirty-five million.  The second variety is called the three cent nickel.  It is much easier to find.  The next denomination was the twenty cent piece.  These were issued for a few years and look almost the same the quarters, and as a fact were not well received by the public.  The twenty cent piece is one of the hardest types to find with the lowest price for everyone costing almost $100.  Over the one dollar mark we have valuable gold coins.  The two and a half dollar coin is excluded from these.The three dollar piece had a fair run, but is still highly sought after.  Most examples will cost upwards of $1000.  One of the most valuable coin, even in US coins is the four dollar piece.  This coin is known as the 'Stella.'  Very few of these coins were ever made.  All of the coins, however, were pattern coins.   Almost all of these coins will cost more than one hundred thousand dollars.  The most expensive one will cost eight hundred and fifty thousand dollars.  There are two varieties of the Stella.  Another notable strange denomination is the Half Union.  The Half Union was a pattern coin worth fifty dollars.   There are only two known examples of this coin and are both kept in the Smithsonian.  The United States had made many strange denominations of the course of it's history.

   German currency is some of the oldest modern and ancient currencies you can find. Germany, formed from the many city states, such as Prussia and Brandenburg, is one of the dominant powers in Europe. Germany, being one of my favorite countries, sticks out to me and many others for being so old and unique.  The oldest German Currency you can find would be that of the German city states commonly known as the 'Thaler'.  The 'Thaler' comes in many odd denominations being that is a pre decimal currency;  it is not uncommon to find 1/12 1/24 and 1/3 Thalers.  I happen to have a 1/12 Thaler from 1693 (NGC 2654394-003 if you are interested in seeing it) and it is the oldest dated coin that I own.  After the states ended slow unification in the area occurred with countries such as Prussia coming into existence.  This was short lived and was succeded by the German Empire.  The German Empire used the very first incarnation of the Mark.  The German Empire was defeated in World War I and was followed by the Weimar Republic.  The Weimar Republic was doomed from the start with the 'Papiermark' (Papermark)  being worth so little that it was used for wallpaper.  Coins from this era are harder to find than most others but hyperinflation notes are readily available.  After the Weimar Republic Nazi Germany was founded with Adolph Hitler as the 'Führer' (leader).  Nazi Germany used the Reichsmark, however, it was used briefly in Weimar Republic as well.  Coins from this era are often collected for the Swastika and non Swastika varieties.  The Reichsmark was used shortly after the war as well.  After the Nazis fell the divided Germany was formed.  Divided German used the now readily available Deutschmark.  The Deutschmark was used even after the reunification until 2002 when Germany (unfortunately) adopted the Euro.  The Euro coins are available in special German issues to add variety to the currency which I heavily dislike.  The history of the German currency is one of the most interesting histories of any European currencies.  Germany has a bright future ahead with many Euro Commemoratives ready to be minted.  Germany also has a large number of mints with them being labled in alphabetical order.  The subunit of the Mark was the pfennig and replaced the fractions on the Thaler.  German Currency is highly collectable with many people specializing in the field.

The Half Dime is one of my favorite coins.  They were first minted as a 'Half Disme' but really uncommon and the counter part to the 'Disme'. Both of which, today, are very valuable.  Unlike the nickel, Half Dimes were made of silver, not nickel, and were roughly have the size of a dime.  Half Dimes were worth five cents, like the modern nickel. They were minted until 1873.  The following coin became known as the shield nickel and was made of copper and nickel.  The shield nickel is one of the few United States coin that does not picture a person or animal.  Shield Nickels are usually demanding of high premiums of twenty dollars or more.  The next nickel, the Liberty Head V Nickel was met with various problems.  One of which was the initial exclusion of the word 'cents.'  Since the similar size and design it was commonly gold plated and passed off as a higher denomination coin.  Following this the mint quickly added the word cents to the bottom.  Most do not carry a very high premium (with the exception of a few) and are available for around two dollars or less.  The next nickel became known as the buffalo nickel.  The buffalo nickel was flawed from the beginning with both 'five cents' and the date being the highest parts of the coin.  The only modification, however, was of the words 'five cent'.  Because of this, more dateless nickels are found than ones with dates.  Even though there are more dateless nickels than dated ones, they carry a very low premium, usually two dollars or less.  The following nickel, the first Jefferson Nickel was struck with the same composition as the past varieties.  Soon after that, however, the second world war started and demanded nickel for the war effort.  The nickels (commonly known as war nickels) were struck with thirty five percent silver and nine percent manganese.  The silver content in these nickels is often worth twenty or more times face value with silver being at around fifteen dollars.  These nickels commonly have a black tarnish and unattractive appearance.  After that they were returned to the original composition.  The design stayed the same until 2004.  The special design nickels with different reverses brought about the new obverse.  The second design featured the original Monticello reverse with Jefferson looking forward, making it one of the few coin where the person is looking forward.  The current nickel features the mint marks of Denver  and Philadelphia for circulation coins and San Francisco for proof coins.  Event though the long run of these coins has been positive, the future of the nickel has been in question with the value of the dollar becoming lower.  The metal in the nickel has even, at points, surpassed its intrinsic value.  This caused the government to make it illegal to melt pennies and nickels for their metal.  The mint marks on the Jefferson nickel are located next to the Monticello building on older nickels, above the dome on silver nickels, and on the front rim on the newer ones.  - Peyton Smith