What's on the country pages

Each country page on the website lists some information about the country in question, followed by a list of items in the collection from each country. If you're wondering what exactly some information is, this page is here to tell you.

Country name

First is the short-form name of the country followed by every full official name it's had over its history

Status

A rundown of the country's status over its history, whether it's an independent country or part of another state, etc.

Location

A rough regional approximation of where the country is

Capitals

Every capital city the country has had

Government type

What sort of government the county has or has had. Sometimes the lines between different kinds of government can be blurry, but I've tried to make it as clear as I can, and I've had to simplify some things, such as excluding most periods of military juntas due to the trouble of properly defining them.

Main languages and religions

The most common languages and religions in each country. This one can be tricky since the numbers can fluctuate for each, especially over long periods of time (Egypt is a great example), but usually I go with the most recent stats.

Chronology

A rough timeline of the country's history, including periods prior to the adoption of currency for the sake of completeness, even if those periods aren't really relevant to numismatics.

Currencies

Currencies used by the country over its history. Below each currency are listed its units and how many goes into each. If a currency has no units listed, then it just has the one.

Coin and Banknote listings

Every coin and banknote has a line on a list, organized by period of the country's history, followed by the currency used, then the denomination and year.

Denomination and year

The first data on each line is the face value of a piece, followed by the year of issue. Denominations are always given in the singular form, so I don't have to keep track of the rules for plurals in 100+ languages. For coins without a specific year, a range of years might be given, or the years of a monarch's reign. If a coin was issued in a range in two or more monarch's reigns, then just the years are given and not any names.

Monarch and metal

In paranethesis, the reigning monarch (if applicable) is given, with regents also being included if the coin is issued in their name, followed by the material the coin is made of, with precious metals (silver and gold) also listing purity if known. It's worth noting that in years where a monarch abdicates or dies, all coins for the rest of the year are generally still attributed to them unless the new monarch is explicitly indicated by the coin.

Mint

After this is the issuing mint if recorded, which is either given as the name of the city where it's based for most government-run mints, or the name of the mint along with the city where it's based for most private mints, such as the Heaton mint in Britain and Canada's Sherrit mint. Sometimes a coin will be produced at multiple mints with no way to differentiate them, in that case, all possible mints are listed.

Reference

Finally is the reference number, the key for that particular type of coin as given in one of many catalogues. Most references are KM numbers, for the Krause Standard Catalogue of World Coins, which covers most coins issued from 1600 to today, with other catalogues being used for older coins and ones not covered by Krause. A couple coins will have "like" references, comparing them to a similar coin documented by an authority like PCGS or Zeno.ru. A few coins don't have references, usually because they're recent issues or because I just don't have a reference I can cite.

Other details and commemoratives

After the information given in parenthesis, I might also include any relevant details, like if the coin is a proof strike, an error, or if it's a commemorative, and if so, what the subject of the commemoration is.

An example

Taking an example from Canada's page:

•25 Cent, 2000 (Queen Elizabeth II (1952-2022), nickel, Winnipeg mint, KM#377) Commemorative: Entering the Third Milennium (Harmony)

The coin is valued at 25 Cents and was minted in 2000. At the time, Elizabeth II was Queen of Canada. The coin is made of nickel, and was minted at the Royal Canadian Mint's Winnipeg facility. The Krause catalogue lists this specific type of coin as #377 under Canada. The coin was issued as part of the Commemorative "Entering the Third Milennium" series, with "Harmony" as the specific feature within the series