So I am sure for everybody reading this post can agree, 2020 has been a difficult year for many. To lighten the mood as to what will be the final month of this year and as a personal treat for myself I decided to purchase an advent calendar. A coin company which goes by the name of the London Mint Office (https://www.londonmintoffice.org/) releases a coin calendar each year and this year I decided to take the bait and buy one.
Each day of the calendar you receive a different coin sourced from all over the world. Now personally I don’t expect any of the coins to hold any magnificent value. I think it is just the novelty of it you pay for. So for the next 24 days, leading up to Christmas, I will share which coins I will get from the calendar.
Since it is also the 1st today, I guess I better get started!
The first coin out of the calendar is a 10 sene coin from the small Pacific island country of Samoa. Dating from 2011 it is a single issue coin which was part of a five coin set to celebrate the history and culture of Samoa. On the 10 sene coin there is a representation of the Fautasi boat race which takes place every June as part of Samoa’s independence day celebrations. Fautasi (meaning “to build as one”) boat racing acts as a cultural connection between American Samoa and the other Samoan islands, and the boat design itself can trace it’s origins back to 1895. Although since it’s original inception, it’s functions from warboats and passenger vessels have slowly disappeared over the years due to government regulations and the adoption of motorised vessels.
Each Fautasi boat are around 30 metres in length and are traditionally carved from the whole trunks of trees. Each boat has a captain, and a coxswain beats a tempo with a drum in order to keep the rowers in sync. Typically each boat would have around 50 crew.
Numismatic Exploits 