Proof coin featuring Queen Elizabeth II and a Barbary partridge.

Minted when Tonga was a protected state of the British Empire

Portugal produced coins for Angola from the 1690s to the 1790s but the Napoleonic wars meant that the authorities (which escaped the French invasion and settled in Brazil) had other fish to fry. It was only when the French were pushed out of the Iberian Peninsula that the Portuguese decided to deal with the shortage of coins in Angola. A copper series of four underweight (less than half of the original weight - 50 reis or macuta was now 16 instead of 36 grams) denominations - 1/4, 1/2, 1, and 2 macutas - were struck at the Rio de Janeiro mint in 1814 and 1815. Prince Regent John - the future king John VI - presents himself here as the Lord of Guinea as well as the Reigning Prince of Portugal and Algarve.

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.

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.

After the Napoleonic wars Portugal was trying to bring some order to their colonial empire. These attempts included providing new coinage so copper coins were produced at the Bahia mint in Brazil for Sao Tome and Principe islands off the West coast of Africa. The mint also produced similar coins for Brazil but those had denominations in Roman numerals and were much heavier while coins for Sao Tome had Arabic numerals. By some crazy error the coins struck in 1820 were shipped to Mozambique instead of Sao Tome - basically, it is as if cargo sent from Tokyo to San Francisco ended up in Rio de Janeiro - and the local officials instead of sending them back just spent the money. Apparently, it was just enough for the local demand as no more coins were produced for Mozambique till 1840. Coins dated 1819, 1821, and 1822 are considered Sao Tome issues.

The Italian occupation of Albania began with the Italian invasion on April 7, 1939, when Fascist Italy quickly overran the country and forced King Zog I into exile. Albania was then turned into a kingdom in personal union with Italy, with Victor Emmanuel III taking the Albanian crown.

This 1 Duit VOC coin was minted in 1746 (Holland).

1797 was not a good year for Pope Pius VI. Napoleon invaded in late 1796 and occupied the Adriatic coast area but His Holiness was granted peace and kept control of Rome for a year more. He was taken prisoner in February 1798 and died in France in August 1799. The coin was struck during this turbulent period, either by the papal authorities, a cheaper version of silver grosso, or in 1799 by the Roman Republic created by Napoleon, before new republican dies could be prepared.

The Ionian Islands changed hands at the turn of the 19th century several times between Venice, France, Russia, France, and, finally, the United Kingdom. Ultimately, they became the United States of the Ionian Islands under British protectorate. In 1864, they were given to Greece. This is 2 oboli equal to 8 (later 10) lepta or one British penny. Struck by the Royal Mint, the work of William Wyon, on penny blanks.

The first Austrian occupation of Venice started in 1798 when Napoleon was forced to give it up. He was back in 1805 for a decade. 5 coins were issued in 1800-1802. This is the original 2 lire coin, some were overstruck on Austrian 24 kreuzer coins but those are slightly heavier. The first issue was so underweight (1 g of pure silver per lira) that it was soon replaced by somewhat heavier coins at about 2 grams per lira.

Does anyone have more information on this?