2 Reichsmark – Germany, 1936

1- Profile of Paul von Hindenburg 1847–1934), German military officer and  of the country from 1925 to 1934.
2- Paul von Hindenburg’s name and the years of his birth and death are engraved around his image.
3- The mint mark is between Paul von Hindenburg’s neck and the engraving of the year 1847.
4- The imperial eagle resting on an oak-leaf crown with a swastika inside symbol of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (NSDAP).
5- The swastika divides the engraving of the coin’s face value, 2 Reichsmark, expressed in digits to the left, from the coin’s name to the right.

1 Lira – Italy, 1939

1- Image of a mature King Victor Emmanuel III. His name and titles are engraved around the image: King and Emperor.
2- The name G. Romagnoli (1872-1966) is in the lower section. He was a famous Italian sculptor and medalist.
3- The eagle on fasces was the official emblem of the Italian Social Republic from 1943 to 1945.
4- The year of issue is engraved on the left and, in Roman numerals on the right, the year of the “Fascist Era” (XVIII).
5- The word ITALIA is engraved around the shield, and beneath the fasces, the coat of arms is flanked by the L for liras on one side and the coin’s value in digits, 1, on the other.

2 Francs – France under the Vichy Regime, 1943

1- Emblem of the Vichy regime: a double-edged axe with a handle decorated with ten five-pointed stars. There are three different reliefs on the blade of the axe: one for each of the colors of the French flag. The emblem is flanked by two sprigs of wheat in the lower section.

2- The name ETAT FRANÇAIS (French State) was officially adopted when the Germans invaded and it marked among other things, the end of the republican system in the country.

3- The motto of the Vichy regime was TRAVAIL• FAMILLE•PATRIE (work, family, homeland)—values characteristic of Fascist regimes. The motto of the republic, Liberté, égalité, fraternité (liberty, equality, fraternity), disappeared from the French franc.

4- The face value of two francs is written in digits. It is flanked by oak leaves. The name of the coin and year minted appear at the bottom.

25 Cents – Belgium under the German Occupation, 1942

1- Monogram of Leopold III, the monarch who governed Belgium from 1934 to 1951, a period that encompassed the Nazi occupation. The monogram is represented around a hole in the middle of the coin. The number three in Roman numerals—a reference to the Belgian monarch’s regnal number— is at the center of the monogram. A crown hovers over the number itself.

2- The lower-central section features the year the coin was minted.

3- The coats of arms of Brussels (to the left), of Mons (in the middle), and of Bruges (to the right), which together constituted the United States of Belgium , are located around the central hole.

4- The name of the emitting nation appears along the upper rim in French, BELGIQUE, and in Dutch, BELGIE.

2 rentenmark – Germany, 1937

1- The center of the bill includes with noticeable letters its face value, Zwei Rentenmark (two Rentenmark).
2- The text in smaller typography in the middle of the bill includes information about the place and date of its printing Berlin, January 30, 1937).
3- The text in the upper-middle section of the bill refers to the entity responsible for issuing bills—that is, the Deutsche Rentenbank.
4- The central section shows a floral motif, specifically a sheaf of corn, in a sort of circular frame.
5- The bill’s face value is expressed in digits on either side of that sheaf of corn.

Check for 5 dollars – United States of America, 1932

1- Inscription indicating where the check was issued (in this case in Charleston, South Carolina).
2- Inscription on the midsection of the check with the date it was issued, its nominal value (5 dollars), and the reason for payment.
3- Inscription on the upper righthand section indicating why the check was issued.
4- Inscriptions on the lower righthand section warning that the check is not valued without the serial number.

ECC forms part of the American Numismatic Association (ANA), founded in 1891 by Dr. George Francis Heath. With headquarters in Colorado Springs,  Colorado, the ANA is a nonprofit  educational organization dedicated to  educating persons on numismatics and encouraging coin collecting.