Porcelain

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Porcelain
General information
Material type	ceramic
Color	various; typically brown, red, or white
Composition	generally clay
Numismatic information
Used for	Notgeld and pattern coins
Used by	Ayutthaya Kingdom Egypt (possibly) Guatemala (patterns) Japan (patterns) Portugal (patterns) Weimar Republic
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Porcelain is a ceramic material made by heating raw materials, usually clay in the form of kaolin, at temperatures between 1,200 °C (2,192 °F) and 1,400 °C (2,552 °F). It has been used in the production of coins, albeit rarely.

Numismatics

A porcelain notgeld coin.

The use of porcelain in coins and coin-like objects is believed to date back to Ptolemaic Egypt, when token coins of the composition are believed to have been issued. The Ayutthaya Kingdom introduced porcelain coins and gambling tokens in what is now Thailand in the 17th century. A few centuries later, a handful of cities in the German Weimar Republic used porcelain dies in the production of emergency money (German: Notgeld). Many of these German porcelain coins were produced by the Staatliche Porzellan-Manufaktur Meissen GmbH, a famous European porcelain manufacturer headquartered in Meissen, Saxony.

A number of pattern coins have also been struck in porcelain. The Portuguese Empire minted a porcelain 10,000 real pattern coin in 1858. Guatemala struck a porcelain 2 peso coin in 1920, and the Empire of Japan under Emperor Hirohito produced porcelain 1, 5, and 10 sen coins in 1945.

Gallery

Coin commemorating porcelain.

References

• Porcelain on the English Wikipedia
• http://www.coins-of-the-uk.co.uk/pics/metal.html#Porc
• Gedenkmünzen der Bundesrepublik Deutschland on the German (Deutsch) Wikipedia