Unlike countries such as China or even US, Singapore is relatively a young nation. We will be turning 50 in 2 years' time, and 50 years is like a drop in the ocean when compared to 5000 years of history for China or 200 over years of history for US.
Because of the rich heritage of these countries, you will be able to find coins that are able to uniquely represent a part of their histories. Take the 1933 US Double Eagle coin for example. In 1933, a few hundred thousands of these coins were minted in US. However, because of the economic depression, an executive order was issued that year to outlaw the ownership of the gold coins and gold certificate. Thereafter, only a handful of these coins managed to flow into the market, and one of them miraculously ended up in Sotheby's auction in New York and sold for US$7.5 million. Please see the magical story regarding this coin in the following Wiki link.
1933 US Double Eagle Coin
Despite being a young nation, Singapore has its fair share of history since our independence in 1965. We do have many beautiful coins such as 1969 150th Anniversary of the founding of Singapore gold coin. I intend to cover these coins in future postings so that these stories can be shared with our future generations. With the advancement in technology, I envisage that there will be less and less usage of coins in years to come. Before and when that happens, it will be good to understand the stories behind these coins in shaping the history of our nation.
