Saturday 1 June 2013

The Bank of Nessie

What does it say about a nation that chooses the Loch Ness Monster as their second choice of subject for Scottish banknotes if independence was achieved?

A recent survey of 2000 Scots saw the national poet, Robert Burns, get a quarter of the vote and Nessie getting a tenth. So much for John Logie Baird, David Livingstone, Alexander Graham Bell and James Watt. Original story here.

On the other hand, Nessie is a natural treasure and if she ever was conclusively proven, even Robert Burns would be overtaken in the popularity stakes.

Nessie has appeared on money before. The best example is a one dollar coin minted by the Cook Islands government in 2009. 






Quite an interesting depiction which does not quite bear a true resemblance to what people see. I like the term "mystical" as opposed to "mythical", neither of which applies to the Loch Ness Monster apart form the older Kelpie stories. I have not found another legal tender coin depicting Scotland's second choice of banknote subject but some stamps do carry images. Some say that stamps are legal tender and can be used as a form of payment. Though I doubt they are legal tender, they can be accepted as a form of payment. This 1992 stamp from the Maldives Islands shows Nessie in her more plesiosaurian mode.







This 1991 example from the United Kingdom is actually aimed at dinosaurs but Nessie gets on to the actual first day cover. So no actual Nessie on the stamps themselves. If you know of any others, let me know.







1 comment:

  1. Seems appropriate. In reality so many of these financial institutions are mainly "underwater".


    *AnonStg*

    ReplyDelete