Carte veneziane - denari - Museo Correr - Cl

The suit of coins is one of the four

card suit In playing cards, a suit is one of the categories into which the cards of a deck are divided. Most often, each card bears one of several pips (symbols) showing to which suit it belongs; the suit may alternatively or additionally be indicated ...

s used in Latin-suited

playing card A playing card is a piece of specially prepared card stock, heavy paper, thin cardboard, plastic-coated paper, cotton-paper blend, or thin plastic that is marked with distinguishing motifs. Often the front (face) and back of each card has a f ...

s alongside

swords A sword is an edged, bladed weapon intended for manual cutting or thrusting. Its blade, longer than a knife or dagger, is attached to a hilt and can be straight or curved. A thrusting sword tends to have a straighter blade with a pointed ti ...

cups CUPS (formerly an acronym for Common UNIX Printing System) is a modular printing system for Unix-like computer operating systems which allows a computer to act as a print server. A computer running CUPS is a host that can accept print jobs ...

and batons. These suits are used in

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

and some

tarot Tarot (, first known as ''trionfi (cards), trionfi'' and later as ''tarocchi'' or ''tarocks'') is a set of playing cards used in tarot games and in fortune-telling or divination. From at least the mid-15th century, the tarot was used to play t ...

card packs. This suit has maintained its original identity from Chinese money-suited cards, where in English it may also be referred to as the suit of

cash In economics, cash is money in the physical form of currency, such as banknotes and coins. In book-keeping and financial accounting, cash is current assets comprising currency or currency equivalents that can be accessed immediately or near-i ...

. Symbol on Italian pattern cards: Seme denari carte bergamasche

Symbol on Spanish pattern cards: Seme denari carte napoletane

Symbol on French

aluette Aluette or Vache ("Cow") is an old, plain trick-taking card game that is played on the west coast of France. It is played by two teams, usually of four people, but sometimes also of six. It is unusual in using a unique pack of 48 Spanish playing c ...

cards:

Characteristics

The coin suit may have originated from pips on

Chinese dominoes Chinese dominoes are used in several tile-based games, namely, tien gow, pai gow, tiu u and kap tai shap. In Cantonese they are called (), which literally means "bone tiles"; it is also the name of a northern Chinese game, where the rules are ...

, or as a

play money Play money, toy money, faux paper money or formally ludic money is money that functions as a toy or a token in a game or when playing. The first such toy money was printed in 1880 by the Milton Bradley Toys company, and was actually a teaching t ...

substitute for

paper money Paper money, often referred to as a note or a bill (North American English), is a type of negotiable promissory note that is payable to the bearer on demand, making it a form of currency. The main types of paper money are government notes, which ...

in use for

gambling Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of Value (economics), value ("the stakes") on a Event (probability theory), random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy (ga ...

Lu Rong Lu Rong (; 1436–1494) was a Chinese scholar. He is also known under the courtesy name Wenliang (文量) and the pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person assumes for a particular purpose, which differs fro ...

's (1436–1494) account of the Chinese money-suited 40-card

Madiao ''Madiao'' (), also ''ma diao'', ''ma tiu'' or ''ma tiao'', is a late imperial Chinese trick-taking gambling card game, also known as the game of ''paper tiger''. The deck used was recorded by Lu Rong in the 15th century and the rules later by ...

deck has the suit of coins as

Cash In economics, cash is money in the physical form of currency, such as banknotes and coins. In book-keeping and financial accounting, cash is current assets comprising currency or currency equivalents that can be accessed immediately or near-i ...

with ranks one to nine. Korean poet Jang Hon (1759-1828) wrote that the Madiao game dates even earlier, back to the

Yuan dynasty The Yuan dynasty ( ; zh, c=元朝, p=Yuáncháo), officially the Great Yuan (; Mongolian language, Mongolian: , , literally 'Great Yuan State'), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after Div ...

(1271-1368). The ranks are in reverse order with the lower numbers ranking greater than the higher numbers. This features in many other early card games like

Ganjifa Ganjifa, Ganjapa or Gânjaphâ, is a card game and type of playing cards that are most associated with Persia and India. After Ganjifa cards fell out of use in Iran before the twentieth century, India became the last country to produce them.At the ...

Tarot Tarot (, first known as ''trionfi (cards), trionfi'' and later as ''tarocchi'' or ''tarocks'') is a set of playing cards used in tarot games and in fortune-telling or divination. From at least the mid-15th century, the tarot was used to play t ...

Ombre Ombre (, pronounced "omber") or l'Hombre is a fast-moving seventeenth-century trick-taking card game for three players and "the most successful card game ever invented." Its history began in Spain around the end of the 16th century as a four-p ...

, and Maw. By the late 16th-century, the suit of Cash added two more cards, the Half Cash and Zero Cash. The Zero Cash being the highest-ranked card of the suit due to the reverse ordering was marked red to easily identify it during games. During the 18th and 19th centuries, these two cards became suitless and took on new identities as the White Flower and Red Flower respectively.

Mahjong Mahjong (English pronunciation: ; also transliterated as mah jongg, mah-jongg, and mahjongg) is a tile-based game that was developed in the 19th century in China and has spread throughout the world since the early 20th century. It is played ...

tiles derived from money-suited decks in the middle of the 19th century and retains the coin or circles suit. The

Hakka The Hakka (), sometimes also referred to as Hakka-speaking Chinese, or Hakka Chinese, or Hakkas, are a southern Han Chinese subgroup whose principal settlements and ancestral homes are dispersed widely across the provinces of southern China ...

's deck, Vietnamese

Tổ tôm ''Tổ tôm'' or Tụ tam bài (chữ Hán: 聚三牌, chữ Nôm: 祖𩵽) is a draw-and-discard card game played in Vietnam, usually by men. The game is often played at festivals. It is similar to the Chinese game of Khanhoo. Literally, ''tổ ...

and Bài chòi decks, Thailand's Pai Tai deck, and Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia's or Cherki deck all maintain the Chinese money-suit of coins. To dissociate themselves from the gambling, these cards either have abstract designs for their pips or are identified purely by text. By the 11th century, playing cards were spreading throughout the Asian continent and later came into Egypt, where it would develop into Mamluk Kanjifa. Kanjifa, in turn, would further spread to Europe sometime in the 14th century inspiring the design of the latin-suited playing cards. There are many variants of Kanjifa/Ganjifa. One of which is the Moghul Ganjifa, where two of the eight suits feature coins: "Safed" (silver coins) which ascends from 1 to 10, and "Surkh" (gold coins) which descends from 10 to 1. In

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, the suit of coins is known as ''oros'' and the

court cards A court is an institution, often a government entity, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and administer justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordance with the rule of law. Courts gene ...

are known as the ''rey'' (king), ''caballo'' (knight or cavalier) and ''sota'' (knave or valet). The Spanish play with packs of 40 or 48 cards. There are no tens and, in the shorter pack, the nines and eights are also dropped. Thus the suit of coins ranks: R C S (9 8) 7 6 5 4 3 2 1. In the French

vendée Vendée () is a department in the Pays de la Loire region in Western France, on the Atlantic coast. In 2019, it had a population of 685,442.aluette Aluette or Vache ("Cow") is an old, plain trick-taking card game that is played on the west coast of France. It is played by two teams, usually of four people, but sometimes also of six. It is unusual in using a unique pack of 48 Spanish playing c ...

with a special pattern of 48 Spanish-suited cards, the suit is called ''denier'' and there are the courts are the ''roi, cavalière'' (female cavalier), and ''valet'' (jack). In

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

the suit is known as ''denari'' and the corresponding court cards are the ''re'', ''cavallo'' and ''fante''. Either 40 or 52-card packs are used. In the shorter packs, the tens, nines and eights are removed. Card ranking is thus: R C F (10 9 8) 7 6 5 4 3 2 1.

Portuguese-suited playing cards Portuguese-suited playing cards or Portuguese-suited cards are a nearly extinct playing card suit, suit-system of playing cards that survive in a few towns in Sicily and Japan. Although not of Portugal, Portuguese origin, they were named after th ...

were traded to Japan in the mid-16th century which influenced the development of

Karuta are Culture of Japan, Japanese playing cards. Playing cards were introduced to Japan by Portuguese traders during the mid-16th century. These early decks were used for trick-taking games. The earliest indigenous ''karuta'' was invented in the ...

where the 48-card Komatsufuda and 75-card

Unsun Karuta are Japanese playing cards. Playing cards were introduced to Japan by Portuguese traders during the mid-16th century. These early decks were used for trick-taking games. The earliest indigenous ''karuta'' was invented in the town of Miike in ...

decks still maintain this suit. The

suit of coins The suit of coins is one of the four suits used in tarot decks with Latin-suited cards. It is derived from the suit of coins in Italian and Spanish card playing packs. In occult uses of tarot, Coins is considered part of the "Minor Arcana", a ...

is also one of the four suits in tarot card packs used for tarot card readings and other cartomancy.

Gallery

Spanish pattern

The gallery below shows a suit of coins from a Spanish-suited deck of 48 cards. The pack is of the Castilian pattern: File:Aoros.png,

Ace An ace is a playing card, die or domino with a single pip. In the standard French deck, an ace has a single suit symbol (a heart, diamond, spade, or a club) located in the middle of the card, sometimes large and decorated, especially in the ...

File:2oros.png, 2 File:3oros.png, 3 File:4oros.png, 4 File:5oros.png, 5 File:6oros.png, 6 File:7oros.png, 7 File:8oros.png, 8 File:9oros.png, 9 File:Soros.png, Sota File:Coros.png, Caballo File:Roros.png, Rey

Italian pattern

The gallery below shows a suit of coins from an Italian-suited deck of 52 cards. The pack is of the Bresciane pattern: File:Asso-Denari.svg,

File:02-Denari.svg, 2 File:03-Denari.svg, 3 File:04-Denari.svg, 4 File:05-Denari.svg, 5 File:06-Denari.svg, 6 File:07-Denari.svg, 7 File:08-Denari.svg, 8 File:09-Denari.svg, 9 File:10-Denari.svg, 10 File:Fante-Denari.svg, Fante File:Cavallo-Denari.svg, Cavallo File:Re-Denari.svg, Re

Mahjong pattern

The gallery below shows a suit of coins from a Mahjong set of 144 tiles. Also included are the red and white dragons. Note, however, that the Dragon tiles are not normally considered suited, but rather its own categorization of honor tiles. File:MJd1-.svg, Red Dragon File:MJd3-.svg, White Dragon File:MJt1-.svg, 1 File:MJt2-.svg, 2 File:MJt3-.svg, 3 File:MJt4-.svg, 4 File:MJt5-.svg, 5 File:MJt6-.svg, 6 File:MJt7-.svg, 7 File:MJt8-.svg, 8 File:MJt9-.svg, 9

Ceki pattern

The gallery below shows a suit of coins from a Ceki deck of 60 cards. Also included are the red and white flowers: File:2019 red flower.jpg, Red Flower File:2019 white flower.jpg, White Flower File:2019 tong1.jpg, 1 File:2019 tong2.jpg, 2 File:2019 tong3.jpg, 3 File:2019 tong4.jpg, 4 File:2019 tong5.jpg, 5 File:2019 tong6.jpg, 6 File:2019 tong7.jpg, 7 File:2019 tong8.jpg, 8 File:2019 tong9.jpg, 9

Pai Tai pattern

The images below shows the red and white flowers and the suit of coins from Thailand's Pai Tai deck of 60 cards:

Six Tigers pattern

The image below shows a suit of coins from a Sichuan Six Tigers deck of 36 cards. The suit's name is written as (), simplified from the character () meaning "money." The 9-ranked cards of this deck all have red markings.

Tổ tôm pattern

The image below shows a suit of coins from a Tổ tôm deck of 120 cards. The suit's name is written as () meaning "

Chinese cash (currency unit) The cash () was a currency denomination used in China in imperial times. It was the chief denomination until the introduction of the yuan in the late 19th century. Etymology The English word "cash", meaning "tangible currency", is an older w ...

." For this deck, the top two highest-ranked cards of each suit are marked red, which explains why the Half-Cash card has the marking. However, the Zero Cash card was promoted to the String suit, thus becoming the Zero String and no longer being part of the Coin suit.

Komatsufuda pattern

The image below shows a suit of coins from a Komatsufuda deck of 48 cards:

Unsun karuta pattern

The image below shows a suit of coins from an Unsun karuta deck of 75 cards:

Individual cards

* Seven of coins. The seven of coins is the most valuable individual card in Italy's national game of

scopa (; ) is an Italian card game, and one of the three major national card games in Italy, the others being and . It is also popular in Argentina and Brazil, brought in by Italian diaspora, Italian immigrants, mostly in the variation. is also p ...

. Known as the ''sette bello'' ("beautiful seven"), capturing it is one of four achievements that earns a game point. This card inspired the name for the Settebello (train), which in turn inspired the name for Sette Bello, the racehorse. The card also inspired the nickname to

Italy men's national water polo team The Italy national water polo team represents Italy in men's international water polo competitions and is controlled by Federnuoto (the Italian Aquatics Federation). The national men's team has the nickname of "Settebello" (), the term for the ...

. * Ace of coins. In some Italian patterns the ace of coins is represented by an eagle. Similar to the

ace of spades The ace of spades (also known as the Spadille, Old Frizzle, and Death Card) is traditionally the highest and most valued card in the deck of playing cards. The actual value of the card varies from game to game. Design The ornate design of the ...

, it often has a more ornate design due to it being used for the

stamp tax Stamp duty is a duty (tax), tax that is levied on single property purchases or documents (including, historically, the majority of legal documents such as cheques, receipts, military commissions, marriage licences and land transactions). Histo ...

Notes and references

Literature

* * {{Playing cards Card suits