Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
20 Dollars GMAM-Garrat 'Black Beauty'
| Issuer | Liberia |
|---|---|
| Year | 2001 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Dollar (1943-date) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse depicts a highly detailed low-relief profile view of the GMAM-Garratt 'Black Beauty' steam locomotive traversing a landscape with scattered scrub vegetation and boulders in the foreground, with a stylised smoke plume extending across the upper field. The series title 'LEGENDS OF THE RAILS - GMAM-GARRATT' arcs along the upper legend, with '"BLACK BEAUTY"' inscribed to the right field. The denomination '20 DOLLARS' appears in the lower exergue. The polished proof fields provide a strong contrast to the frosted locomotive design. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Reeded |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
The "Black Beauty" is one of several locomotive-themed coins Liberia issued in bulk around 2001, most produced by the German Mint (GMAM) for the international collector market rather than for any domestic monetary purpose. These series were essentially commercial products — licensed themes pressed into legal tender form and sold through overseas distributors. The Garratt articulated locomotive, developed in the early twentieth century by Beyer, Peacock & Company of Manchester, became the dominant freight engine across African railways precisely because its twin-bogie design distributed weight across weak colonial-era track.