In 2022, Australia released a two-dollar coin featuring images of honeybees. This concept echoes a similar idea from around 2400 years ago in the Kingdom of Macedon, where a silver coin (the obol) depicted a bee on one side. Over the centuries, the currency that symbolizes the connection between honey and money has surprisingly persisted.
In a recent study, researchers examined the bee through the lens of numismatic history. As a result, they proposed a scientific explanation for why our brains might naturally associate honey-producing insects with the abstract idea of value.
What is currency and why is it important?
Money serves as a means of preserving value and can act as a medium of exchange for goods or services. Coins are a durable representation of value, unlike paper cash, which is a physical manifestation of money.
Since ancient times, coins have played a central role in many communities, facilitating effective trade. Their durability makes them important time capsules.
Ancient Malta was renowned for its honey. A modern three-milli coin (1972-81) commemorates this history with an image of a bee and honeycombs. According to the informational card issued with the coin set, this design symbolizes the fact that honey was used as currency in Ancient Malta.
In Ancient Greece, bees appeared on some of the earliest coins minted in Europe. For instance, they can be seen on a silver Greek obol struck in Macedonia between 412 and 350 B.C.
Bees are also depicted on coins minted in other parts of the ancient Greek world, such as a bronze coin struck in Ephesus and dated between 202 and 133 B.C.
The use of bees on ancient coins continued for centuries, including widely circulated bronze specimens. Researchers are still discovering new varieties.
Why do bees appear on coins?
One approach to this question comes from the field of neuroaesthetics, which seeks to understand our tastes through the underlying brain processes that inform aesthetic judgment. From this perspective, the sweet taste of honey suggests a high sugar content and promotes positive neural activity associated with bees and honey. Indeed, primatologist Jane Goodall once suggested that obtaining high-calorie food from honey could have been a significant step in the cognitive development of primates.
Bees on modern coins
The use of bees as a design element has persisted from ancient times to the present. The honeybee on a flower is depicted on a series of bronze 10-cent coins issued in Italy between 1919 and 1937.
Recently, a 20-cent coin from the Pacific nation of Tonga featured 20 honeybees flying out of a hive. This coin was part of a series initiated by the United Nations Food Mission to promote sustainable agriculture and culture worldwide.
Bees on coins today and in the future
As noted by Sciencealert, public awareness of bees and environmental sustainability may well be factors driving the current interest in bee-themed coins. The variety of countries that have used bees as a design element throughout the history of coinage suggests that people have long valued the connection with these honey-producing insects as vital to their own prosperity.
In Australia, the 2022 two-dollar coin featuring the honeybee is part of a series designed by the country’s Royal Mint. In 2019, the Perth Mint in Western Australia also released coins and stamps honoring local bee species.
Despite a decline in interest in cash, bee coins remain popular. The imagery of these honey-producing insects is likely to continue being an important theme in coin design as long as coins are still in circulation.