Valerian Crown
The Valerian Crown (or by its simpler name, the Crown) is the circulated currency of Magnus Valerius and Shorehaven, the latter of which is a colony of the former. The Valerian Crown is used primarily amongst the nations of the Kuric Continent, where Magnus Valerius is the dominate empire. They come in paper bank note and coin forms.
Paper Currency
Paper currency has existed in Valeria before, as the now-defunct чинить (tsinitb, English: bushel) as a form of a payment guarantee from farm harvests under Phillip III; Tigranes III made this the main way to pay the royal government in taxes. King Henri lessened the impact of this currency by favoring coinage, and thus the bushel died out during his reign. George III began issuing guarantee notes that guaranteed a certain amount of gold bullion; these would become the future banknotes of the Valerian Empire. Banknotes began to be issued in 1617 under the reign of Ivan, and the banknotes were issued by the Bank of Valeria in place of hard coinage. Since then, they have gained precedence over hard currency, and essentially became the standard form of currency under the reign of Emperor Valens I.
The denominations of bills ranges from 1 Crown to 1500 Crowns, each with a picture of a monarch or artisan on one side with an image of an animal, plant, or landscape feature of the empire on the reverse side. There are also larger denominations out in circulation, but usually only the rich will ever see them since they are so rare. The notes come fully colored and since 1997, they have implemented foil application and optical features in order to cut down on counterfeiting.
Coinage
Coinage has been in existence in the empire for long before the empire existed. Old crowns were once made of gold, silver, platinum, or electrum, but ever since the reign of Emperor Valens I, coins were debased to copper-zinc alloys, nickel, and other non-valuable metals and alloys. The smallest denomination is a kopek (which is a .01 Crown) while the largest denomination is 10 Crowns. Often, crown coins feature the Valerian imperial insignia (the double-headed eagle) with a famous building and the denomination of the coin on the reverse side.