Imperial Curls and Comb-overs
Spend enough time photographing coins, and you start to realize that numismatics doubles as an accidental barbershop archive of the elite.
For hundreds of years, coin engravers have been quietly documenting men’s hairstyles. Not just tidy classical curls and dignified side parts—but the full parade. Towering 18th-century arrangements that wouldn’t look out of place in an ’80s glamrock band, to a walrus mustache so large you wonder how they manage to eat.I'll start with the 1948 Hungarian Silver 5 Forint. That's Sándor Petőfi, a Hungarian poet and liberal revolutionary, with a pompadour that defies gravity. Originally, the pompadour was a lady's hairstyle named after Madame de Pompadour (1721–1764), a mistress of King Louis XV of France, but Sándor rocks it too.
The fellow on the 1947 Hungarian 5 Forint is Lajos Kossuth, and in his mind, a squirrel tail beard below the jaw line looks dashing. Or maybe he was trying to cover a double chin? I look at this portrait and think, “Sir, that is absolutely a comb-forward.” It is, but that's the style of the time and not his response to male pattern balding. Take a look at his Daguerreotype portrait from May 1852. I think you'll agree.
Those are just a couple of highlights from the tray.
Below is a gallery of dozens more examples spanning centuries and continents. Some are deliberate statements of authority. Some are fashion frozen mid-trend. A few feel like the die cutter caught the ruler on a particularly windy day.
Scroll through and see what jumps out at you. Coins may be small, but the hair is often the loudest thing in the room.
Are we missing a wig? Let us know.
History’s greatest hair archive is still incomplete.
If you have a coin in your collection featuring unforgettable whiskers, towering wigs, philosophical goatees, imperial curls, dramatic mutton chops—or a portrait that looks like it lost a battle with the wind—I’d love to see it.
Send a clear image along with the ruler’s name, date, and denomination to info@coinphotographystudio.com, and I’ll add the best examples to this growing gallery (with credit, of course). Let’s build the most entertaining follicular timeline in numismatics—one coin at a time.
Some rulers conquered empires. Others conquered the comb.
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