for wunderkammer: leprosy colony money. and you thought the russian beard tokens were the most oddball currency going…well take a gander at this panamanian leper cash.

back when the united states was uniting the seas by digging ditches in panama, somebody was like, “what do we do with all these nasty lepers?” and then somebody else was like, “let’s send them to leper island!” and then a third person was like, “wait a second, even though the lepers can’t leave the island, their money might. we could get leper cooties!” and that’s why between 1919 and 1952, the united states minted special leper tokens.

in the end, the lepers had the last laugh because the 50 leper cent coin above recently sold on ebay for $1,000.