Last week, I spent a morning in downtown New York. There's one particular building I have always liked (the original CIBC building at 20 Exchange place, an old Canadian bank), so I took a few pictures of the designs on its walls. When I looked at these pictures at home, I realized that these strange and beautiful emblems were actually copies of old coins! This is so obvious, I don't know why I didn't see it right away! I spent an afternoon searching for the originals, so here are the results of my extensive research :) Please note that I have absolutely no numismatic knowledge, all this info comes from my personal observations and a quick google.

This is a rather common ancient Greek coin, a classical owl tetradrachm from 400 BC. The owl is a sacred bird of Athena, and the letters here ― Alpha Theta Epsilon (AThE) mean "of Athens". Note the olive branch, which is a symbol of Athena as well, and the crescent moon. In comparison, here's a modern coin that still bears that ancient image.

Where there is Athena, there's also Zeus! The Greek letters FALEION refer to the city of Elis, which controlled the Zeus sanctuary at Olympia. The coin is rare, c. 400 BC. This head of Zeus is thought to be an image of the Zeus statue at Olympia, one of the Seven Wonders.

This one is an extremely rare coin ― only 12 of these have ever been found. It's a dekadrachm c. 400 BC, minted in Sicily. The eagles devouring or chasing a hare are actually a very common motif on Greek coins, but this particular one also has a grasshopper on the right, which makes it unusual.

This is a head of Athena in an Attic helmet decorated with a griffin. The coin is a didrachm from 4th century BC, Lucania, Velia region. Not sure about the meaning of the letter behind her neck guard, there are many coins with this image and different letters.

This is a Cistophoric tetradrachm or triple denarius from around late 1st century BC, minted in Ephesos. It reads "Augustus" (the first Roman Emperor). As an Emperor, he frequently handed out free grain to the poor in times of shortage.

This is Janus, of course, and the coin is a Roman Republic Quadrigatus from 3rd century BC. As with all ancient coins, there are several versions of this image, and on some of them, Janus is old and bearded.

This is a Judaean shekel from 1st century CE. The flower here is a pomegranate stem with buds, an ancient symbol of prosperity and knowledge. The modern version is from 1967.

This one is my absolute favorite coin ― it's a serrated Roman denarius from 1st century BC. The people here are actual people, Fufius Calenus (some Roman general and consul) and Mucius Scaevola (that famous hero who put his hand into fire), but they are also representations of Honor and Virtue ― so these letters on the sides mean exactly that ― HOnos and VIRTus in Latin (RT being a ligature).

Moving on to the next millennium! This is, obviously, a Venetian ducatus from around 1665.

This is a Florentine florin, a very common coin in medieval Western Europe. This coin was first issued in Florence in 1252, and the design didn't change much till 1533. The inscription in the circle reads FLOR ENTIA and as such stands for both the name of the coin and the city.

This is a thaler depicting Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II, from around 1619―37. The letters here stand for Dei Gratia ROmanorum Imperator Semper AVGustus GERmaniae HVngariae BOHemiae REX ("By the grace of God Roman Emperor, ever consecrated, King of Germany, Hungary, Bohemia"), and we can see that the sculptor missed a letter "R" in "Germany". But that's ok, there are too many letters anyway :).

This is a Russian imperial coin from 1773. It reads "2 kopeks", but stone copy has another error ― a Russian letter "Д" in the first word ("две" for 2) is replaced by a similar looking "A". Also, here's another modern coin.

This is a ten sols coin from the United Belgian States. It was only produced during the state's one-year existence in 1790, following the Brabant Revolution.  The name "sol" is derived from "solidus", just like Italian soldo.