Regarding the stories about the terrorist group ISIS (or ISIL) planning to introduce its own coinage, Jeff Starck of Coin World writes:

The numbers and the logic just don't add up.

The reports indicate that copper, silver and gold coins are planned. Naturally, images purported to represent these coins feature imagery that issignificant to Islam and the region. This is no surprise, given that coins have served as mediums of communication since ancient times. Whethershowing the rose of Rhodes to identify the issuing city, or touting the accomplishments of a Roman emperor for propagandistic purposes, or honoring afallen statesman like President Franklin D. Roosevelt on a coin linked to his health struggles, coinage has and does represent more than mere mediaof exchange.

But so far, there does not appear to be any statement from a U.S. government official or agency confirming that a statement attributed to ISIL(which the U.S. government uses rather than ISIS) is authentic. Coin World telephoned the Central Intelligence Agency's media relations officeand the Department of the U.S. Treasury for comment. A Treasury spokesperson released this statement: "Any currency issued by a terroristorganization, including ISIL, would have no value given that the currency would not be recognized in international currency markets."

Dick Hanscom adds:

Minting equipment may be hard to come by, but there are instances of emergency issue coins being struck by armies on the run.

Look to Emperor Sulla in ancient Rome, or more recently, the famous German East African elephant coins struck in Tabora.

In both instances, engravers of varied skill created dies and formed gold so coins be struck the old-fashioned way, using a little muscle andsweat. Because they are not machine-produced, they would lack the precision that we have come to expect with coins.

Their crudity, then, would not match the design renderings released thus far.

To read the complete article, see:
Can ISIL issue its own coins? Facts indicate coins would be highlyimprobable (www.coinworld.com/insights/can-isis-issues-its-own-coins--.html)

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
ISIS TO ISSUE ITS OWN COINAGE? (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v17n47a25.html)