Numismatics is the study or collection of
currency
A currency, "in circulation", from la, currens, -entis, literally meaning "running" or "traversing" is a standardization of money in any form, in use or circulation as a medium of exchange, for example banknotes and coins.
A more general ...
, including coins, tokens, paper money, medals and related objects.
Specialists, known as
numismatist
A numismatist is a specialist in numismatics ("of coins"; from Late Latin ''numismatis'', genitive of ''numisma''). Numismatists include collectors, specialist dealers, and scholars who use coins and other currency in object-based research. Altho ...
s, are often characterized as students or collectors of
coins
A coin is a small, flat (usually depending on the country or value), round piece of metal or plastic used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order t ...
, but the discipline also includes the broader study of
money
Money is any item or verifiable record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts, such as taxes, in a particular country or socio-economic context. The primary functions which distinguish money are as ...
and other means of
payment
A payment is the voluntary tender of money or its equivalent or of things of value by one party (such as a person or company) to another in exchange for goods, or services provided by them, or to fulfill a legal obligation. The party making the ...
used to resolve
debt
Debt is an obligation that requires one party, the debtor, to pay money or other agreed-upon value to another party, the creditor. Debt is a deferred payment, or series of payments, which differentiates it from an immediate purchase. The ...
s and exchange
goods
In economics, goods are items that satisfy human wants
and provide utility, for example, to a consumer making a purchase of a satisfying product. A common distinction is made between goods which are transferable, and services, which are not t ...
.
![Coin collectors and enthusiasts by Yogabrata Chakraborty, 2022](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dd/Coin_collectors_and_enthusiasts_by_Yogabrata_Chakraborty%2C_2022.jpg)
The earliest forms of money used by people are categorised by collectors as "Odd and Curious", but the use of other goods in barter exchange is excluded, even where used as a circulating
currency
A currency, "in circulation", from la, currens, -entis, literally meaning "running" or "traversing" is a standardization of money in any form, in use or circulation as a medium of exchange, for example banknotes and coins.
A more general ...
(e.g.,
cigarettes or
instant noodles in prison). As an example, the
Kyrgyz people used
horse
The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million yea ...
s as the principal currency unit, and gave small change in
lambskins;
the lambskins may be suitable for numismatic study, but the horses are not. Many objects have been used for centuries, such as
cowry shells,
precious metals,
cocoa beans
The cocoa bean (technically cocoa seed) or simply cocoa (), also called the cacao bean (technically cacao seed) or cacao (), is the dried and fully fermented seed of ''Theobroma cacao'', from which cocoa solids (a mixture of nonfat substances ...
,
large stones, and
gems
Gems, or gemstones, are polished, cut stones or minerals.
Gems or GEMS may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media
* ''Gems'' (Aerosmith album), 1988
* ''Gems'' (Patti LaBelle album), 1994
* ''Gems'' (Michael Bolton album), 2011
* Gems TV, ...
.
Etymology
First attested in English 1829, the word ''numismatics'' comes from the adjective ''numismatic'', meaning "of coins". It was borrowed in 1792 from
French ''numismatiques'', itself a derivation from
Late Latin
Late Latin ( la, Latinitas serior) is the scholarly name for the form of Literary Latin of late antiquity.Roberts (1996), p. 537. English dictionary definitions of Late Latin date this period from the , and continuing into the 7th century in t ...
''numismatis'', genitive of ''numisma'', a variant of ''nomisma'' meaning "coin". Nomisma is a
latinisation of the
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
νόμισμα (''nomisma'') which means "current coin/custom", which derives from
νομίζειν (''nomizein''), "to hold or own as a custom or usage, to use customarily", in turn from
νόμος (''nomos''), "usage, custom", ultimately from
νέμειν (''nemein''), "to dispense, divide, assign, keep, hold".
History of money
Throughout its history, money itself has been made to be a
scarce
In economics, scarcity "refers to the basic fact of life that there exists only a finite amount of human and nonhuman resources which the best technical knowledge is capable of using to produce only limited maximum amounts of each economic good. ...
good, although it does not have to be. Many materials have been used to form money, from naturally scarce
precious metals and
cowry shell
Cowrie or cowry () is the common name for a group of small to large sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Cypraeidae, the cowries.
The term '' porcelain'' derives from the old Italian term for the cowrie shell (''porcellana' ...
s through
cigarettes to entirely artificial money, called
fiat money
Fiat money (from la, fiat, "let it be done") is a type of currency that is not backed by any commodity such as gold or silver. It is typically designated by the issuing government to be legal tender. Throughout history, fiat money was sometim ...
, such as
banknote
A banknote—also called a bill (North American English), paper money, or simply a note—is a type of negotiable promissory note, made by a bank or other licensed authority, payable to the bearer on demand.
Banknotes were originally issued ...
s. Many complementary currencies use time as a unit of measure, using mutual credit accounting that keeps the balance of money intact.
Modern money (and most ancient money too) is essentially a token – an abstraction. Paper currency is perhaps the most common type of physical money today. However, goods such as
gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile me ...
or
silver
Silver is a chemical element with the symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical ...
retain many of the essential properties of money, such as
volatility and limited supply. However, these goods are not controlled by one single authority.
History of numismatics
Coin collecting
Coin collecting is the collecting of coins or other forms of minted legal tender.
Coins of interest to collectors often include those that were in circulation for only a brief time, coins with mint errors, and especially beautiful or historic ...
may have possibly existed in ancient times.
Caesar Augustus gave "coins of every device, including old pieces of the kings and foreign money" as
Saturnalia gifts.
Petrarch
Francesco Petrarca (; 20 July 1304 – 18/19 July 1374), commonly anglicized as Petrarch (), was a scholar and poet of early Renaissance Italy, and one of the earliest humanists.
Petrarch's rediscovery of Cicero's letters is often credited ...
, who wrote in a letter that he was often approached by vinediggers with old coins asking him to buy or to identify the ruler, is credited as the first
Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history
The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...
collector. Petrarch presented a collection of Roman coins to
Emperor Charles IV
Charles IV ( cs, Karel IV.; german: Karl IV.; la, Carolus IV; 14 May 1316 – 29 November 1378''Karl IV''. In: (1960): ''Geschichte in Gestalten'' (''History in figures''), vol. 2: ''F–K''. 38, Frankfurt 1963, p. 294), also known as Charle ...
in 1355.
The first book on coins was ''De Asse et Partibus'' (1514) by
Guillaume Budé
Guillaume Budé (; Latinized as Guilielmus Budaeus; 1468 – 1540) was a French scholar and humanist. He was involved in the founding of Collegium Trilingue, which later became the Collège de France.
Budé was also the first keeper of the ...
. During the early Renaissance ancient coins were collected by European royalty and nobility. Collectors of coins were Pope
Boniface VIII
Pope Boniface VIII ( la, Bonifatius PP. VIII; born Benedetto Caetani, c. 1230 – 11 October 1303) was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 24 December 1294 to his death in 1303. The Caetani family was of baronial ...
, Emperor Maximilian of the Holy Roman Empire,
Louis XIV
, house = Bourbon
, father = Louis XIII
, mother = Anne of Austria
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France
, death_date =
, death_place = Palace of Ver ...
of France, Ferdinand I, Elector
Joachim II of Brandenburg who started the Berlin coin cabinet and
Henry IV of France
Henry IV (french: Henri IV; 13 December 1553 – 14 May 1610), also known by the epithets Good King Henry or Henry the Great, was King of Navarre (as Henry III) from 1572 and King of France from 1589 to 1610. He was the first monarch ...
to name a few. Numismatics is called the "Hobby of Kings", due to its most esteemed founders.
Professional societies organised in the 19th century. The
Royal Numismatic Society
The Royal Numismatic Society (RNS) is a learned society and charity based in London, United Kingdom which promotes research into all branches of numismatics. Its patron was Queen Elizabeth II.
Membership
Foremost collectors and researchers, bo ...
was founded in 1836 and immediately began publishing the journal that became the ''Numismatic Chronicle''. The
American Numismatic Society
The American Numismatic Society (ANS) is a New York City-based organization dedicated to the study of coins, money, medals, tokens, and related objects. Founded in 1858, it is the only American museum devoted exclusively to their preservati ...
was founded in 1858 and began publishing the ''American Journal of Numismatics'' in 1866.
In 1931 the
British Academy
The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences.
It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars spa ...
launched the
Sylloge Nummorum Graecorum publishing collections of
Ancient Greek coinage
The history of ancient Greek coinage can be divided (along with most other Greek art forms) into four periods: the Archaic, the Classical, the Hellenistic and the Roman. The Archaic period extends from the introduction of coinage to the Greek ...
. The first volume of
Sylloge of Coins of the British Isles was published in 1958.
In the 20th century coins gained recognition as archaeological objects, scholars such as
Guido Bruck Guido Bruck (11 November 1920, Vienna – 13 March 1966, Melk) was an Austrian Numismatist
In 1948, he obtained his Doctorate in Philosophy. In the same year, he was appointed to the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna where he worked as a cura ...
of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna realized their value in providing a temporal context and the difficulty that curators faced when identifying worn coins using classical literature. After
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
in Germany a project, ''
Fundmünzen der Antike'' (Coin finds of the Classical Period) was launched, to register every coin found within Germany. This idea found successors in many countries.
In the United States, the US mint established a coin cabinet in 1838 when chief coiner
Adam Eckfeldt
John Adam Eckfeldt (June 15, 1769 – February 6, 1852) was a worker and official during the first years of the United States Mint. A lifelong Philadelphian, Eckfeldt served as the second chief coiner of the Mint, from 1814 until 1839.
Eckfel ...
donated his personal collection. William E. Du Bois' ''Pledges of History...'' (1846) describes the cabinet.
C. Wyllys Betts' ''American colonial history illustrated by contemporary medals'' (1894) set the groundwork for the study of American historical medals.
Helen Wang's "A short history of Chinese numismatics in European languages" (2012-2013) gives an outline history of Western countries' understanding of Chinese numismatics.
Lyce Jankowski's ''Les amis des monnaies'' is an in-depth study of Chinese numismatics in China in the 19th century.
Modern numismatics
![Two 20kr gold coins](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a2/Two_20kr_gold_coins.png)
Modern numismatics is the study of the coins of the mid-17th century onward, the period of machine-struck coins. Their study serves more the need of collectors than historians and it is more often successfully pursued by amateur aficionados than by professional scholars. The focus of modern numismatics lies frequently in the research of production and use of money in historical contexts using mint or other records in order to determine the relative rarity of the coins they study. Varieties,
mint-made errors
Mint-made errors are errors during the mint (coin), minting process. Groups of coins with distinctive characteristics are known as varieties. The term variety applies to coins with both intended and unintended differences while the term error re ...
, the results of progressive die wear, mintage figures and even the sociopolitical context of coin mintings are also matters of interest.
Subfields
Exonumia
Exonumia are numismatic items (such as tokens, medals, or scrip) other than coins and paper money. This includes "Good For" tokens, badges, counterstamped coins, elongated coins, encased coins, souvenir medallions, tags, wooden nickels and ot ...
(UK English: Paranumismatica) is the study of
coin
A coin is a small, flat (usually depending on the country or value), round piece of metal or plastic used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order t ...
-like objects such as
token coin
In numismatics, token coins or trade tokens are coin-like objects used instead of coins. The field of token coins is part of exonumia and token coins are token money. Their denomination is shown or implied by size, color or shape. They are o ...
s and
medal
A medal or medallion is a small portable artistic object, a thin disc, normally of metal, carrying a design, usually on both sides. They typically have a commemorative purpose of some kind, and many are presented as awards. They may be int ...
s, and other items used in place of legal currency or for commemoration. This includes
elongated coin
An elongated coin (also known as a pressed penny or smashed penny) is one that has been flattened or stretched, and embossed with a new design. Such coins are often used as commemorative or souvenir tokens, and it is common to find coin elongati ...
s, encased coins, souvenir medallions, tags, badges, counterstamped coins,
wooden nickel
In the United States, a wooden nickel is a wooden token coin, usually issued by a merchant or bank as a promotion, sometimes redeemable for a specific item such as a drink.
Scrip and tokens have often been issued locally in times of severe econ ...
s,
credit card
A credit card is a payment card issued to users (cardholders) to enable the cardholder to pay a merchant for goods and services based on the cardholder's accrued debt (i.e., promise to the card issuer to pay them for the amounts plus the o ...
s, and other similar items. It is related to numismatics proper (concerned with coins which have been
legal tender
Legal tender is a form of money that courts of law are required to recognize as satisfactory payment for any monetary debt. Each jurisdiction determines what is legal tender, but essentially it is anything which when offered ("tendered") in ...
), and many
coin collector
Coin collecting is the collecting of coins or other forms of minted legal tender.
Coins of interest to collectors often include those that were in circulation for only a brief time, coins with mint errors, and especially beautiful or historic ...
s are also exonumists.
Notaphily
Notaphily is the study and collection of paper currency, and banknotes. A notaphilist is a collector of banknotes or paper money, particularly as a hobby.
History
It is believed that people have been collecting paper money for as long as it has ...
is the study of
paper money
A banknote—also called a bill (North American English), paper money, or simply a note—is a type of negotiable promissory note, made by a bank or other licensed authority, payable to the bearer on demand.
Banknotes were originally issued ...
or banknotes.
It is believed that people have been collecting
paper money
A banknote—also called a bill (North American English), paper money, or simply a note—is a type of negotiable promissory note, made by a bank or other licensed authority, payable to the bearer on demand.
Banknotes were originally issued ...
for as long as it has been in use. However, people only started collecting paper money systematically in Germany in the 1920s, particularly the ''Serienscheine'' (Series notes)
Notgeld
''Notgeld'' (German for "emergency money" or "necessity money") refers to money issued by an institution in a time of economic or political crisis. The issuing institution is usually one without official sanction from the central government. This ...
. The turning point occurred in the 1970s, when notaphily was established as a separate area by collectors.
At the same time, some developed countries such as the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
,
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
and
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
began publishing their respective national catalogues of paper money, which represented major points of reference literature.
Scripophily
Scripophily is the study and collection of stock and bond certificates. A specialized field of numismatics, scripophily is an area of collecting due to both the inherent beauty of some historical documents as well as the interesting historical con ...
is the study and collection of
stocks and
Bonds. It is an area of collecting due to both the inherent beauty of some historical documents as well as the interesting historical context of each document. Some stock certificates are excellent examples of
engraving
Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or glass are engraved, or may provide an in ...
. Occasionally, an old stock document will be found that still has value as a stock in a successor company.
The example of one of Alexander the Great's coin
The example of the silver tetradrachm found in Byblos (ca 330-300 bc.) is indicative of Macedonian influence. Alexander's coin (To nomisma Alexandrou) is of the type of the head of beardless Heracles, with an aquiline nose on the right, represented with a headdress of lion's head and of an aetophore Zeus (holding an eagle) on the reverse, enthroned with a scepter in his left hand. The type of this tetradrachm has a very assertive Macedonian and Greek character. The choice of representations is symbolic : the reminder of his divine lineage and his heroic character. The representation of the Olympian god and the Greek hero also makes it possible to spread the Greco-Macedonian culture and in particular religious cults. The silver minting inaugurated by Alexander in -333 showed representations which, while privileging the Greco-Macedonian aspect of the divinites, did not appear to the Orientals as totally foreign (assimilated to the Baals deities).
[G. LE RIDER, Alexandre le Grand : Monnaie, finances et politique, Chapter V, ”Histoire” , PUF, 2003, p153-214 ]
See also
*
Awards for numismatics
*
Glossary of numismatics
This glossary of numismatics is a list of definitions of terms and concepts relevant to numismatics and coin collecting, as well as sub-fields and related disciplines, with concise explanations for the beginner or professional.
Numismatics (an ...
*
Numismatic associations Numismatic associations bring together groups of numismatists. They may be commercial, hobby or professional. Membership is sometimes by election.
List of international numismatic associations
British Art Medal Society(BAMS)
* Federation of Euro ...
*
List of numismatic collections
*
List of numismatic journals
*
List of numismatists
A coin collector is different from a numismatist, which is someone who studies coins. Many collectors are also numismatists, but some are not. Likewise, not all numismatists collect coins themselves.
* Andreas Alföldi
* Martin Allen
* Michel A ...
Further reading
* Pritsak, O. (1998). ''The Origins of the Old Rus’ Weights and Monetary Systems: Two Studies in Western Eurasian Metrology and Numismatics in the Seventh to Eleventh Centuries'' (Harvard Series In Ukrainian Studies). Cambridge: Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute.
References
External links
*
*
{{Authority control
Currency