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Numismatics

Terminology

Currency Coins, Banknotes, Forgery Circulating currencies Community currencies Image File history File links Broom_icon. ... Numismatics is the scientific study of currency and its history in all its varied forms. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (2816 × 2112 pixel, file size: 2. ... Numismatics is the scientific study of currency and its history in all its varied forms. ... This article is an attempt to combine and condense Numismatic and coin collecting terms into concise, informative explainations for the beginner or professional. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... A £20 Bank of England banknote. ... This list of circulating currencies contains the 194 current official or de facto currencies of the 192 United Nations member states, one UN observer state, three partially recognized sovereign states, six unrecognized countries, and 33 dependencies. ... In economics, a local currency, in its common usage, is a currency not backed by a national government (and not legal tender), and intended to trade only in a small area. ... Company scrip, LETS, Time dollars Fictional currencies Company scrip is currency issued in certain industries to pay workers. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The Ithaca Hour is an example of time-based currency. ... Fictional currency is currency in works of fiction. ...

Ancient currencies Greek, Roman, Byzantine Medieval currencies Modern currencies Africa, The Americas, Europe, Asia, Oceania

Production Mint, Designers Coining, Milling, Hammering

Exonumia Credit cards, Medals, Tokens Notaphily A mint is a facility which manufactures coins for currency. ... Coining is a form of precision stamping. ... The term milled coinage is used to describe coins which are produced by some form of machine, rather than by manually hammering coin blanks between two dies (hammered coinage) or casting coins from dies. ... Hammered coinage describes the commonest form of coins produced since the invention of coins in the first millennium BC until the early modern period of ca. ... Exonumia is the study of coin-like objects such as token coins and medals, and other items used in place of legal currency or for commemoration. ... Credit cards A credit card is a system of payment named after the small plastic card issued to users of the system. ... A Medal is a word used for various types of compact objects: a wearable medal awarded by an authority government for services redered, especially to a country (such as Armed force service); strictly speaking this only refers to a medal of coin-like appearance, but informally the word also refers... A rare and historic Bechuanaland Border Police canteen token. ... Notaphily is the study of paper money or banknotes. ... Banknotes Scripophily A £20 Bank of England banknote. ... Scripophily is the study and collection of stocks and Bonds. ... Stocks, Bonds

Numismatics Portal

Coin collecting is a hobby that involves a person or persons gathering and/or trading coins or other form of currency legally minted for multible reasons, such as: the coin being in circulation for a certain amount of time, the coin being considered rare or only being minted for a brief period of time, the coin being an error (see below), the coin originating from a different country, etc. This article does not cite any references or sources. ... In finance, a bond is a debt security, in which the issuer owes the holders a debt and is obliged to repay the principal and interest (the coupon) at a later date, termed maturity. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (910x910, 596 KB)Media:Example. ...

History of Coin Collecting

While hoarding coins due to their value goes back to the beginning of coinage, coin collecting as pieces of art was a later development. Known as the "Hobby of Kings", modern coin collecting is generally believed to have begun in the fourteenth century with Petrarch. Notes of Roman emperors having coin collections are also known, but it remains somewhat unclear whether these coins were studied, considered curiosities or possibly were merely hoarded. Hoarding is the storing of food or other goods. ... In general, the economic value of something is how much a product or service is worth to someone relative to other things (often measured in money). ... The Bath, a painting by Mary Cassatt (1844-1926). ... (13th century - 14th century - 15th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 14th century was that century which lasted from 1301 to 1400. ... From the c. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

The first international convention for coin collectors was held in August 15–18, 1962, in Detroit, Michigan, sponsored by the American Numismatic Association and the Canadian Numismatic Association. Attendance was estimated at 40,000. Year 1962 (MCMLXII) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1962 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Nickname: Motto: Speramus Meliora; Resurget Cineribus (Latin for, We Hope For Better Things; It Shall Rise From the Ashes) Location in Wayne County, Michigan Coordinates: Country United States State Michigan County Wayne County Settled 1701 Incorporation 1806 Government  - Type Strong Mayor-Council  - Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick Area  - City  143. ... The American Numismatic Association was founded by Dr. George F. Heath in 1891. ... Canadian Numismatic Association was founded in 1950. ...

Coin collecting specialties

Coin collectors often begin by saving coins they have received in circulation, but found interesting. These may be the remnants of change from an international trip, or an old coin found in circulation. Over time, if their interests increase, chance will not be sufficient to satisfy the demands for new specimens, and a potentially expensive hobby is born. Some become dedicated generalists, looking for a few examples of everything. If they have enough resources, this can result in an astounding collection, as that of King Farouk of Egypt, who collected everything (and not just coins either). Some are completists, wanting an example of everything within a certain set. For example, Louis Eliasberg was the only collector thus far to assemble a complete set of known coins of the United States. ... Louis Eliasberg (1896–1976) was an American financier and numismatist. ...

At the very highest levels of coin collecting, it can become a highly competitive sport. Recently, this has exhibited itself in registry sets, where the most complete set of coins with the highest numerical grades assigned by grading services are published by the grading service. This can lead to astronomical prices as dedicated collectors strive for the very best examples of each date and mint mark combination. A mint mark is an inscription on a coin indicating the mint at which the coin was produced. ...

Most collectors determine that they must focus their limited financial resources on a narrower interest. Some focus on coins of a certain nation or historic period, some collect coins from various nations, some settle on error coins or exonumia, such as currency, tokens or military challenge coins. Mint-made errors are errors in a coin made by the mint during the minting process. ... Exonumia is the study of coin-like objects such as token coins and medals, and other items used in place of legal currency or for commemoration. ... Token can mean one of several things: In computer science, specifically lexical analysis, a token is usually a word or an atomic element within a string. ... The obverse of a U.S. Marine Corps birthday ball medallion. ...

Every collector collects what interests them, and there are as many ways of collecting as there are collectors. However a few themes are common and are often combined to a goal for a collection.

A number of common collection themes include:

Country Collections

Coins from around the world.

Many collectors attempt to obtain an example from every country which has issued a coin. In contrast to those who collect coins from all countries, many collect coins from only one country, often their own. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 585 pixel Image in higher resolution (1494 × 1093 pixel, file size: 535 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Some of my coins. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 585 pixel Image in higher resolution (1494 × 1093 pixel, file size: 535 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Some of my coins. ...

Year Collections

Rather than collecting one example of a type, some collectors prefer to collect by year, and thus collect one Lincoln cent for every year from 1909 to the present. This is probably one of the most practical ways to collect US currency. Most bookstores sell specially designed books just for the purpose of collecting coins by year. The United States one-cent coin, commonly called a penny, is a unit of currency equaling 1/100 of a United States dollar. ...

Mintmark Collections

Many collectors consider that different mint marks give sufficient differentiation to justify separate representation in their collection. This increases the number of examples needed to complete a collection from one per year to several per year. Some mintmarks are more rare than others and harder to find. This is what makes collecting different mintmarks exciting for collectors. A mint mark is an inscription on a coin indicating the mint at which the coin was produced. ...

Variety Collections

As the mint issues many thousands or millions of any given coin, there are generally multiple sets of dies used. Occasionally these dies will be slightly different, generally in a very small detail, such as the number of leaves on the ear of corn on the recent US Wisconson state quarter. Varieties are more common on older coins, when the dies were hand carved. A coin die is one of the two metallic pieces that are used to strike one side of a coin. ... A coin die is one of the two metallic pieces that are used to strike one side of a coin. ... Obverse of redesigned quarter The 50 State Quarters program is the release of a series of commemorative coins by the United States Mint. ... A coin die is one of the two metallic pieces that are used to strike one side of a coin. ...

Type Collections

Often a collection consists of an example of major design variants for a period of time in one country.

Subject Collections

Coins featuring eagles.

Collectors with an interest in a subject (i.e. ships or dogs) may collect only coins depicting such certain interest. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 447 pixelsFull resolution (1323 × 740 pixel, file size: 468 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) I, the creator of this work, hereby release it into the public domain. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 447 pixelsFull resolution (1323 × 740 pixel, file size: 468 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) I, the creator of this work, hereby release it into the public domain. ...

Composition Collections

A silver Mexican peso.

For some, the composition of the coin itself is interesting, for example there are a number of collectors of only bimetallic coins. for example gold, silver, copper... normally only precious metals like gold, silver and now platinum fit this category. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... The 1 euro coin is bi-metallic: the inner part of cupronickel, the outer part of nickel brass Bi-metallic coins are coins consisting of more than one metal or alloy, generally arranged with an outer ring around a contrasting center. ...

Period Collections

Many collectors restrict themselves to coins issued after the 18th or 19th century, while others collect ancient and medieval coins. Coins of Roman, Byzantine, Greek, Indian, Celtic, Parthian, Merovingian, Ostrogothic, and ancient Israelite origin are amongst the more popular ancient coins collected. Specialties tend to vary greatly, but some approaches include the collection of coins minted during a particular emperor's reign, or a representative coin from each emperor. The main Roman currency during most of the Roman Republic and the western half of the Roman Empire consisted of coins including the aureus (gold), the denarius (silver), the sestertius (bronze), the dupondius (bronze), and the as (copper). ... Anastasius 40 nummi and 5 nummi Byzantine currency, money used in the Eastern Roman Empire after the fall of the West, consisted of mainly two types of coins: the gold solidus and a variety of clearly valued bronze coins. ... This article is about the European people. ... Parthia[1] (Middle Persian: اشکانیان Ashkâniân) was a civilization situated in the northeast of modern Iran, but at its height covering all of Iran proper, as well as regions of the modern countries of Armenia, Iraq, Georgia, eastern Turkey, eastern Syria, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Pakistan, Kuwait, the Persian Gulf... There are other articles with similar names; see Merovingian (disambiguation). ... This article deals with the continental Ostrogoths. ... “The Twelve Tribes” redirects here. ...

Coins are often a reflection of the events of the time in which they are produced, so coins issued during historically important periods are especially interesting to collectors.

While many of these themes appear simple at first glance, the more serious the collector becomes, more problems surface. Where someone collects coins from every country, eventually the issue of what is a country will arise, especially in areas beset by civil war. When a collector's aim is every year and mintmark of a particular type, then there will often be one coin which is significantly more rare and expensive than the others! In political geography and international politics a country is a geographical entity, a territory, most commonly associated with the notions of state or nation. ...

Coin collecting details

In coin collecting the condition of a coin is paramount to its value; a high-quality example is often worth many times as much as a poor example—although there are always exceptions to this general rule. Collectors have created systems to describe the overall condition of coins. One older system describes a coin as falling within a range from "poor" to "uncirculated". The newer Sheldon system, used primarily in the US, has been adopted by the American Numismatic Association. It uses a 1–70 numbering scale, where 70 represents a perfect specimen and 1 represents a coin barely identifiable as to its type. William Sheldon assinged people to three categories based on their body builds: endomorphic, mesomorphic, and ectomorphic. ... The American Numismatic Association was founded by Dr. George F. Heath in 1891. ...

Several coin grading services will grade and encapsulate coins in a labeled, air-tight plastic holder. This process is commonly known as "slabbing", and is most prevalent in the US market. Two highly respected grading services are the Numismatic Guaranty Corporation (NGC) and Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS). However, professional grading services are the subject of controversy because grading is subjective—a coin may receive a different grade by a different service, or even upon resubmission to the same service. Due to potentially large differences in value over slight differences in a coin's condition, some commercial coin dealers will repeatedly resubmit a coin to a grading service in the hopes of a higher grade. Buyers are encouraged to look into the quality and features of the various grading services before deciding to purchase a coin based solely on the grade given by a service. The grading services came into being (PCGS being first) in an effort to bring more safety to investors in rare coins. While they have reduced the number of counterfeits foisted upon unsuspecting investors, and have improved matters substantially, because of the differences in market grading (which determines the price) and technical grading, the goal of creating a sight-unseen market for coins remains somewhat elusive. In Coin collecting, Coin grading is the process of determining the grade or condition of a coin, the key factor in its value as a collectors item. ... The Numismatic Guaranty Corporation (or NGC) is a provider of third-party coin grading services to numismatists. ... PCGS The Professional Coin Grading Service] is a third-party appraisal service for grading rare coins. ...

Damage of any sort, such as holes, edge dents, repairs, cleaning, re-engraving or gouges, can substantially reduce the value of a coin. Specimens are occasionally "whizzed"--cleaned or polished in an attempt to pass them off as being higher grades or as proof strikes. In general, the buyer is cautioned to be careful of any unknown seller's claims. Because of the substantially lower prices for cleaned or damaged coins, some specialize in their collection. There is a market for almost any rare or obsolete coin.

Many people search loose change and bank wrapped rolls of coins for collectible coins because old coins continue to circulate.

There are several types of coin collectors: Investor, Collector, Hoarder, and Inheriter.

Coins as an investment

A common reason given for purchasing coins is as an investment. Coin prices can be cyclical, and prices may drop for coins that are not in great long-term demand. In addition to demand, condition and rarity (which can be estimated via mintage figures) are also determinants in pricing. Age of a coin per se is not a significant factor. Invest redirects here. ...

Many of the reasons given for investing in coins are similar to those given for investing in stamps or gold. As with most collectibles, a coin collection does not produce income until it is sold, and may even incur costs (e.g. for safe deposit box storage) in the interim. Philatelic Investment, the investment of funds in collectible postage stamps for the purpose of realizing a profit, is a relatively recent phenomenon. ... Reserves of foreign exchange and gold in 2006 A pile of 12. ...

While collecting for pleasure makes an enjoyable hobby, people entering the field primarily to make a profit are warned to study before buying. Certain companies, some of whom may advertise on television, in newspapers, or in popular magazines, are alleged to make outlandish claims about the present and future values of their wares. After learning the basics of the field it is often possible to make better purchases from reputable dealers.

Coin Collector

Coin collecting described at the beginning of the article is the formation of a specific grouping of coins as a hobby. Done for fun, and possibly for profit.

Coin Hoarder

Coin hoarders are similar to investors and collectors in the sense that they accumalate coins. However, they typically dont focus on one specific variety, rather they gather whatever coins they can, and hold them. Searching change for silver is a great way to start.

Inheriter

Someone who acquires coins (collection, hoard, investment) from another person. The inheriter does not necessarilly know anything about numismatics, they just have the coins.

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Coins

• Exonumia
• Numismatics
• Challenge coin
• Regular issue coinage
• Coin grading

Image File history File links Commons-logo. ... The Wikimedia Commons (also called Wikicommons) is a repository of free content images, sound and other multimedia files. ... Exonumia is the study of coin-like objects such as token coins and medals, and other items used in place of legal currency or for commemoration. ... Numismatics is the scientific study of currency and its history in all its varied forms. ... The obverse of a U.S. Marine Corps birthday ball medallion. ... A term that distinguishes coins created for commerce from commemorative coins. ... In Coin collecting, Coin grading is the process of determining the grade or condition of a coin, the key factor in its value as a collectors item. ...

External links

• Money.org - Official website of the American Numismatic Association
• AllCoins - Commercial directory listing coin dealers
• Early history of South African coins - Very detailed research site on South African coins and related trade tokens up to 1900
• Coin Collecting: Consumer Protection Guide - Tips for collectors
• / Numismaster.com - Glossary of coin collecting terms