Numismatics is the study or collection ofcurrency, including coins, tokens, paper money,medals, and related objects.
Specialists, known asnumismatists, are often characterized as students or collectors ofcoins, but the discipline also includes the broader study ofmoney and other means ofpayment used to resolvedebts and exchangegoods.
Coin collectors and enthusiasts at an exhibition organized by the Numismatic Society of Calcutta,Kolkata,West Bengal, in 2022Numismatic specimens from Ancient, medieval and British India, made of silver.
The earliest forms of money used by people are categorised by collectors as "odd and curious",[1] but the use of other goods in barter exchange is excluded, even where used as a circulatingcurrency (e.g.,cigarettes orinstant noodles in prison).[2] As an example, theKyrgyz people usedhorses as the principal currency unit, and gave small change inlambskins;[3] the lambskins may be suitable for numismatic study, but the horses are not.[dubious –discuss] Many objects have been used for centuries, such ascowry shells,precious metals,cocoa beans,large stones, andgems.
First attested in English in 1829, the wordnumismatics comes from the adjectivenumismatic, meaning'of coins'. It was borrowed in 1792 fromFrenchnumismatique, itself a derivation fromLate Latinnumismatis, genitive ofnumisma, a variant ofnomisma meaning'coin'.[4][5]Nomisma is alatinisation of theGreekνόμισμα (nomisma) which means'current coin/custom',[6] which derives fromνομίζειν (nomizein)'to hold or own as a custom or usage, to use customarily',[7] in turn fromνόμος (nomos)'usage, custom',[8] ultimately fromνέμειν (nemein)'to dispense, divide, assign, keep, hold'.[9]
Throughout its history, money itself has been made to be ascarce good. Many materials have been used to form money, from naturally scarceprecious metals andcowry shells throughcigarettes to entirely artificial money, calledfiat money, such asbanknotes. Many complementary currencies use time as a unit of measure, using mutual credit accounting that keeps the balance of money intact.
Modern money (along with most ancient money) is essentially a token – an abstraction. Paper currency is perhaps the most common type of contemporary physical money. However, goods such asgold orsilver retain many of the essential properties of money, such as price fluctuation and limited supply, although these goods are not controlled by one single authority.
Coin collecting may have possibly existed in ancient times.Augustus gave "coins of every device, including old pieces of the kings and foreign money" asSaturnalia gifts.[10]
Petrarch, who wrote in a letter that he was often approached by vine diggers with old coins asking him to buy or to identify the ruler, is credited as the firstRenaissance collector. Petrarch presented a collection of Roman coins toEmperor Charles IV in 1355.
The first book on coins wasDe Asse et Partibus (1514) byGuillaume Budé.[11] During the early Renaissance ancient coins were collected by European royalty and nobility. Collectors of coins were PopeBoniface VIII, EmperorMaximilian of the Holy Roman Empire,Louis XIV of France, Ferdinand I, ElectorJoachim II of Brandenburg who started the Berlin coin cabinet andHenry IV of France to name a few. Numismatics is called the "Hobby of Kings", due to its most esteemed founders.
Professional societies organised in the 19th century. TheRoyal Numismatic Society was founded in 1836 and immediately began publishing the journal that became theNumismatic Chronicle. TheAmerican Numismatic Society was founded in 1858 and began publishing theAmerican Journal of Numismatics in 1866.
In the 20th century, coins gained recognition as archaeological objects, and scholars such asGuido Bruck 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. AfterWorld War II 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 coinerAdam Eckfeldt donated his personal collection.[12] 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.[13]Lyce Jankowski'sLes amis des monnaies is an in-depth study of Chinese numismatics in China in the 19th century.[14]
Modern numismatics is the study of the coins of the mid-17th century onward, the period of machine-struck coins.[15] 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 frequently lies 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, the results of progressive die wear, mintage figures, and even the sociopolitical context of coin mintings are also matters of interest.
Exonumia (UK English: Paranumismatica)[16] is the study ofcoin-like objects such astoken coins andmedals, and other items used in place of legal currency or for commemoration. This includeselongated coins, encased coins, souvenir medallions, tags, badges, counter-stamped coins,wooden nickels,credit cards, and other similar items. It is related to numismatics proper (concerned with coins which have beenlegal tender), and manycoin collectors are also exonumists.
Notaphily is the study ofpaper money or banknotes. It is believed that people have been collecting paper money for as long as it has been in use. However, people only started collecting paper money systematically in Germany in the 1920s, particularly theSerienscheine (Series notes)Notgeld. 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 theUnited States,Germany, andFrance began publishing their respective national catalogs of paper money, which represented major points of reference literature.
Scripophily is the study and collection of companies' shares andbonds certificates. 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 ofengraving. Occasionally, an old stock document will be found that still has value as stock in a successor company.
Krmnicek Stefan and Hadrien Rambach. (2023).The Numismatic World in the Long Nineteenth Century. New York: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group.
Martín Esquivel, Alberto; Ferrandes, F. Antonio and Pardini, Giacomo. (2023).Archeonumismatica: analisi e studio dei reperti monetali da contesti pluristratificati (Workshop Internazionale di Numismatica, 2). Roma: Quasar.[17]
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.[18]
^Maurer, B. "Primitive and Nonmetallic Money". In Yago, K.; Battilosi, S.; Cassis., Y. (eds.).Handbook of the History of Money and Currency. Springer. pp. 87–104.
^Kent, Allen (1985).Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science. p. 281.ISBN978-0-8247-2037-7.
^Helen Wang, "A short history of Chinese numismatics in European languages", inEarly China vols 35-36 (2012–2013), pp. 395-429,
^Jankowski, Lyce (2018).Les amis des monnaies – la sociabilité savante des collectionneurs et numismates chinois de la fin des Qing. Paris: Maisonneuve et Larose nlle édition.ISBN978-2-37701-030-1.
^"Collectibles". Maritime International.Archived from the original on September 14, 2013. RetrievedJune 13, 2013.
^The First Dictionary of Paranumismatica: All About Tokens, Checks, Tickets, Passes, Medalets, Counters, Tallies and Weights (ed. Brian Edge), 1991.ISBN978-0951691007
^Hellie, Richard (1999). "Reviewed work: The Origins of the Old Rus' Weights and Monetary Systems: Two Studies in Western Eurasian Metrology and Numismatics in the Seventh to Eleventh Centuries, Omeljan Pritsak".Slavic Review.58 (4):909–910.doi:10.2307/2697226.JSTOR2697226.
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