numismatics - Subfields, History, Numismatists

The study and collecting of coins, notes, and other similar objects, such as medals. The first known coins were issued by the Lydians of Anatolia in the 7th-c BC. The first containing an accurate likeness of a reigning English monarch were minted in 1504, with the head of Henry VII. The first coins with milled edges were minted in France in 1639. The history of coin collecting dates from the Italian Renaissance, one of the first collectors being the 14th-c poet, Petrarch. Collectors in the 17th-c were the first to catalogue their collections. Coin collectors worldwide were brought together in 1936, when the International Numismatics Foundation was set up. Most museums now have extensive collections.

Numismatics

Numismatic terminology

Currency Coins, Banknotes, Forgery Circulating currencies Community currencies Company scrip, LETS, Time dollars Fictional currencies

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

Production Mint, Designers Coining, Milling, Hammering

Exonumia Credit cards, Medals, Tokens Notaphily Banknotes Scripophily Stocks, Bonds

Numismatics is the scientific study of money and its history in all its varied forms. While numismatists are often characterized as studying coins, the discipline also includes a much larger study of payment media used to resolve debts and the exchange of goods. Early money used by primitive people is referred to as "Odd and Curious," but the use of other goods in barter exchange is excluded, even where used as a circulating currency (e.g.

Economic and historical studies of money's use and development are separate to the numismatists' study of money's physical embodiment (although the fields are related;

Subfields

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. This includes elongated coins, encased coins, souvenir medallions, tags, badges, counterstamped coins, wooden nickels, credit cards, and other similar items.

Notaphily is the study of paper money or banknotes. However, people only started collecting paper money systematically in the 1960s but the turning point occurred in 1970s, when notaphily was established as a separate area by collectors.

History

The history of money is a story thousands of years old. Numismatics is the scientific study of money and its history in all its varied forms. Many items have been used as money, from naturally scarce precious metals and conch shells through cigarettes to entirely artificial money such as banknotes. Modern money (and most ancient money too) is essentially a token -- an abstraction.

Numismatists

Numismatists are sometimes differentiated from coin collectors inasmuch as the latter chiefly derive pleasure from the simple ownership of monetary devices, whereas the former are more concerned with acquiring knowledge about monetary devices and systems.

Modern numismatists frequently research the 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. In sum, there is very little about money that is not a valid numismatic field of study. The buying and selling of coin collections by numismatists who are professional dealers advances the study of money, and expert numismatists are consulted by historians, museum curators, and archaeologists.