A Short History Of Coins

There really isn’t an exact date as to when coin collecting started, although it is believed that it started sometime in 650BC, the time when the first coins were thought to have been minted. During that time, people were trading goods for gold, silver and other precious metals. These precious metals were carefully weighed. This system was short-lived, primarily because there were dealers who shorted traders of goods of precious metals by giving them lower quantities in exchange for the goods. As a solution to this problem, coins were created. The coins were made of gold and came in standardized weights. Paying for goods and services with these gold coins quickly spread.

In 400AD, artists were commissioned by the Greeks to fashion faces and figures on coins. The coins sported the images of gods and goddesses, as well as mythical heroes. Alexander the Great is credited as having begun the trend of using images on coins that were realistic.

Francesco Petrarca, an Italian poet and scholar who lived in the 1300s, is considered the father of the Renaissance, as well as the most famous of coin collectors. In the coin collecting world, Petrarca is given credit as the one to bring attention to coin collecting. It wasn’t long before people were collecting coins. Popes even got themselves into coin collecting, and there is proof that Roman emperors paid more than the face value of out-of-circulation coins. It wasn’t surprising at all when the hobby earned the title, “The Hobby of Kings.” Kings such as King Louis XIV, Ferdinand I and Henry IV were all avid collectors of coins. In Germany, the Berlin coin cabinet was established by Elector Joachim II of Bradenburg.

From August 15 to 18, 1962, the first international coin collectors’ convention was held in Detroit, Michigan. The convention was sponsored by the American Numismatic Association. The Royal Canadian Numismatic Association was co-sponsor. Around 40,000 avid coin collectors and enthusiasts were at the convention.

In the US, the first coins were minted in 1792 after the passage of the Coinage Act. The US dollar was made legal tender upon the Act’s passage. It became the country’s official monetary exchange unit. The Philadelphia Mint produced the the US Silver Dollar, which is the first US coin. Then the Denver Mint started making coins in 1906. the West Point Mint and San Francisco Mint followed, primarily making gold coins and proof sets. Every US coin has a mark – a P, D, W or S – to indicate in which mint the coin was made.

Coin collecting today is one of the most popular hobbies. There are literally millions of people who are into coin collecting and have a fascination with coins. Many museums exist to showcase valuable and rare coin collections. These include the Smithsonian (Washington, DC) and American Numismatic Society (New York), which was established in 1891 with the goal of encouraging knowledge and education of coin collecting. Many coin collectors today, aside from getting a thrill out of discovering rare and valuable coins, learn to appreciate the historical and aesthetic value of coins.