Numismatics

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Numismatics is the scientific study of currency 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. Lacking a structured monetary system, people in the past as well as some today, lived in a barter society and used locally found items of inherent or implied value. 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. prison cigarettes). For instance, the Kyrgyz people used horses as the principal currency unit and gave small change in lambskins.^[1] The lambskins may be suitable for numismatic study, the horse is not. Many objects have been used for centuries, such as conch shells, precious metals and gems. Today, most transactions take place by a form of payment with either inherent, standardized or credit value. Numismatic value may be used to refer to the value in excess of the monetary value conferred by law. This is also known as the collectors value.

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; economic theories of money's origin depend upon numismatics, for example).

1 Subfields
2 History
3 Numismatists
4 References
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] Subfields

Main articles: Exonumia, Notaphily, and Scripophily

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. It is related to numismatics proper (concerned with coins which have been legal tender), and many coin collectors are also exonumists.

Notaphily is the study of paper 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 the 1960s but the turning point occurred in 1970s, when notaphily was established as a separate area by collectors. At the same time, some developed countries such as the USA, Germany and France began publishing their respective national catalogues of paper money, which represented major points of reference literature.

Scripophily is the study and collection of stocks and Bonds. It is an interesting 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. Occasionally, an old stock document will be found that still has value as a stock in a successor company.

[edit] History

Main article: History of money

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. Money itself must be a scarce good. 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. Paper currency is perhaps the most common type of physical money today. However, goods such as gold or silver retain many of the essential properties of money.

[edit] 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. In fact, many numismatists are also collectors and vice-versa. Walter Breen is a well-known example of a noted numismatist who was not an avid collector, while King Farouk I of Egypt was an avid collector who had very little interest in numismatics. Harry Bass by comparison was a noted collector who was also a numismatist.

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. Varieties, mint-made errors, the results of progressive die wear, mintage figures and even the socio-political context of coin mintings are also matters of interest. In sum, there is very little about money that is not a valid numismatic field of study.

Many professional numismatists authenticate or grade coins for commercial purposes. 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.

Numismatists today often publish their research on the Internet. The best known example of this is Scott Balson, who has spent thirty years researching early South African numismatic history. His research has conclusively shown that South Africa's first widely circulating currency was a trade token, issued by Strachan and company in 1874 in East Griqualand. See link below.