Coins and Coin Collecting

I

Introduction

Coins and Coin Collecting, sometimes referred to by the single term 'numismatics' (Greek nomisma,”coin”), meaning the study and collection of coins and paper money issued by a mint and bearing a country's official designs and monetary value. Numismatics also extends to tokens, medals, and similar articles. For centuries, all but the very lowest denominations of coins had intrinsic value; that is, they contained gold or silver equal to their face value. Most nations, however, have replaced their precious-metal coins with coins made from inexpensive metals, which have no intrinsic value.

II

History of Coinage

In ancient times, pieces of gold and silver were widely used in trade, being exchanged for other goods. Their value was determined by weight, and the weight and purity of the metal had to be tested every time it changed hands. In Asia Minor, sometime around 600 bc, the Lydians hit upon the idea of shaping electrum, a natural alloy of gold and silver, into bean-shaped lumps of fixed weight and purity and stamping them with official symbols. By 550 bc, the practice of striking coins was established in all the important trading cities throughout the known world. Although most Greek coins portrayed gods or goddesses, coins of the Roman Empire (from about the 1st century bc to the 5th century ad) were stamped with portraits of the emperors. Because Islam prohibits the depiction of living things, Arabic coins (at least before the 20th century) were restricted to inscriptions, often from the Koran, the sacred scripture of Islam, on obverse and reverse.

From earliest times, silver was the principal metal for trade in East Asia. It was cast in cakes or ingots of various forms marked with inscriptions giving the name of the merchant and the denomination and purity of the piece of metal. Regular machine-made round coins of the Western type did not appear until 1870 in Japan and 1889 in China.

Except in the Orient, most coins throughout the world were handstruck until about 1500. The Italians are credited with devising mills for punching out uniformly round, blank metal discs, or planchets, and screw presses for impressing designs on them. The discovery of the Americas, with their wealth of precious metals, led to greatly increased coin production, including large silver pieces. During this period almost every kingdom, duchy, principality, and free city in the Western world issued its own coins.

Minting of coins in the New World began in 1535 in Mexico City, after the Spanish conquest. The British government did not provide its North American colonists with a coinage of their own; therefore, although the colonists used British money, reckoning values in pounds, shillings, and pence, they also used French, Dutch, German, and assorted Spanish coins.

A

History of English Coinage

The first coins to circulate in Britain were Celtic. They were introduced late in the second century bc through trade and with the migration of Belgic peoples from continental Europe. In the first century bc, the first British coinage was produced in Kent. Cast as opposed to being struck, they were made from a high-tin bronze alloy and copied those issued by the Belgic peoples. In about 75 bc, a struck coinage was produced by various peoples, first in gold and later in silver and bronze.

From 43 ad, Britain became a province of the Roman Empire and until the early part of the fifth century, Rome's coinage circulated in Britain. The usurper Causius established two mints in England at London and Colchester in the closing years of the 3rd century. When Britain was restored to the Roman Empire in 296, London became an official mint until it was closed in 325. When the Romans withdrew in 411, Britain lost its supply of Roman coinage. Although initially attempts were made to imitate Roman currency, the remaining inhabitants relapsed into a nonmonetary economy.

In the late 6th century, commercial ties with the European continent resulted in coins entering England by way of trade. However, it was the Anglo-Saxon invaders who reintroduced coinage to Britain early in the 7th century. For nearly 400 years the coinage records the gradual changes in political control and the emergence of royal administrations. England was not a united kingdom. At various times the kings of Kent, Northumbria, Mercia, and Wessex, as well as the archbishops of Canterbury and York, issued their own coinage. Following the invasions by the Vikings during the 9th century, the Danes also issued coins in their English territory.

The country did not come under the control of a single monarch until the reign of Edgar in the 10th century. The coinage was now uniform throughout England, but, as there was a profusion of mints, there were many varieties of the standard coin. After the Norman Conquest of 1066, the coinage did not materially change. One feature of issuing coins which surprises people today is the number of mints operating during the Anglo-Saxon and Norman periods. There were dozens located throughout the country. There were two main reasons why so many were necessary. First, travel about the country was both slow and dangerous. Second, at one time it was decreed that no one should live more than a day's journey from a mint. This was because the coinage was frequently called in, melted down, and reissued, often at a loss to the holder. This was a method of raising revenue before income tax was invented. The number of mints declined, and by 1279 there was a centralized mint located in the Tower of London, although a few provincial mints assisted with recoinages into the early years of the 14th century.

Apart from a few round halfpennies struck by Viking invaders during the 9th century, the only denomination struck from about 780 to 1278 was the silver penny. Fractions were obtained before that date by halving or quartering pennies. In 1279 a silver groat, or fourpenny piece, was introduced, together with halfpennies and farthings (quarter pennies or pence). Although Henry III attempted to introduce a gold coinage in 1257 by issuing gold pennies of 20 pence, it was not until 1344 during the reign of Edward III that a gold coinage appeared. The gold pieces of the medieval period have romantic names such as the double leopard, noble, angel, and sovereign.

The Tudor coinage was influenced by the Renaissance. The medieval stylized portraiture gradually gave way to realistic effigies of the monarchs. In the later years of his reign, Henry VIII debased the coinage, that is, reduced the purity of the metal, to help finance his wars. During the reign of his daughter Elizabeth I an attempt was made to mechanize the mint. The Frenchman Eloye Mestrelle, who was either an unhappy or discharged employee of the Paris mint, arrived in London in 1560 and in the following year started to strike coins with machinery. Unfortunately, the traditional moneyers, fearing unemployment, made life difficult for Mestrelle and he was dismissed in 1572 despite the excellent quality of his coins. Falling on hard times, he counterfeited coinage and was sentenced to death in 1578.

Charles I again experimented with mechanical coin production. However, during the English Civil War the Parliamentarians held London and therefore the mint. The Royalists established mints at various locations throughout the country, melting objects for the bullion from which to strike coins. In certain places under siege such as Newark and Pontefract, emergency money was produced by striking a simple design straight on to silver cut from utensils.

It was not until 1663 during the reign of Charles II that the centuries old method of moneyers wielding a hammer to strike coins was superseded by machinery. The coins made by hand are referred to as “hammered”, while those made by machinery are referred to as “milled”. The term originally related to the “mill” machinery used, although now it is associated with the serrated edge found on coins. Hammered coins were frequently “clipped”. This was the removal of small slivers of metal from their edge.

The metal was retained by the “clipper” for his own gain. The loser was the government. Although illegal and penalized heavily when caught, clipping was rife. The striking of coins by machine made it possible to place serrations or lettering on the edge of coins. This was done to help prevent clipping.

Although licences were granted to strike a copper coinage during the reign of Charles I, it was not until 1672 that a regal copper coinage was introduced.

During the second half of the 18th century, very few silver or copper coins were issued, and by the end of the century there was a great shortage of small change. To alleviate the problem, companies and corporations issued penny and halfpenny tokens for local circulation. In 1797 Matthew Boulton struck copper twopences and pennies on behalf of the mint at his Soho works in Birmingham. Weighing 1 and 2 oz respectively (28 and 56 g respectively), they are known as “Cartwheels”. Boulton's coinage was the first in Great Britain to be made using presses powered by steam.

Work began on a purpose-built mint in 1805. Located on Tower Hill, London it was called the Royal Mint. Its machinery was supplied by Matthew Boulton. The first silver coins from what was called the Royal Mint were placed into circulation in 1816. The following year a gold coinage was issued based on the sovereign (one pound) rather than the guinea (one pound and one shilling) which had been the principal gold unit since 1663.

Although there was an attempt to introduce a decimal coinage in 1849, this failed. A florin, or two shilling piece, being a tenth of a pound, was placed into circulation to start the process. However the system where 12 pence equalled 1 shilling, and 20 shillings equalled 1 pound continued for more than a century. The reason why “pence” was represented by d is that it was an abbreviation for denarius, which was the equivalent of a penny in Roman times. The coinage was finally decimalized in 1971 with a coinage in which 100 pence equals 1 pound.

B

Scotland, Ireland, and the Islands

Scotland's coinage began in the reign of David I in the 12th century, and continued until 1709. Ireland's numismatic history started in the late 10th century. Although the union of England and Ireland took place in 1800, the Irish coinage was not formally withdrawn until 1826. The Republic of Ireland has issued its own coinage since 1928. Jersey, Guernsey, and the Isle of Man have their own coinage.