The Evolution of Coins
We think of coins today as small, round metal disks of money struck with statements of value that are used for purchasing goods or services.
Early human civilizations had no so luxury. The world’s first “money” was literally any item of value that could be exchanged for something else of value—whether it was cattle, grain, pottery, or tools. It was not until gold, silver, and other metals were recognized as precious elements that anything remotely resembling coins came into being.
Indeed, this did not occur until the sixth century B.C. in the Asian kingdom of Lydia. At first, metallic money consisted merely of hunks of gold, silver, or copper metal that were more convenient to trade than cumbersome commodities like cows and sheep. Gradually, these “ingots” of metal were hammered into coins using crude dies made of bronze, tin, or even hard woods. The very first coins bore no real design and were not much to look at, perhaps stamped with only their weight and fineness. Portraits came much later, as did inscriptions, dates, and other symbolic motifs as more governments began issuing coinage. However, hammered coins continued to be the rule until the minting process was revolutionized in the late fifteenth century with the invention of the screw press. These presses imparted the design to a coin blank with a turn of a screw, rather than the blow of a hammer. It would take two or more men to turn the large screw atop the press, which would drive the upper and lower dies into a coin blank placed between them― imparting the obverse and reverse designs.
At first, the new screw presses actually slowed production, but the quality of their product was much better than hammered coins. Many minters, however, were slow to adopt the new technology and the old and new methods coexisted for more than two centuries, despite improvements in screw press efficiency. By the 18th century, the screw press was the dominant force in coin manufacturing and became the obvious choice when the United States established a federal mint of its own in the early 1790s. Men and horses provided the power to strike the earliest U.S. coins, and individual tools were used to punch the dates and lettering into each die, such that no two dies were exactly the same. The result was the creation of hundreds of “die varieties” that are important to collectors and investors today.
Technology exploded in the 19th century and steam engines were developed to replace the horse and manpower of early mints, first in Europe and then later in the United States. By 1836, U.S. coin production had moved fully to the rapid steam presses, which required fewer employees to operate and produced superior coins with greater consistency and strike quality. Oil and coal were later used to generate steam for the presses, and still later, electrical presses became the standard. The powerful electric presses used by the U.S. mint today can strike over 120 coins per minute with exceptional accuracy―producing flawless coins of exquisite detail, like the proof half dollar shown below.
“The majority of coin collectors commence their cabinets with the single thought of finding amusement, and view collecting merely as a pastime, interesting and fascinating, but with no more substantial value than to employ agreeably a few idle hours. The acquisition, accidentally or otherwise, of one or more coins or medals, which are at the time unknown and strange to them and therefore arouse their curiosity, engenders a desire to possess other specimens with similar attributes—and thus they become collectors.”
―Virgil M. Brand. May, 1905.
Numismatics is the collection and study of coins, paper money, tokens, and related objects. Those who study such money are known as numismatists. Numismatics is a discipline with a long and rich history― people have been collecting money in some way or another since the introduction of metallic coins by the Lydians in 600 B.C. The systematic collecting of coins for their rarity and historical value, however, did not begin until the 16th century, when the resurgence of interest in Greek and Roman cultures gave rise to coin collecting as a popular and prestigious hobby among wealthy Europeans. The first book on coins, De Asse et Partibus, was written by Guillaume Budé in 1514. By the late 1590’s, this hobby had become extremely popular among the nobility and coin collecting became known as “the hobby of kings.”
In the United States, coin collecting became vogue in the 19th century, with collectors saving large copper cents by date and arranging them in specially made, velvet-lined mahogany cabinets. Since then, rare coins have attracted such diverse enthusiasts as John Quincy Adams, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Enrico Caruso, Theodore Roosevelt, Buddy Ebsen, Chris Schenkel, Tony Blair, and Wayne Gretzky. Several noted numismatists have assembled world famous collections during their lives. One example is that of Louis E. Eliasberg Sr., who, from 1925-1950, set out to build a complete collection of United States coins of every date, mintmark, and major variety of every U.S. coin ever struck, from a 1792 half cent to a 1933 gold double eagle. To this day, no one else has ever accomplished this daunting task.
Coin collecting has since gained a worldwide following, with an estimated 50 or more million collectors, and as many as 7-10 million in the United States alone. Numismatics is widely recognized as one of the most rewarding hobbies in the world, instead now called “the king of hobbies.” Because coins have been minted for more than 2,500 years, today’s coin enthusiast has an inexhaustible range of collecting choices available, including ancient coins, rare U.S. coins, modern proof coins, and bullion issues to name a few. Some of the world’s greatest coin collections, including several specimens from the Eliasberg collection, are now housed in museums. The Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, and the great museums of London, Paris, Vienna, and Berlin are just a few that boast tremendous collections of world coinage.
