Caesar Augustus gave "coins of every device, including old pieces of the kings and foreign money" as Saturnalia gifts. History of money Ī Roman denarius, a standardized silver coin.Ĭoin collecting may have possibly existed in ancient times. Nomisma is a latinisation of the Greek νόμισμα ( nomisma) which means "current coin/custom", which derives from νομίζειν ( nomizein), "to hold or own as a custom or usage, to use customarily", in turn from νόμος ( nomos), "usage, custom", ultimately from νέμειν ( nemein), "to dispense, divide, assign, keep, hold". It was borrowed in 1792 from French numismatique, itself a derivation from Late Latin numismatis, genitive of numisma, a variant of nomisma meaning "coin". Many objects have been used for centuries, such as cowry shells, precious metals, cocoa beans, large stones, and gems.įirst attested in English 1829, the word numismatics comes from the adjective numismatic, meaning "of coins". As an example, the Kyrgyz people used horses as the principal currency unit, and gave small change in lambskins the lambskins may be suitable for numismatic study, but the horses are not. The earliest forms of money used by people are categorised by collectors as "odd and curious", but the use of other goods in barter exchange is excluded, even where used as a circulating currency (e.g., cigarettes or instant noodles in prison). Coin collectors and enthusiasts at an exhibition organized by the Numismatic Society of Calcutta, Kolkata, West Bengal.
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