Coins

Coins, as we know them today, have been around for almost 3000 years. It is believed that coinage was invented around 630 B.C. in Asia Minor when the ancient state of Lydia (now western Turkey) was stamping round pieces of precious metals with a seal or symbol as a guarantee of their weight and purity. The minting of coins spread rapidly from Lydia to the city states of ancient Greece. Around 600 B.C, the island of Aegina produced what are believed to be the first Greek coins. These coins were known as silver drachmae and obols, and depicted a turtle on the reverse, the symbol of Aegina. The first Roman coins can be dated from 269 B.C. when a mint for the striking of gold, silver and bronze coins was established in Rome. Ancient Roman coinage often depicted a portrait of the then ruling emperor and, in some cases, members of the imperial family, as well.

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Sicily, Syracuse Silver Tetradrachm, Arethusa	Greek Silver Drachm - Caria Rhodes	Bar Kochba Revolt Coin - Set in Gold, 27 Emeralds	Lesbos, Mytilene, Electrum Hecte Coin	Silver Drachm, Parthia, Kings, Orodes II	Roman Silver Denarius, Septimus Severus
C. Junius C.F. AR Denarius	Thessaly, Pharsalos. Ca. 440-425 B.C. AR Triobol. Fine	Attica Athens Owl Tetradrachm	Greek Athena Owl Silver Tetradrachm

Did you know?

Greek and Roman citizens would bury their coins for safekeeping, much in the same way as we today place our money in the bank for safekeeping. Soldiers and citizens often buried their coins before battle, and as people were driven from their lands or even worse, killed, the coins would remain where they lay for hundreds or even thousands of years and more.