The rich history of coin collecting only goes to show that, through all these centuries, a lot of people have recognized, enjoyed, and passed on to the next generation the value of this kind of an activity or hobby.  In fact, for a good number of these coin collecting enthusiasts, such an activity has transcended from a mere hobby to even an income-generating one.  In the world, people who are passionately involved in coin collecting are millions in number.

In simple terms, coin collecting is basically gathering specific types of coins and trading them with others.  Common interests are those coins which have come around only for a short period of time, those which have some errors in it, those which are uniquely and/or beautifully designed, and those representing significant historical events.  A lot indeed can be learned by just looking closely at any coin, which, no doubt, makes this kind of a hobby more interesting and worthwhile.

Most of these coin enthusiasts see a piece of coin as a reflection of history.  The monarchical way of life is manifested through the designs and inscriptions.  Moreover, the material of the coin itself can reveal something about the past.  For instance, coins which are made of very pure metal may reveal a country’s economic good standing.

Coin Collecting Rooted in Asia

Coin collecting takes its roots to as early as 650 B.C., when Asia Minor began to mint coins to standardize their payment system for trade.  In the much earlier days, they used to pay each other with blocks of gold and silver.  However, as these were usually not shaped similarly, traders were bothered whether they are making a fair trade or not.  The system was very prone to cheating which, in fact, already happened. Thus, they started to weigh these blocks of gold and silver to control the situation.

Eventually, they devised the minting of coins to make the payment process more standardized.  The shape, size, and weight of a coin would pertain to a certain value.  For a duration of about a century, this trading system spread throughout the whole world.  People, from different parts of the world, began to have a concept of what that piece of metal, called coin, stands for.

At this time, there were no banks yet so there were no central areas to safekeep coins.  People, familiar with the coin values, tended to collect them at home, signifying a family’s wealth.

Coin Collecting Rooted in Europe

Initially, when coins were newly introduced to people, hoarding was quite common primarily because of the value the coins represent.  Collecting for art’s sake was not yet the main goal in earlier times; it was more of collecting coins to gain wealth.  The nature of the practice of coin collection in current times dates back to the 14th century, when it attracted several European kings’ fascination.  The hype of coin collection occurred sometime in between the Middle Ages and Renaissance, making Petrarch, who is mostly named as the father of Renaissance, the originator of coin collecting as it is right now.  At this time, the Kings, Princes, and members of the nobility in Europe began collecting ancient coins.  Among the well-known coin collectors are Pontif Boniface VIII, Louis the XIV of France, Holy Roman Empire’s Maximilian, and Henry the IV of France.

Contemporary Coin Collecting

Coin collecting has been a hobby, in recent times, of those people with a high level of respect and passion for history.  Former U.S Presidents John Adams and Thomas Jefferson are among the hobbyists in contemporary times.

Two huge coin organizations were formed in the middle up to the latter part of 1800s.  These are the American Numismatic Association (ANA), and the American Numismatic Society (ANS), which further elicited in people the interest to build a coin collection.

Elector Joachim II from Brandenburg spearheaded the Berlin Coin Cabinet.  The first ever convention of all coin collectors in the world, conducted in Detroit Michingan, transpired on August 15 – 18, 1962.

With such an ever-increasing passion for coin collecting, certain gadgets have been necessary to further make the craft more interesting and enjoyable.  There have been several types of coin microscopes introduced to the market, primarily designed for viewing of even the minute details of coins.

Owning a reliable coin microscope will definitely aid one in better identifying coins that will take part in a coin collection, as it reveals a lot of interesting information like coin age, maintenance, integrity of the coin, and many others.  With the emergence of these kinds of tools, no doubt that coin collecting will continuously flourish in the many years ahead.  Read more