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Numismatist (of the Greek nomisma,
"coin"), term that designates the study
and the collection of coins and paper currency
emitted by a nation with the official design of
the country.
The numismatist includes the collection of badges,
medals and pieces you also tune. |
During centuries all the coins, except
for those of tiny value, possessed an intrinsic value,
that is to say, they contained a quantity of gold
or equivalent silver to their value. However, most
of the countries have substituted their coins of gold
or silver for others manufactured with cheap metals
that don't possess any intrinsic value.
In the old times the pieces of gold or silver were used
as unit of change to acquire other products. Their value
was determined by its weight, and the weight and the purity
of the metal they were examined minutely every time that
the piece changed hands. In smaller Asia, around the 600
B.C., in Lidia it was used the electro, a natural alloy
of gold and silver, to manufacture some small bills in kidney
form with a weight and a purity you fix, on those that the
official symbols were stamped. Toward the year 550 B.C.
the currency coinage was a common practice in all the commercial
cities of the world. Most of the Greek coins took the image
of their gods or goddesses, while in the currencies of the
antique Rome (from the century I B.C. to century V A.C.)
they were recorded with the emperor's portrait. As the islam
it prohibits the representation of the human figure, the
Arab currencies only took in their obverse and their reverse
inscriptions of the Koran, the sacred book of the Islamic
religion.
The silver has been the metal more used for the trade in
the Distant East. It melted in pills or ingots in diverse
ways that took engraving the merchant's name, as well as
the denomination and the purity of the metal. The round
coins of western type didn't appear up to 1870 in Japan
and 1889 in China.
Except for in East, most of the coins of the world were
coined by hand until approximately the year 1500. The Italians
invented some presses then able to produce perfectly round
metal disks, in those that later on the drawing was recorded.
The discovery of America, with its wealth of beautiful metals,
allowed to increase the production of currencies considerably,
among those that figured big silver pieces. In this time
each Kingdom, dukedom, principality or city free of the
western world emitted its own currencies.
The coinage of currencies in the New World began in 1535,
in Mexico City, after the Spanish conquest. It took place
then the real one of at eight that circulated for Europe
and the New World, dominating the world trade.
- Coins Collections
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The coins, as much the old ones as the modern ones, they
are collected well by their artistic value, or as mere hobby.
The number of collectors in the entire world rises to millions.
The historians consider the coins like a mirror of the history;
in them appears the portrait of the kings and rulers of
each time. The inscriptions and drawings of the Roman currencies
mentioned in general to important events. The archaeologists
are served as the currencies to reconstruct the economy,
the trade forms, the customs, the religions, the political
history and the art of all the times. The collectors of
currencies look for the beauty, the rarity and the history
that it contains each one of these pieces above all. To
this the emotion is added that involves to look for a certain
currency, or the challenge of identifying a not very common
copy. They also enjoy organizing and showing their collection.
The biggest attractiveness in collecting resides in the
possibility of finding strange coins to good price and the
hope that the collection increases of value with the step
of the time.
The value of market of any coin, that is to say, the price
that is paid by her, is determined by the law of the offer
and the demand: the quantity of available coins and the
number of collectors interested in acquiring them. When
a currency is considered a strange piece, its value every
time that changes hands increases. An essential element
when determining the value of a currency is its conservation
state. When the piece is in perfect state, this is, like
in the moment of its emission, its value can end up multiplying
with regard to that of another same but wornout piece. The
mutilation and the deterioration reduce the value of the
currency notably. The collectors and salespersons of currencies
have their own terminology to describe the state of conservation
of the same ones: as new (FDC, of the French Fleur de Coin,
' flower coin'), without putting in circulation, extremely
valuable, very valuable and valuable.
The collectors begin their collection in general with the
coins of their country that are the most affordable. In
this collection type each date or variation in the design
count like a different coin: the objective is only not to
acquire a copy of each emitted variety, but also to go getting
pieces in better state that the coins already opposing.
However, the number of coins in circulation is quite limited
and the collector should appeal to the exchange or the purchase
to complete a series.
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- Another very popular modality of collecting
consists on gathering old coins. Instead of
looking for a copy of each date and variety
inside a series, the collector looks for a
single currency like symbol of every period
or reign. This collecting type has special
interest, because each piece is different
and it possesses its own history.
- When the collector is also interested in
the coins emitted in other countries, her
action field can embrace dozens of thousands
of pieces.
- The collections can also be of series or
types of coins of oneself country. Certain
dates and varieties of foreign coins are very
difficult of finding, for what the collector
can opt to gather a collection formed by a
currency of each country, or to only be centered
in the coins of commemorative character.
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Every time they are more popular the thematic collections.
In this collection type the coins are classified by their
design and people or objects that take engravings. Animals,
plants, ships, maps, monuments and religious reasons are
some of the represented topics. The collection can be enlarged
with the new emissions rushed in the entire world that they
share oneself design or topic.
Before acquiring an expensive coin, the collectors should
consider and to analyze their purchase with supreme care,
like one makes when buying any other object of value. It
is necessary to determine their real value in the market,
that is to say, the easiness to sell it and to what price,
as well as their potential value. The collector should have
the necessary knowledge to know if a coin is authentic,
or to trust the approach and the salesperson's honesty.
The numismatic catalogs provide data on the prices of the
coins; however, the more modernized and reliable information
is the one that the salespersons that are announced in the
specialized magazines, facilitate as well as the one that
contributes numismatist's international Commission and the
international Association of numismatic experts. The collectors
can compare this way the offers of diverse salespersons.
To be the so much of the new tendencies of the market and
to share interests and experiences with other fans, the
numismatists can adhere to an association or local club.
In Spain three associations exist: Philatelic and numismatic
circle, Spanish numismatic Association, both in Barcelona,
and the numismatic Association from Madrid.
The most elegant way of exhibiting the collection of coins
is the piece of furniture with trays. The most appropriate
thing, however, is to appeal to the album system, with pages
of plastic endowed with individual compartments for each
coin. When the collection is very big the best thing is
to use some special boxes with cases. To conserve the collection
under perfect conditions of security it is necessary to
take the same cautions that with any other object of value.
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SOURCE: Encyclopedia
Encarta
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