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Numismatist

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.
History of the coinage
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

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.
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.
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.

SOURCE: Encyclopedia Encarta

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