Oldest known coin?

The earliest coins date to around the 600s BC.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_coins

The earliest dated coins are another matter, and it depends on what one means by "dated". While most ancient coins were undated, many did have symbols or inscriptions which allow them to be dated. For example, some ancient coins were dated by inscriptions about the regnal year the coin was struck (a specific year in the reign of a ruler- say "Year 1" or "Year 12" or whatever), so scholars today, knowing the years of that ruler's reign, can specifically date the coins to a particular year.

In the Western world, the earliest known coin with an Anno Domini (AD) date is a usually considered to be a denier from Roskilde in Denmark, dated 1234. (The second interesting coin on that linked page is owned by our very own @tibor.)

It wasn't until the 1500s that some Western kingdoms began regularly putting dates on coins in the sort of numerals we recognize today, though the practice did begin a bit earlier than that.

Here is a 1550 half-grosz from Polish Lithuania. It is the oldest dated coin in my present collection, but by no means the oldest dated coin I have owned. You can clearly read the "1550" below the knight.




Here is the oldest coin (period) in my present collection. It is of course undated, as most ancients were. Having been struck circa 477-388 BC, it is not from the dawn of coinage, but pretty early. The reverse bears a simple quadripartite (four-part) punch mark, which is a hallmark of many very early coins from the Archaic period.

 

Here is another early (Archaic) coin I used to own. It features a griffin on the obverse. Note the quadripartite punch mark again, on the reverse.

Dating from circa 500-450 BC, this is again very early, but still not from the dawn of coinage.

 

Wow. Me? Succinct? Ain't that a switch! LOL

 

Here is the oldest dated coin I have owned. It is a Hungarian denar dated 1505. You can clearly see the date at the top of the obverse (shield) side.

 

@Hazmatt (or anyone else reading): if you are interested in early dated coins (or early coins, period), and would like a chance to win one, totally free, enter my giveaway.

As of this message, my Giveaway #55 is still active. It is a "pick your prize" giveaway, so if you won it, you could choose any one of these (or many other) coins as your prize.

(*If anyone is reading this later, after Giveaway #55 has closed, check the Contests forum for other giveaways. I usually have one running at any given time.)

Here are just a few coins currently available that could be chosen as prizes for the winner of the giveaway drawing. There are many others available.

There are a couple of BC ancients...

Greece (Ionia, Teos): bronze Æ10, ca. 3rd century BC; griffin & kantharos


Phoenicia (Arados): bronze Æ17, ca. 242-166 BC; turreted head of Tyche / Athena on ship's prow



Or a couple of early dated European silver coins...

Lithuania: silver half-grosz of Sigismund the Old of Poland, 1512


Hungary: silver “Madonna & Child” denar of Rudolf II, 1577-KB



Any of these could be had, totally free of charge... but you have to win the random drawing.


.

 

Whoa! Better change the history books! Nice find!

 

You kinda need to define for us how you define the words you used - dated. If you mean a coin that has an actual numerical date on it, there's one answer. But if mean a coin that be dated to having come from a particular time period, there's another and completely different answer. And if ya wanna get really picky ya have to define if you're talking about Roman numerals as in III or IV, or Arabic numerals as in 3 or 4. Because that makes a difference too.

And you also have to define another word you used - coin. And I say that because there's more than just one definition - depending on who you ask of course. And I'm mentioning this because the Chinese had what can be defined as coins many centuries before coins ever existed in the Western world. And those Chinese coins can be dated to a specific time period, that far predates the first coins produced in the Western world by the Lydians in approx 700 BC.

Now the simplest answer to your question, the first coin with Arabic numerals on it for the date, that answer can be found here in this thread -

https://www.cointalk.com/threads/what-is-the-oldest-dated-coin.32375/#post-318650

 

Good question. Let’s ask.

 

Good! Thanks. I still actually own that one.

This 2,100-year-old Gem Uncirculated beauty, alas, I no longer do. But it’s in good hands with a friend.

 

That is utter nonsense. Read what’s been posted. The oldest known European coin with a Christian date on it is believed to be the Roskilde denier from Denmark, dated 1234, as mentioned. (Of which there are seven known and only one in private hands outside of museums.). That’s not even one thousand years old, let alone four.

As to other cultures, coins in the widely accepted sense of the word (with or without datable inscriptions on them) have only been around for about 2,700 years at most, not “4,000”.

I wouldn’t believe things you see on TV in the first place, let alone a secondhand description of what someone else saw on TV. They get numismatic facts wrong all the time on television shows. Even in some programs put out by people who should know better.

 

???

I have 46 coins in just my small personal collection alone which are older than 1875.