2,000 Year Old Coins Used Today

Discussion in 'Ancient Coins' started by kevin McGonigal, Jul 2, 2019.

  1. kevin McGonigal

    kevin McGonigal Well-Known Member

    OK, not an earth shaking story here, but an interesting one, for me, anyway. I recently purchased a couple of common coins, Kingdom of Pontos, city of Amisos, IMG_0985[3653]pontus.jpg time of Mithradates VI, Sear 3642, a common coin of antiquity. The gentleman had about thirty of these coins, all with considerable wear, but nothing rough or corroded. I found them attractive (very important to me) and the connection with Mithradates VI (the Great) a nice plus. The guy had no other coins and did not in fact ever collect any coins. He did some contracting work and was offered payment in these coins from his client. I don't know how much was owed but I'll bet it's been a long time, maybe 2,000 years or so since these coins were offered in the marketplace of commerce to settle a payroll debt. By the way, that's an advancing Nike on one side and a Gorgon on the other.
     
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  3. Marsyas Mike

    Marsyas Mike Well-Known Member

    Very interesting!

    Along the same lines, I read somewhere once - and I don't recall where, unfortunately - that in rural Spain, very worn Roman coins were still circulating in regular commerce in the 19th century.
     
  4. kevin McGonigal

    kevin McGonigal Well-Known Member

    You know, I have wondered about that sort of thing, even into modern times. I have seen what were obviously ancient coins so worn, and worn smoothly with a hard patina, that the images were unrecognizable as ancients (some of these in coin shop junk boxes). It does not look like these things came out of the ground or a buried amphora, just having been in circulation for a long, long time. Perhaps someone more familiar with the Middle East or North Africa could tell us if ancient coins are ever offered as payment for goods, not as coins of antiquity, but just as very old coins of somebody with some intrinsic value as bronze or copper.
     
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  5. Plumbata

    Plumbata Well-Known Member

    I've read that in rural India, the silver Indo-Greek/Scythian/Kushano-Sasanian and other ancient/medieval pieces coins still circulate on the basis of their silver value. Maybe @Finn235 can shed some light on the question but my understanding is that many of the coins he likes still pass hands as a medium of exchange in Indian backwaters. Pretty cool.
     
  6. Ryro

    Ryro Trying to remove supporter status

    Hilarious story and super fun coin!
    I recently won this guy in a lot (and not given to me for services rendered):
    F297434D-AE41-4F0F-A2F7-D98BB80FDF7F.png
     
  7. medoraman

    medoraman Supporter! Supporter

    I don't know about India, but many sources state that up until the late 1960's Peroz coins of the Sassanian empire circulated alongside 1000 year old Islamic silver coins in the marketplaces. In China, cash coins could be up to 2000 years old and circulated until the early 20th century.

    What is key to such stories is recognizable coins. Cash coins did not really chance for over 2000 years, so if anyone found them they simply went to the market and spent them. Same with Sassanian and Islamic silver. They made good silver coins from the time of the Parthians until later Islamic empires, so all of them just traded as a silver coin.
     
  8. ominus1

    ominus1 Well-Known Member

    interesting and not out of the question..i was just researching along same lines on a a piece i just purchased of Leopold ll, 1791 Belgium copper. it seems that these were circulated as money at one time, just from the worth of the metal.. i was curious because the item shows circulation wear..money is a any medium of exchange that is accepted by one & given from another for goods or services rendered or promised..
     
  9. Alegandron

    Alegandron "ΤΩΙ ΚΡΑΤΙΣΤΩΙ..." ΜΕΓΑΣ ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΣ, June 323 BCE

    Great story, @kevin McGonigal ... way cool.

    One of mine...

    [​IMG]
    Pontos Amisos Gorgon Aegis-Nike AE21
     
  10. derkerlegand

    derkerlegand Well-Known Member

    Is there anywhere that restrikes of Maria Theresa thalers can still be found?
     
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  11. ominus1

    ominus1 Well-Known Member

    haha...many...
     
  12. Theodosius

    Theodosius Fine Style Seeker

    Interesting concept, would like to get my paycheck in dekadrachms valued for their silver content.

    :)
     
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  13. Pellinore

    Pellinore Well-Known Member

    When I was a boy, we went on holidays to Britain, 1965 the year was. Apart from discovering a new phenomenon, the traffic jam (this was in villages in Cornwall) I was happy to find out the British were still using copper pennies of the nineteenth century, 1863 I think was the oldest one I found.
     
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  14. TIF

    TIF Always learning.

    That backstory adds tremendous value to the coin, at least to me! Great story :).
     
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  15. Finn235

    Finn235 Well-Known Member

    I'll need to find it, but I read on a blog of a collector in India that Gadhaiya coins are such a common sight in rural marketplaces that many merchants will trade the goods directly for the coins, which they sell to coin dealers on their next trip to the city. In his example, a farmer found a coin in his field and used it to buy a couple pounds of bananas. Can't use them to pay the tax man, nor deposit into your bank account, but in my eyes that meets the criteria of a coin circulating.

    The distinction, I think, is the society's fixation on what is or isn't "legal tender". Up until the late 19th century, you could dig up a slick sestertius and probably convince someone to let you use it as a cartwheel 2p coin, or a denarius as a sixpence. I don't think there's a coin that was ever made that could withstand much more than 100-150 years of continual use, so whatever "out of place" coins were likely dug and then spent.

    One of the more crazy over strikes I've seen was offered by Leu a few auctions ago - an Eastern mint Constantine SOL IN VICTO COMITI follis that was re-struck into a Standing Caliph fals more than 300 years later.
     
  16. Julius Germanicus

    Julius Germanicus Well-Known Member

    As far as I have heard, the last use of ancient coinage as currency happened during the French Revolution. After during the financial crises in 1789 coinage of all denominations had disappeared from circulation in France, and before paper money (the "Assignat", which would soon itself became worthless due to inflation) became a de-facto replacement, Paris merchants accepted every metal token available as the only alternative to simple barter trade. Value depended on size and weight. The largest unit of this emergency currency was worn-down but hefty 2nd Century Roman Sestertii.
     
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