Do you know many nations did not make coins until they were conquered by another country? The conquering country used coinage for commerce and as a medium to pay their military members and asked for tribute to be paid in exchange for peace and protection. Do you know coinage started out in different parts of the world at approximateluy the same time? China, India and Lydia share the distinction of being the first countries to mint coins sometime between 643 and 630 B.C. The first coins were lumps of metal with a design (usually a religious symbol or monarch's crest) hammered onto one side of it. Historians believe Lydia beat the others by a few years. Their coins were made of a naturally occurring metal consisting of a mixture of silver and gold called electrum. After a decade or two, under the direction of the king, the coins became a medium with a guaranteed weight and purity and were hammered with the seal of the king. Do you know, in ancient times to the middle ages, the coins which have obverse and reverse images, words,etc. on them were hand-hammered? The reverse die was called the "anvil" die. Just so you know, the reverse die is still referred to as the "anvil"die. The "anvil" die is the fixed die. The flan (ancient word for blank or planchet) was heated, placed on the "anvil" die, then the obverse die held close to the surface of the heated flan and the celator (minter) struck the obverse die with a large heavy hammer causing the two designs to be struck onto the new coin. NOTE1: Because the flan had to be heated, the celator used tongs to place the flan on the "anvil" die. As a result some coins, especially Roman provincial coins, bear permanent indentations in the center of the coins. At today's mints coinage begins with an artist's artwork. An ingraver creates the "models" which are about 8" in diameter. A cast is made of the "model" using plaster or plastic. The cast then becomes a "galvano" by "electroplating" it with a metal. The "galvano" is attached to a JANVIER reducing lathe to create a "master hub" with the proper size of the coin to be struck. The "master hub" is used to make a few "master dies". These "master dies" are used to make "working hubs" which, in turn, are used to make "working dies" that will actually be used to strike the coins, No longer are coins "hand struck". Presses using tons of pressure per square inch are used to impress the obverse and reverse designs onto the coins. Because of this huge pressure, a third die has been created: a collar. The collar has two functions: 1. It's main use is to keep the coin's edge in proper shape and size. 2. The other function is to impress a design on the edge of the coin if a design is mandated. The edge can be plain (no design), reeded, bear a message in raised or incused lettering, numbering, or any other design such as vines, stars, etc., or a combination of these. Clinker
Clinker,that is very interesting.Lydia was definitely the first country to issue coins.King Croesus was the last King of Lydia,as Persia,which was ruled by King Darius seized control upon King Croesus' death. Aidan.
Clinker, very interesting article... I actually just found an interesting site (http://www.med.unc.edu/~nupam/ancient1.html) that states "...India minted perhaps the first coins of the world which were introduced even earlier than Lydian/Ionian coins in 8th century BC; most scholars do not agree with this theory. Both, literary and archaeological evidence confirm that the Indians invented coinage somewhere between 5th to 6th century BC. A hoard of coins discovered at Chaman Huzuri in 1933 contained 43 silver punch-marked coins (the earliest coins of India)..."
I have 3 of the early punchmarked Indian coins called karshapanas.They were minted 300-200 BC and are classified in class and group according to shape and types of designs in the individual punchmarks. The earliest known ones are from about 600 BC so they were issued just after the Lydian lions. http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=karshapana&btnG=Google+Search&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi
