I had originally composed this as an anicent question, but really it covers more then that. What defines ancient? For that matter, what defines modern? How about everything in between? For example, what came directly after ancient? Did it go directly from ancient to medieval or...? What defines the beginning of modern coinage? I have seen people reference things from the 1700s as modern...I suppose if you mainly collect ancients that would be the case but I don't personally view that as modern. I personally view the modern era to begin in the 1960s when silver was removed from coinage. Furthermore, NCLTs are far more prevalent in the 1965-current timespan, design concepts have totally changed, etc. I don't see it as a one-line for every country event, but a gradual shift. Does that same thing happen from transitions to/from other periods as well? Is it possible to find coinage from two different eras minted in the same year? This is just the kind of thing I think about. 95% or so of my collection is from the post-silver era so for me it's mostly just academic, but I am curious.
It is very interesting question. Russian traditional historical science divides the Human History on several periodes: 1. Stone Age. 2. Gender community. 3. Antique world. 4. Middle Age (since 476 b.c.). 5. Renaissance (since XIV century). 6. Modern Times (since middle of the XVII century). 7. Modernest Times (since the XIX century). 8. Contemporary Times (Now).
I think Byzantine would come close to this, depending on who you ask. It can be considered both ancient and medieval. Though I cant claim I know much about it, so hopefully somoene can elaborate, or correct:whistle: me on it
These rules are purely used in the general sense, and by no means does everybody agree or follow them. It all depends on who you ask and what they collect as to what the answers are. But here ya go - Ancient - anything minted before the end of the Roman Empire - say roughly 500 AD Medieval - 500 AD to roughly 1700 AD Modern - 1700 AD to date Now all of those categories are also broken into sub categories of course. And like I said not everybody agrees on those dates. Some will say that the ancient period ended with Charlemagne around 800 AD. Or that the Medieval period ended with the introduction of milled coinage by the French in 1643. And if you are talking about US coinage only, you have the early period from 1792 to 1836. In 1836 we began using steam powered presses to mint our coins and this is the middle period until around - some say 1900, others 1909, others still 1916. Then you have the modern period from then until the present. But most will say the modern period began with the introduction of clad coinage in 1965. Most adhere to this idea regarding the modern period. So like I said, it depends on who you ask.
I define modern as coins pressed or stamped on machines. Except for cast coins like Chinese cash, earlier coins were made by hitting dies with a hammer ('struck' coinage). The change over did not occur at the same time everywhere. Ancient coins were those made before the Dark Ages. Again the Dark Ages was a pretty general worldwide phenomenon but did not hit at the same time everywhere. In China, it came more or less with the death of Wang Mang in the 1st century AD. Rome and Europe held out until around 500. The Persians, Islamic states and Central Asia all had setbacks into relative darkness due to Huns, Mongols or other invaders that make a convenient time to break eras. Generally there is a period when coinage seems to have played a smaller role in the enonomy that makes a good breaking point. Medieval is what came after ancients and before machine made coins. China held out the longest with their cast cash which are very similar in 1900 AD and 19 AD. To me the break between Ancient and medieval cash is more when they felt the need to mark reign names on the coins rather than just Wu Shu. Making a rule that holds well for all parts of the world is impossible so we don't take overlaps too seriously. An example of overlap of the two eras is Russia's Peter the Great who issued very medieval wire money and large rubles that seem very modern. Any beginning history student will tell you that Rome fell in 476AD but collectors usualy push the start of medieval (Byzantine) to 491 when Anastasius did his coinage reform or to some earlier date when there were Eastern and Western Roman Emperors. I prefer using the Anastasius breaking point but not everyone will agree. This subject is touched upon in Robert Tye's new book Early World Coin & Early Weight Standards (which I recommend for any collectors of ancient and medieval coins willing to admit that there are interesting places besides Europe and China - there are better books for specialists in those places). I only collect ancient and medieval coins and don't collect New World which is perhaps wrong since some of the Spanish Colonial 'Cobs' appear to meet my above given medieval characteristics. Conversely I would be happy to own an Elizabeth I milled coin since it was a one shot experiment that did not take hold at that time and following reigns went on with hammering. All US coins are modern. Terms like these are conventions for convenience of primary school students who need something to memorize. At no point did someone blow a whistle and announce the era switch would occur in five minutes. I have talked to collectors at coin club meetings who seriously considered 'ancient' properly used for anything before they were born. So like he said, it depends on who you ask.
Its been pointed out that these are all modern constructs. But no one carried it to its logical conclusion - there ARE no sharp boundaries. No one woke up in 477 and said to themselves, "Oh my, we're in the Dark Ages now. Time to turn out the lights!" Up until the fall of the city in 1453, the Byzantine Emperors were all styled "Emperor of the Romans." They felt themselves to be the same political entity throughout. The categories I use in my gallery reflect that, allowing particular areas to cheat a bit. Greek - city states and Hellenistic kingdoms Roman Republican - kinda self explanatory, anything before Octavian. Roman Imperial - Again, self explanatory. To the reform of Anastasius I Roman Provincial - coinage of the Roman provinces, excluding the client state of the Bosporos Byzantine - All Byzantine coinage Medieval - hammered European coinage, primarily after Charlemagne Islamic - all Islamic coinage, I don't have enough to divide it further yet China - all Chinese coinage. Someday I'll have to divide this up: Warring States, Qin and Han, Various Kingdoms, Tang, Various Kingdoms 2, N. and S. Song, Tartar Dynasties & Yuan, Ming & Rebels, Qing & Rebels, Japan/Korea/Annam. Other - That enigmatic category of "things that don't fit." Most of these I consider ancient, but don't feel belong in the other categories. Examples: Celtic, ancient Indian, Parthian, Judaean kingdoms/revolts, Sassanian, N. African kingdoms, and "Dark Ages" barbarian kingdoms.
Very interesting responces. Exactly the kind of thing I was hoping to read. For me, as they say "coins is coins"...I don't seperate out by age or era...most of my collection is from the 1900s/2000s anyway, though I do have a few ancients, 1 from the 1600s and one from the 1700s, a small few from the 1800s, mostly US.
i like, and agree, with your dates, except i add early modern (1700-1899) and late modern (1900-present) to my list.
