What is the oldest coin with a numeric date on it? I believe the gregorian calendar started being used in 1582, would there be coins with dates before that?
The first UK coin with a date on it was dated 1551, and was a crown (if I recall). The calendar reform of that year was only to do with the misalignment of the seasons with the calendar (too many leap-days had been added since Julius Caesar instituted them, so they changed to have century years be a leap year ONLY if they are divisible by 400, so 1900=normal, 2000=leap, etc), so 10 days were removed in Catholic countries. Protestant ones held out until 1752, when the error was 11 days by that time (so Sep 3 was followed by Sep 15). So date reckoning continued through these dates, just that each of those years was a little shorter than normal.
There are many coins in the 1400's with what you would consider a date. I have a few. However, what is a date? Is it only what you are used to? Roman coins can be dated precisely based on data listed on the coin, like number of times consul, etc. If we know for certain CONII for an emperor means 89 AD, does that count as a date?
Uh uh, The first English coin with a date was indeed the 1551 crown of Edward VI. But the first coin struck in the British Isles with a date was the 1539 dated Scottish ducat of 40/-. Said coin also has the distinction of bearing the first "renaissance" ie side portrait of a monarch on a British coin. Undated, but from the same period with a similar renaissance portrait. Aside from British coins, an interesting CNGCoins auction back a couple of months back had several hundred early dated coins - from the 13th and 14th centuries - mostly in Roman numerals, but enough in arabic numerals or there derivatives.
I was going to go there as well, but if CONII is not a date, I doubted any regnal year dating would be considered a date by the OP either. I understand what the OP was looking for though. Scottishmoney, yes CNG had a very interesting collection. Typically pre-1500 dated coins are pricey and rare, but there are a few available, inexpensive ones around.
I liked those early dated coins, but there were other coins like monster Swedes that completed a type set that I needed much more. Early dates are fascinating, but my collections are so out of focus that I must change. So I passed them over.
Im looking for coins that have a wow factor when I show them to my kids. I should have said that up front.
I believe that the first AD dated coin was made in 1234 at Roskilde, Denmark. The date was in Roman numbers, MCCXXXIIII Many ancient Roman coins can be dated to a particular year or span of years due to Emperor consul numbers or other numbers.
The use of Christian year dates on English coins was a little sporadic after the Edward VI crown. For example, this shilling from Elizabeth I (1558-1603) is undated, while the sixpence below that is dated 1564, the year of William Shakespeare's birth.
I have some Sigsmund coins from the 1500s... Hammered silver from the region that is now Poland and the Baltic States. Edit: Corrected. These coins were made as early as the late 1400s, but MY oldest is 1511.
