Understanding Numismatics

We bet you have a jar at home into which you throw your loose change at the end of each day. At some point, the jar gets so full that you have to empty it, roll up the coins, take them to the bank, and exchange them for paper money. As you separate the coins, are you ever distracted for a short moment by the coins themselves? Do you see details that you previously didn’t notice? All the different types of coins, cents with wheat backs, the different types of nickels, and so forth? Are you suddenly intrigued by the very fact that these small pieces of metal represent value, history, and your hard labor? Have you ever had the desire to sort the coins by the different types and dates, trying to see how many different ones you can find? Have you ever picked through the coins, trying to find the best looking one? If you have, you’ve experienced a delicious taste of what it is to be a coin collector.
Coin collecting refines a person’s natural desire to accumulate things. Coin collecting teaches about organization, classification, preservation, authentication, verification, and pride in ownership. Coins humble collectors with their ancient stories. The coin you hold in your hand may have witnessed the fall of Rome, been carried by a king, endured the Black Plague, been carried by a GI on D-day, or it may simply be a brand-new coin just about to begin its own journey.
The fact that you’re reading this book is a good sign that you’ve already been bitten by the collecting bug. Coin collecting is a great “disease” whose treatment is to find out as much as you can about the hobby and make yourself feel better with an occasional addition to your growing collection. This chapter helps you get started.
Numismatics (new-miz-mat-ics) is the systematic study of coins, medals, tokens, currency, and the like. Therefore, a numismatist (new-miz-ma-tist) is someone who seriously studies coins. Collecting coins is the first step to becoming a numismatist.
No, you don’t have to know how to pronounce or spell these words to be a coin collector, but sooner or later you’ll be wearing them like badges of honor. After all, you’ll be joining a rich company of kings and queens, presidents, industrialists, robber barons, brewers, and tens of millions of other folks who have been proud to be known as numismatists.