Numismatics: A global passion that brings people together

During 2022 we have presented our readers with articles focused on the history, market, and news of the numismatic world. Today we have dedicated this publication to its human variable: those who collect, trade, or study ancient and commemorative coins. To do so, we contacted eleven hobbyists who, regardless of their age, experience or focus, answered a single question: “How would you define and what does numismatics represent to you?”

With the opinions collected, we focused on pointing out some commonalities and reflected on how numismatics, the art of studying and collecting coins, can become a passion that creates bonds between people, with sometimes truly emotive results.

What is numismatics?

Essentially, numismatics is a scientific discipline that serves as an auxiliary to history, economics or archeology, and focuses on studying coins, banknotes and payment methods in general, without leaving out related objects such as medals or securities. This makes it possible to understand the past through pieces that, beyond narrating economic history, reflect the culture of their creators.

This is the point on which all participants agreed: numismatics is knowledge.

Dante Gálvez is a very young enthusiast, being only 9 years old but dedicated to collecting coins from the ancient world, Chile and the United States. For him, numismatics is an art whose interest came from visiting a museum that motivated him to form his collection. He emphasizes that the easiest thing to collect are coins, because you can find them “in every country: Chile, Argentina, the United States, Mexico… Everywhere”. Having coins “is like having history in my hands”, and that passion has led him to focus on getting a specific variety of U. S. penny, or putting a drachma of Alexander the Great into his album, while other children follow the trends of the moment.

That love for history is shared by Jorge Mashini, a 75-year-old collector who got into numismatics several decades ago because, in his words, “I always liked it”. Numismatics “is to unearth part of history that was not even in the books, that was unknown”, and his journey through the discipline led him to find banknotes “that the Government of the time ordered to be incinerated”, but that he was able to preserve and share with others.

Not only hobbyists value the historical content of numismatics: professionals also do. One example is provided by Manuel Rojas, founder of Numisubastas.com: a company dedicated to numismatic research and trade. He supports “the classic definition of numismatics as an auxiliary science of history that studies the means of payment” and adds that “there is no object that summarizes history better than money”, since its design is built in “very limited spaces” that synthesize “very complex messages”.

Through numismatics we study money to unravel all those messages that are concentrated in it and then make them known. Manuel Rojas, Numisubastas

What is numismatics for?

Divulgating the historical significance of money is the topic addressed by Douglas Mudd, director of the American Numismatic Association’s Edward C. Rochette Money Museum: “I have always loved the study of history, and numismatic objects are important primary sources for our knowledge of history”. Therefore, “I became fascinated by their connection to our common past and how to interpret the specialized language of imagery and legend that, when understood, can shed a unique light onto the past”. This motivates him “to create exhibits using numismatic objects to illustrate history (…) in unique ways that are often overlooked”. That is one aspect he is passionate about: “what money can tell us about our past”.

Douglas agrees with Evangeline Markou, Senior Research Fellow at the Historical Research Institute of the National Hellenic Research Foundation (Athens, Greece). She emphasizes the contribution to the history of the science of money. However, she further points out that “coins are a fundamental tool for research.” In her words, “they constitute a unique primary source, not only to understand better the history of the cities and rulers who minted them, but also their economic policies in times of prosperity and, especially, war.”

But not everything is historical or economic knowledge. For Ender Rincón, numismatics allows him to see the world: “for me it has been a great teacher” since “I know the world geography by the fact of having worked on numismatics”. Rincón stresses that “numismatics is something essential”, having started collecting coins many years ago and continuing to this day, at the age of 85.

Considerable variables are covered by numismatic studies. Rajib Lochan Sahoo, chief archivist at the Reserve Bank of India Archives, points out a few: “numismatic collections carry a great deal of information about the contemporary economy, society and culture”, accessed through “scientific inquiry based on facts” and by correlating “the collections with their history, situating them in the time and space of their creation and relevance”. In short: researching and analyzing coins leads to their knowledge.

What does numismatics collect?

Numismatics is the science that relates coins with their significance. Its object of study are the forms of payment, which appeared with the need to facilitate commercial transactions previously carried out through barter; this triggered the history of money.

Maria Caccamo Caltabiano, professor at the University of Messina and former vice-president of the International Numismatic Council, emphasizes the original role of money: “you earn it with your work, it allows you to buy what you need and to reward the work of others”. She also points out that saving it allows you, little by little, to fulfill your dreams. “Money has the extraordinary power of assuring everyone ‘what is rightfully theirs’ and -above all- it offers the possibility of also cooperating in satisfying the needs of others”.

When you look at a coin, it tells you so many stories and the culture of your country, offering you also images of its artistic heritage. Maria Caccamo Caltabiano, University of Messina

Numismatics creates community

Numismatics can be considered a discipline with a notable human nature, as it not only helps to understand its creators and their daily transactions: it also serves as a meeting topic for those who enjoy collecting and studying pieces. Some participants highlighted this when answering.

For Ender Rincón, numismatics meant for years a weekly get-together with friends and colleagues, in addition to participating in conventions and even annual Christmas dinners. Many collectors started their careers by attending those meetings, as his knowledge of coins did not go unnoticed. The discipline still allows him to socialize as “many people come to ask me questions (…) and I am happy to answer them”. This makes it clear that the science of money has been “the most important thing” he has had as a hobby.

What does numismatics contribute to history?

Jorge Mashini emphasizes the importance of sharing with colleagues and helping them to complete their collections, “because when a collection is complete it is much more valuable”. His passion motivated him to join the Chilean Numismatic Association in its first years of activity. Today, having retired, he enjoys observing how the hobby is growing: “the number of members is increasing (…) Even young people are very interested in numismatics, which fills me with satisfaction”.

On the scientific side, Oley Kawani is of the same opinion. As an art historian, he has been a curator in museums on money, as well as an executive member of the International Committee for Money and Banking Museums (ICOMON). He specifies that numismatics is a science in the sense that, around it, “communities of researchers are formed, research results and hypotheses are shared and (…) knowledge is advanced”; however, he clarifies its difference with other disciplines by describing who are part of it: “numismatic researchers who belong to universities are rare (…) A great number of important numismatic researchers are also dealers and hobbyists. Auctioneers and graders also contribute to a significant part of numismatic knowledge”. This particularity is, in his opinion, unique to numismatics and distinguishes it from other sciences.

Collectors, dealers, scholars, journalists… Numerous approaches that can be found everywhere. Ursula Kampmann, executive director of FAMA Numismatics -a website specialized in journalism and divulgation of the topic- states it when she points out that this art “is connecting me with numismatists from all over the world”. For her, “there is no other discipline where you can meet so many international friends”, and she adds that “wherever I go, there is somebody who is interested in coins and who loves to talk to me about numismatics”. Being “not only a connection to the past, but also (…) to people all over the world”, the science is a network where “knowledge about coins and their history” is fostered, and integrating it represents “a joy, an honor” for her. Everything she says can be summed up by saying that numismatics is her “way of living”, but above all by reviewing the motto of the website she founded: “Numismatics connects people and cultures. And that connects us”.

That idea is shared by Sergio Rojas, founder of the store “Numismática al Sur del Mundo“. This collector reflects that the purpose of the discipline is to accumulate experiences: “the goal is not to have everything, but rather the road you travel, the people with whom you share what you learn, what you have experienced…”. In addition, “sharing with people who have a similar liking (…) makes you expand your circle of friends and your cultural knowledge”.

Rojas emphasizes this idea: “the most gratifying and beautiful thing about this activity is the path one travels, the search: going through fairs, going through exhibitions (…) All of this is part of the charm of this story, which is inexhaustible”; and he closes by praising the people he has met in the process: “I think this is the most important merit: that I have made some very good friends”.

Numismatics: a global hobby that brings us together

Throughout this tale we contrasted the opinions that different numismatics enthusiasts have about this discipline. And among so many differences, a common point that emerged was the value of money as a source of knowledge, which was clear to all of them.

Coins are ways of payment, but also documents that allow us to interpret the culture of those who produced them. In this way, scholars, traders, collectors and curious people increase their knowledge by reading the context that these small objects condense in themselves, which they can always share with others.

This is the second common point that emerges from the testimonies: the social role of the discipline. Whether in formal associations, casual meetings, research, daily work or the dynamics of exchange, numismatics contains a human factor that is evident, above all, when talking to others about this common interest.

Professor Maria Caccamo Caltabiano summed it up aptly at the beginning of her answer: “money is for everyone!”; but most especially during her first intervention at the XV International Numismatic Congress (2015): money allows exchanges “not only of wealth, but especially of culture and friendship” – one that is founded on the love for the discipline that those who practice it have, and that guarantees its continuity for tomorrow.

Therefore, we conclude that we could not agree more with the title of this publication: numismatics is a passion that unites us, and will continue to do so as long as there are people who, in their love for the discipline, are willing to empathize with others and share their experiences, always within the framework of mutual respect and the willingness to innovate more every day, both individually and collectively.

Acknowledgements

This article would not have been possible without the participation of the following people, who gladly responded to our inquiry with their personal definition and anecdotes about numismatics:

• Dante Galvez, from Santiago, Chile.

• Douglas Mudd, from Colorado Springs, United States.

• Ender Rincón, from Maracaibo, Venezuela.

• Evangeline Markou, from Athens, Greece.

• Jorge Mashini, from Santiago, Chile.

• Manuel Rojas, from Caracas, Venezuela.

• Maria Caccamo Caltabiano, from Messina, Italy.

• Oley Kawani, from Tokyo, Japan.

• Rajib Lochan Sahoo, from Pune, India.

• Sergio Rojas, from Santiago, Chile.

• Ursula Kampmann, from Lörrach, Germany.

To all of them, as well as to our readers, we extend our most sincere thanks and wishes for Happy Holidays and a Prosperous New Year.

Hussein Larreal

Museologist and researcher by profession, numismatist by hobby. He was the curator of the collection of coins, banknotes, tokens, and medals of the Banco Central de Venezuela and was in charge of starting up its museum of monetary species. You can learn more about his career at Academia.edu and on Linkedin. 

The 8 reales: the history of the 1st international coin that gave rise to almost all the world’s currencies

Leprosy coins: an (almost) unknown numismatic phenomenon