Home Contact Sitemap Bookmark and Share

Overview of Coins



Coin Tips
A coin is a minted hard material manufactured usually manufactured by government. Coins have a varying value, which is usually, but not always, connected to the value of the materials contained within. Coins, although with many uses, most often are used in a monetary system to serve as a unit of value. Non-monetary coins can have different purposes such as commemoration of an event, or a person, and are generally not issued by government.

Lydia electrum coin. Oldest coin in the world.
The history of coins is a long one. It is thought coins originated separately in ancient Greece, India, and China although contact and trade between the regions may have shared ideas to formulate currencies. The earliest coin believed to be found originated from the area of Lydia and was minted from electrum, a natural alloy of gold and silver. It is estimated to have been minted in 600 BC.

Coins have always played an important role in development of society. In the ancient times, money was created in the form of coins minted from precious metals such as gold and silver. These coins could be used to exchange goods, since the underlying metal held value. Other precious gems, materials, and resources could also be used as a unit of stored value and traded for goods, services, and debt repayments.

In modern monetary systems, most money with physical value has been substituted by paper or coin currency instruments backed by government trust. Precious metal coins are still produced by world mints, however; these coins have a different circulation face value then their market value of gold, differing from the past. In reality these coins modern precious metal coins trade at a market value of their underlying metal.

Since coins have been used and traded throughout history, many old coins still remain. There rarity and antiquity attract collectors. These coins generally trade well above their physical value and are collected and sold by specialty coin dealers.

Innovation is still prevalent in the making of coins. Minting processes now have been perfected to obtain pure bullion coins with a pureness up to 99.999%, holographic coin surfaces, alloys, and shapes.