Numismatics

Numismatics is the study of coins, medals, medallions, and similar tokens. It is interested in the techniques by which they were created, the materials they are made of, the iconography (imagery) and messages that decorate them, how they were used, where they have circulated, their value at different times and in different contexts, where they have been found, and who has collected them. Numismatic material provides us with an opportunity to explore the artistic, economic, political, religious, and social lives of the cultures that created them, and the thought-worlds and values of the cultures that collect them.