The history of coins is very difficult indeed to pinpoint with any great accuracy. Ancient people used to trade bits of silver and gold for food and other resources but it wasn't really until the Lydians came up with the idea of forming these pieces of valuable metal into uniform shapes that the traditional concept of a coin was born. This was in 600 BC and by 550BC every one of the important trading cities around the world had begun striking coins. Greek coins portrayed images of their gods and goddesses, Roman coins showed emperors and Arabic coins featured transcriptions from the Koran.
The introduction of the disc shaped coin
The round metal disc that we closely associate with coinage nowadays was first established around the year 1500 when the Italians produced the first presses that created perfectly weighted and uniform coins being produced every time and with much less effort. The discovery of America led to an increase in the amount of precious metals that were available and soon large displays of silver were being produced with the personal stamp of every country, duchy and city in the whole of the Western world.
The first mint
It wasn't much longer until the first mint was created in Mexico in 1535 where the Spanish revolution led to people in North America using coins from not only Great Britain but also from various other European countries. The first official mint in America was founded in 1792 and the creation of coins from this mint began a year later in 1793.
Gold and silver have been the principal materials coins have been created from, although other materials such as copper and bronze have and still are used for some coinage. With the creation of coins came the first ideas of saving money and eventually due to the introduction and widespread use of coins, banks were introduced that allowed people to store their money.
Popular coins
Oriental coins are some of the most popular and sought after of all the ancient coins because this is essentially where it all started. Today coins are used as some of the most accurate placements of historical findings. Architectural digs are often dated because of the artifacts found and if a legible coin is uncovered this task becomes much easier. The stamping of the head of emperors, kings and gods makes dating them very easy; possibly the reason why there are such a large number of coin enthusiasts around the world today.
Error coins
Coin collectors know that real monetary value lies in error coins. Usually these are coins that have been produced with the same stamping on both sides. Usually most of these coins were destroyed and reconverted into proper currency, but occasionally error coins would fail to become completely obsolete and coin collectors now virtually salivate over the though of ever finding one.
Specialist coins
Coins are regularly used to commemorate events or important historical figures, regular silver and gold coins are produced on an annual basis that commemorate certain events but these are not made on a regular basis anymore. Indeed armed forces regularly have a coin printed that is awarded to serving members; these coins are not for monetary use but are saved as commemorative symbols of a person's role. This idea isn't one reserved purely for the armed services, coins are often used to give out to team members or club members when the organization either reaches a pivotal point in their history or excels at something they partake in. Some of these coins are also very collectable but usually in more specific markets.
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