what is numesmatics?

nu·mis·mat·ics /ˌnumɪzˈmætɪks, -mɪs-, ˌnyu-/

Pronunciation[noo-miz-mat-iks, -mis-, nyoo-]

–noun (used with a singular verb)

the study or collecting of coins, medals, paper money, etc.

Numismatics is the scientific study of currency and its history in all its varied forms. While numismatists are often characterized as students or collectors of coins, the discipline also includes a much larger study of payment media used to resolve debts and the exchange of goods.

The term numismatist applies to collectors and coin dealers as well scholars using coins as source or studying coins.

The first group chiefly derive pleasure from the simple ownership of monetary devices and studying these coins as private amateur scholars. In the classical field amateur collector studies have achieved quite remarkable progress in the field. Examples are Walter Breen is a well-known example of a noted numismatist who was not an avid collector, and King Farouk I of Egypt was an avid collector who had very little interest in numismatics. Harry Bass by comparison was a noted collector who was also a numismatist.

The second group are the coin dealers. These often called professional numismatists authenticate or grade coins for commercial purposes. The buying and selling of coin collections by numismatists who are professional dealers advances the study of money, and expert numismatists are consulted by historians, museum curators, and archaeologists.

The third category are scholar numismatics working in public collections, universities or as independent scholars acquiring knowledge about monetary devices, their systems, their economy and their historical context. Coins are especially relevant as source in the pre-modern period.

Numismatics is the term given to coin or medal collecting – also to collecting paper money and other such tokens of ‘exchange’.

Numismatics are the study of coins.

Oh, I thought it was when you were so bogged down by maths assignments that you start to become numb…