Biblical Numismatics

Numismatics is a fancy term for the study of money, coins, and commemorative medals. Once a hobby for just kings and nobility, anyone can collect coins using any theme or connection one so chooses. When you have a coin in your hand, whether one from a recent transaction or an ancient coin thousands of years old, you are touching history. That coin has symbols that tell a story. That coin is also a work of art--a sculpture on a disk of metal.  Many of the books of the Hebrew Bible predate the first coins. Coins came into use during the 7th Century BC, about the time of the prophets Daniel, Jeremiah, and Habakkuk. The first government to issue coinage was the Kingdom of Lydia, where they produced specimens made of electrum, an alloy of gold mixed with silver. The precious metal content in those pieces was probably for more significant trade transactions like land and crop sales instead of day to day purchases like bread and other necessities. Over time, other countries produced less valu