Portal:Numismatics


The Numismatics Portal

Electrum coin from Ephesus, 520-500 BCE. Obverse: Forepart of stag. Reverse: Square incuse punch

Numismatics is the study or collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money, medals, and related objects.

Specialists, known as numismatists, are often characterized as students or collectors of coins, but the discipline also includes the broader study of money and other means of payment used to resolve debts and exchange goods.

The earliest forms of money used by people are categorised by collectors as "odd and curious", but the use of other goods in barter exchange is excluded, even where used as a circulating currency (e.g., cigarettes or instant noodles in prison). As an example, the Kyrgyz people used horses as the principal currency unit, and gave small change in lambskins; the lambskins may be suitable for numismatic study, but the horses are not.[dubiousdiscuss] Many objects have been used for centuries, such as cowry shells, precious metals, cocoa beans, large stones, and gems. (Full article...)

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The Bank of Scotland was the first bank in Europe to successfully print its own banknotes

Banknotes of Scotland are the banknotes of the pound sterling that are issued by three Scottish retail banks (Bank of Scotland, the Royal Bank of Scotland and Clydesdale Bank) and in circulation in Scotland. The Bank of Scotland, the oldest bank operating in the country, was the first bank in Europe to successfully print its own banknotes in 1695. The issuing of banknotes by retail banks in Scotland is subject to the Banking Act 2009, which repealed all earlier legislation under which banknote issuance was regulated, and the Scottish and Northern Ireland Banknote Regulations 2009. Currently, three retail banks are allowed to print notes for circulation in Scotland: Bank of Scotland, Royal Bank of Scotland, and Clydesdale Bank.

Scottish banknotes are unusual, as they are issued by retail banks (not government central banks) and because they are not legal tender in the United Kingdom. They are also not legal tender in Scotland, where, in law, no banknotes (including those issued by the Bank of England) are defined as legal tender. Formally, they are classified as promissory notes, and the law requires that the issuing banks hold a sum of Bank of England banknotes or gold equivalent to the total value of notes issued. (Full article...)

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The 2 euro coin of the Finnish euro coins depicts cloudberry, the golden berry of northern Finland.

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Newfoundland 2 dollar coin
Reverse, Newfounland two dollars

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The back of an Italian florin coin

The Florentine florin was a gold coin (in Italian Fiorino d'oro) struck from 1252 to 1533 with no significant change in its design or metal content standard during that time.

It had 54 grains (3.499 grams, 0.1125 troy ounces) of nominally pure or 'fine' gold with a purchasing power difficult to estimate (and variable) but ranging according to social grouping and perspective from approximately 140 to 1,000 modern US dollars. The name of the coin comes from the Giglio bottonato (it), the floral emblem of the city, which is represented at the head of the coin. (Full article...)

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A 1000 Swiss franc note, the fourth highest non-commemorative banknote in the world.

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Numismatic terminology

  • Bullion – Precious metals (platinum, gold and silver) in the form of bars, ingots or plate.
  • Error – Usually a mis-made coin not intended for circulation, but can also refer to an engraving or die-cutting error not discovered until the coins are released to circulation. This may result is two or more varieties of the coin in the same year.
  • Exonumia – The study of coin-like objects such as token coins and medals, and other items used in place of legal currency or for commemoration.
  • Fineness – Purity of precious metal content expressed in terms of one thousand parts. 90% is expressed as .900 fine.
  • Notaphily – The study of paper money or banknotes.
  • Scripophily – The study and collection of stocks and Bonds.

WikiProjects

Numismatic topics



List articles

Central banks • Currencies • Circulating currencies • Historical currencies • US community currencies • Canadian community currencies • Mints • Motifs on banknotes • Most expensive coins

Subcategories

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Most traded currencies

Most traded currencies by value
Currency distribution of global foreign exchange market turnover[1]
Currency ISO 4217
code
Proportion of daily volume Change
(2022–2025)
April 2022 April 2025
U.S. dollar USD 88.4% 89.2% Increase 0.8pp
Euro EUR 30.6% 28.9% Decrease 1.7pp
Japanese yen JPY 16.7% 16.8% Increase 0.1pp
Pound sterling GBP 12.9% 10.2% Decrease 2.7pp
Renminbi CNY 7.0% 8.5% Increase 1.5pp
Swiss franc CHF 5.2% 6.4% Increase 1.2pp
Australian dollar AUD 6.4% 6.1% Decrease 0.3pp
Canadian dollar CAD 6.2% 5.8% Decrease 0.4pp
Hong Kong dollar HKD 2.6% 3.8% Increase 1.2pp
Singapore dollar SGD 2.4% 2.4% Steady
Indian rupee INR 1.6% 1.9% Increase 0.3pp
South Korean won KRW 1.8% 1.8% Steady
Swedish krona SEK 2.2% 1.6% Decrease 0.6pp
Mexican peso MXN 1.5% 1.6% Increase 0.1pp
New Zealand dollar NZD 1.7% 1.5% Decrease 0.2pp
Norwegian krone NOK 1.7% 1.3% Decrease 0.4pp
New Taiwan dollar TWD 1.1% 1.2% Increase 0.1pp
Brazilian real BRL 0.9% 0.9% Steady
South African rand ZAR 1.0% 0.8% Decrease 0.2pp
Polish złoty PLN 0.7% 0.8% Increase 0.1pp
Danish krone DKK 0.7% 0.7% Steady
Indonesian rupiah IDR 0.4% 0.7% Increase 0.3pp
Turkish lira TRY 0.4% 0.5% Increase 0.1pp
Thai baht THB 0.4% 0.5% Increase 0.1pp
Israeli new shekel ILS 0.4% 0.4% Steady
Hungarian forint HUF 0.3% 0.4% Increase 0.1pp
Czech koruna CZK 0.4% 0.4% Steady
Chilean peso CLP 0.3% 0.3% Steady
Philippine peso PHP 0.2% 0.2% Steady
Colombian peso COP 0.2% 0.2% Steady
Malaysian ringgit MYR 0.2% 0.2% Steady
UAE dirham AED 0.4% 0.1% Decrease 0.3pp
Saudi riyal SAR 0.2% 0.1% Decrease 0.1pp
Romanian leu RON 0.1% 0.1% Steady
Peruvian sol PEN 0.1% 0.1% Steady
Other currencies 2.6% 3.4% Increase 0.8pp
Total[a] 200.0% 200.0%

References

  1. ^ Triennial Central Bank Survey Foreign exchange turnover in April 2025 (PDF) (Report). Bank for International Settlements. 30 September 2025. p. 14. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2025-10-12.

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Sources

  1. ^ The total sum is 200% because each currency trade is counted twice: once for the currency being bought and once for the currency being sold. The percentages above represent the proportion of all trades involving a given currency, regardless of which side of the transaction it is on.
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