A numismatist is a specialist in

numismatics 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 inclu ...

("of coins"; from

Late Latin Late Latin ( la, Latinitas serior) is the scholarly name for the form of Literary Latin of late antiquity.Roberts (1996), p. 537. English dictionary definitions of Late Latin date this period from the , and continuing into the 7th century in the ...

''numismatis'', genitive of ''numisma''). Numismatists include collectors, specialist dealers, and scholars who use coins and other currency in object-based research. Although use of the term numismatics was first recorded in English in 1799, people had been collecting and studying coins long before this, all over the world. The first group chiefly derives 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, 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. Often called professional numismatists, they authenticate or grade coins for commercial purposes. The buying and selling of coin collections by numismatists who are professional dealers advance the study of money, and expert numismatists are consulted by historians, museum curators, and archaeologists. See, for example, the International Association of Professional Numismatists (IAPN) and the British Numismatic Trade Association (BNTA). The third category are scholar numismatists 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 a source in the pre-modern period.

Training and recognition

There are very few academic institutions around the world that offer formal training in numismatics. Some may offer numismatics as part of a course in classical studies, ancient history, history or archaeology. Scholar numismatists may focus on numismatics at the postgraduate level, where the training is more research-based. As a result, most scholar numismatists will approach numismatics from within another academic discipline (e.g. history, archaeology, ancient or modern languages, metal sciences), perhaps after attending a numismatic summer school, usually based where there is an excellent coin collection. Recognition of scholarly numismatic expertise may be in the form of a postgraduate qualification, and/or in the form of a medal awarded by a numismatic society: for example, the Medal of the Royal Numismatic Society, which may be awarded to scholar numismatists of any nationality. Donald H. Kagin earned the first PhD in Numismatics granted in the United States in 1979. Numismatic institutes *The Institute for Numismatics and History of Money Vienna (Austria) *

Indian Institute for Research in Numismatic Studies Indian Institute of Research in Numismatic Studies is located near the town of Nasik in Maharashtra state of India. Known locally as the Coin Museum or Money Museum, it is primarily a research centre with one wing dedicated to a public gallery. ...

, Nasik (India) *International Centre for Numismatic Studies, Naples (Italy) Numismatic summer schools * American Numismatic Association Summer Seminar * American Numismatic Society *

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docume ...

* Radboud University Nijmegen (RU) and the Netherlands Institute at Athens (NIA) Summer School

Numismatic organizations (selection)

* American Numismatic Association * American Numismatic Society * (Spanish Numismatic Society) *British Art Medal Society *British Association of Numismatic Societies *

British Numismatic Society The British Numismatic Society (BNS) is an organisation for promoting and realization of the study of United Kingdom, British coins and medals. It was founded in 1903. Publications Its principal publication is the ''British Numismatic Journal'', ...

* International Bank Note Society * International Numismatic Council organises the International Numismatic Congress, and publishes the ''Survey of Numismatic Research''. *Israel Numismatic Society * (Royal Dutch Numismatic Society) *Money and Medals Network (UK) * (Berlin Numismatic Society) *Oriental Numismatic Society * (Austrian Numismatic Society) * Royal Numismatic Society (UK) *Schweizerische Numismatische Gesellschaft/Société Suisse de Numismatique/Società Svizzera di Numismatica/

Swiss Numismatic Society The Swiss Numismatic Society (SNS ; ''Schweizerische Numismatische Rundschau'' in German) was founded in 1879 and is a registered non-profit organization. It is the overall Swiss association of individuals and institutions with an interest in anc ...

* Società Numismatica Italiana (Italian Numismatic Society) * Royal Numismatic Society of Belgium (Société Royale de Numismatique de Belgique) * (French Numismatic Society) * (Swedish Numismatic Society)

Biographical resources

As scholar numismatists work on coins (and related objects) within their particular area of interest (e.g. a particular part of the world, a particular period of history, or a particular culture), they are often known in those fields, as well as in numismatics. Biographical resources relating specifically to numismatists include the following: *Manville, H.E., ''Biographical Dictionary of British and Irish Numismatics'', Encyclopaedia of British Numismatics. Volume IV (London, 2009) *Smith, Pete:, ''American Numismatic Biographies'' (1992). *"Numismatic Who's Who", in ''Coins Weekly''. *de Callataÿ, F., ''Portraits of Famous Numismatists who died before 1800'' *de Callataÿ, F., ''Portraits of Famous Numismatists who died after 1800'' *''Famous Numismatists - Les grands numismates'', on the International Numismatic Council webpage *''Encyclopedic Dictionary of Numismatic Biographies'' - focus on American numismatists *''Numismatics - Biographical Information'', on The E-Sylum

List of scholar numismatists

* Richard Abdy * Mikhail Abramzon * Carmen Alfaro Asins (1952–2005) * Andreas Alföldi (1895–1981) *

R. Alföldi R. or r. may refer to: * ''Reign'', the period of time during which an Emperor, king, queen, etc., is ruler. * ''Rex (title), Rex'', abbreviated as R., the Latin word meaning King * ''Regina'', abbreviated as R., the Latin word meaning Queen regna ...

* Martin Allen (numismatist) * Michael Alram * Michel Amandry * Ermanno A Arslan * Philip Attwood * Augusto Carlos Teixeira de Aragão * Marion Archibald (1935–2016) * Carmen Arnold-Biucchi * Simone Assemani (1752–1820) * Ernest Babelon (1854–1924) *

Churchill Babington Churchill Babington (; 11 March 182112 January 1889) was an English classical scholar, archaeologist and naturalist. He served as Rector of Cockfield, Suffolk. He was a cousin of Cardale Babington. Life He was born at Rothley Temple, in Le ...

* Paul Balog * Anselmo Banduri * Jean-Jacques Barthélemy Garde du Cabinet du roi (1754–1795) * Pierre Bastien (1912–2010) * Georges Bataille * Khadijeh (Zohrer) Baseri * G. Belloni * Peter Berghaus (1919–2012) * Jacob de Bie * Mark Blackburn (1953–2011) * Roger Bland * Osmund Bopearachchi *

Bartolomeo Borghesi Bartolomeo (also Bartolommeo) Borghesi (11 July 178116 April 1860) was an Italian antiquarian who was a key figure in establishing the science of numismatics. He was born at Savignano, near Rimini, and studied at Bologna and Rome. Having wea ...

* Howard Franklin Bowker * Robert Bracey *

Pierre-Napoléon Breton Pierre-Napoléon Breton (1858-1917), was an early Canadian numismatist, best known for publishing a series of guides on Canadian tokens. The numbering system Breton devised for cataloging early Canadian token is still used today. Along with R.W. ...

* Agnes Baldwin Brett * Andrew Brown * Guido Bruck *

Patrick Bruun Patrick may refer to: *Patrick (given name), list of people and fictional characters with this name * Patrick (surname), list of people with this name People * Saint Patrick (c. 385–c. 461), Christian saint * Gilla Pátraic (died 1084), Patrick ...

* Guillaume Budé * Andrew Burnett * Aleksander Bursche * Kevin Butcher * Herbert A. Cahn (1915–2002) * Mando Caramessini-Oeconomides (1927–2015) * Dario Calomino * Ian Carradice * Francesco Carelli * Robert Carson (1918–2006) *

Karel Castelin Karel may refer to: People * Karel (given name) * Karel (surname) * Charles Karel Bouley, talk radio personality known on air as Karel * Christiaan Karel Appel, Dutch painter Business * Karel Electronics, a Turkish electronics manufacturer * Gr ...

Gabriele Lancillotto Castelli Gabriele is both a given name and a surname. Notable people with the name include: Given name Surname *Al Gabriele, American comic book artist *Angel Gabriele (1956–2016), American comic book artist * Corrado Gabriele (born 1966), Italian polit ...

(1727–1792) * Celestino Cavedoni *

Secondina Lorenza Cesano Secondina Lorenza Eugenia Cesano (16 February 1879 - 13 August 1973) was an Italian numismatist and professor of numismatics at the Sapienza University of Rome. Biography Cesano originally studied at the Sapienza University of Rome. In 1902 sh ...

(1879–1973) * Elvira Clain-Stefanelli (1914–2001) * Joan Clarke * Henry Cohen * Barrie Cook * Esprit-Marie Cousinéry (1747–1833). *

Michael Crawford Michael Patrick Smith, (born 19 January 1942), known professionally as Michael Crawford, is an English tenor, actor and comedian. Crawford is best known for playing both the hapless Frank Spencer in the sitcom '' Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em'' a ...

* Joe Cribb * Sylvester Sage Crosby (1831–1914) * M. Crusafont i Sabater * Vesta Sarkhosh Curtis * Hermann Dannenberg (1824–1905) * François de Callatay * Elena Abramovna Davidovich *

G. Demski G is the seventh letter of the Latin alphabet. G may also refer to: Places * Gabon, international license plate code G * Glasgow, UK postal code G * Eastern Quebec, Canadian postal prefix G * Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne, Australia, ...

* Georges Depeyrot * Amelia Dowler * Théophile Marion Dumersan * Joseph Hilarius Eckhel (1737–1798) *

Stephan Ladislaus Endlicher Stephan Ladislaus Endlicher also known as Endlicher István László (24 June 1804, Bratislava (Pozsony) – 28 March 1849, Vienna) was an Austrian botanist, numismatist and Sinologist. He was a director of the Botanical Garden of Vienna. ...

* Elizabeth Errington * Warren Esty * Helen Farquhar *

Giuseppe Fiorelli Giuseppe Fiorelli (7 June 1823 – 28 January 1896) was an Italian archaeologist. His excavations at Pompeii helped preserve the city. Biography Fiorelli was born on 7 June 1823 in Naples. His initial work at Pompeii was completed in 1848. He wa ...

* Martin Folkes * Julius Friedländer * Nina Andreevna Frolova (1936–2015) * Andrea Fulvio *

Raffaele Garrucci Raffaele Garrucci (22 January 1812 – 5 May 1885) was a historian of Christian art. He was born in Naples to a wealthy family, entered the Society of Jesus at the age of fifteen, and was professed on 19 March 1853. He devoted himself to the study ...

* H.U. Geiger *

A. Geiser A is the first letter of the Latin and English alphabet. A may also refer to: Science and technology Quantities and units * ''a'', a measure for the attraction between particles in the Van der Waals equation * ''A'' value, a measure of ...

Girish Chandra Girish Chandra (born 15 January 1964) is an Indian politician who has been a Member of Lok Sabha for Nagina since 2019. Political career In March 2019, Mahagathbandhan, the grand alliance of Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and Rashtriya ...

Shpresa Gjongecaj Shpresa Gjongecaj Vangjeli (born 6 February 1952) is an Albanian archaeologist and numismatist, who was the Director of the Institute of Archaeology at the Academy of Albanological Studies from 2008 to 2013. She is the recipient of the Vermeil T ...

* Francesco Gnecchi * Giovanni Gorini * Michael Grant (1914–2004) * Philip Grierson (1910–2006) * Claude Gros de Boze * P.L. Gupta (Parmeshwari Lal Gupta) (1914–2001) * Tony Hackens * Wolfgang Hahn * Nicola Francesco Haym (1678–1729) * Barclay Vincent Head (1844–1914) * Stefan Heidemann *

David Hendin David Bruce Hendin (born December 16, 1945) is an expert American numismatist specializing in ancient Jewish and Biblical coins and their archaeology. Throughout his career, Hendin has also been known as a medical journalist, newspaper columnist, ...

* George Hill (1867–1948) * Thomas Hockenhull * Chris Howgego * Octavian Iliescu (1919–2009) * Lutz Ilisch *

Peter Ilisch Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a sur ...

Friedrich Imhoof-Blumer Friedrich may refer to: Names *Friedrich (surname), people with the surname ''Friedrich'' *Friedrich (given name), people with the given name ''Friedrich'' Other *Friedrich (board game), a board game about Frederick the Great and the Seven Years' ...

(1838–1920) * Lyce Jankowski * Kenneth Jenkins (1918–2005) * A. Johnston * Mark Jones (museum director) * Hans-Jörg Kellner (1920–2015) * John Kent (1928–2000) * Ryszard Kiersnowski (1925–2006) * Ulrich Klein * Koray Konuk *

Andrzej Kunisz Andrzej is the Polish form of the given name Andrew. Notable individuals with the given name Andrzej * Andrzej Bartkowiak (born 1950), Polish film director and cinematographer * Andrzej Bobola, S.J. (1591–1657), Polish saint, missionary and ma ...

* Jean Lafaurie (1914–2008) *

Georges Le Rider Georges Charles Le Rider (27 January 1928 – 3 July 2014) was a French historian, librarian and administrator, a specialist in Greek numismatics, who headed the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris. He had a filial relationship with Henri ...

(1928–2014) * Ivar Leimus * Nicholas Lowick * George MacDonald (1862–1940) * Brita Malmer (1925–2013) *

Joel L. Malter Joel Lawrence Malter (May 9, 1931 – June 5, 2006), an internationally known dealer in ancient coins and antiquities, became a recognized expert, scholar and pioneer in these fields. Career Upon graduating from the University of California at ...

* Harold Mattingly *

Nicholas Mayhew Nicholas Julian Mayhew (Nick Mayhew) is Emeritus Professor of Numismatics and Monetary History, at the Ashmolean Museum, specialising in British and European medieval monetary history and numismatics. He was formerly Deputy Director (Collections ...

* Andrew Meadows * Tony Merson (1950–2016) * Ya'akov Meshorer (1935–2004) *

Michael Metcalf David Michael Metcalf (8 May 1933 – 25 October 2018) was a British academic and numismatist. He was the director of the Heberden Coin Room of the Ashmolean Museum, a fellow of Wolfson College and Professor of Numismatics at the University of ...

* William Metcalf * Vincenco Mirabella (1570–1624) * Jens-Christian Moesgaard *

Theodor Mommsen Christian Matthias Theodor Mommsen (; 30 November 1817 – 1 November 1903) was a German classics, classical scholar, historian, jurist, journalist, politician and archaeologist. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest classicists of the 19 ...

* T. Sam N. Moorhead * Cécile Morrisson *

B. N. Mukherjee Bratindra Nath Mukherjee (1 January 1932 – 4 April 2013) was an Indian historian, numismatist, epigraphist and iconographist, known for his scholarship in central Asian languages such as Sogdian. He was a Carmichael Professor of Ancient I ...

(1932–2013) *

A. K. Narain Awadh Kishore Narain (A. K. Narain, 28 May 1925 – 10 July 2013) was an Indian historian, numismatist and archaeologist, who published and lectured extensively on the subjects related to South and Central Asia. He was well known for his book ...

(1925–2013) * Edward T. Newell *

Eric P. Newman Eric Pfeiffer Newman (May 25, 1911 – November 15, 2017) was an American numismatist. He wrote several "works about early American coins and paper money considered the standards on their subjects", as well as hundreds of articles. Newman sold his ...

* Rosa Norström * Ernest Oberlaender * Carlo Ottavio, Count Castiglione * Bernhard Overbeck (1942–2018) * Filippo Paruta (–1629) * Vasiliki Penna (1951–2018) * Pippa Pearce * Elizabeth Pirie *

Arent Pol Arent can refer to *Arent (given name) *Arent (surname) *Arent Fox Arent Fox Schiff LLP (formerly Arent, Fox, Kintner, Plotkin & Kahn) is a national white shoe law firm and lobbying firm. It represents global corporations, local and national ...

* Adrian Popescu * * Vsevolod M. Potin (1918–2005) * Constantin Preda (1925–2008) * Martin Price (numismatist) *

P.P. Ripolles PP, pp or Pp may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Pianissimo'', a music term meaning ''very quiet'', from musical dynamics * Production code for the 1967–1968 ''Doctor Who'' serial ''The Enemy of the World'' *Police Procedural - a subgenr ...

* Louis Robert * Anne Strachan Robertson (1910–1997) * Desiré-Raoul Rochette * A. Rovelli *

Joaquín Rubio y Muñoz Joaquín Rubio y Muñoz (27 July 1788 – 30 November 1874) was a Spanish lawyer who was a noted antiquarian and numismatist in the city of Cádiz, Spain. He built up a library of manuscripts and rare books and in particular was known for his exten ...

* Eduard Rüppell *

Andrea Saccoci Andrea is a given name which is common worldwide for both males and females, cognate to Andreas, Andrej and Andrew. Origin of the name The name derives from the Greek word ἀνήρ (''anēr''), genitive ἀνδρός (''andrós''), that ref ...

Antonio Salinas Antonio Salinas is a Mexican dancer, choreographer and stage actor. He has studied and collaborated with Mexican and international artists and has taught in a number of universities at home and abroad. In 1999, he was named one of the best dancers ...

* Simone Scheers * Gustave Schlumberger *

Edith Schönert-Geiß Edith Schönert-Geiß (7 August 1933, Dresden - 12 June 2012, Berlin) was a German numismatist, who specialised in the classical coinage of Thrace and was instrumental in the post-war re-establishment of the Corpus Nummorum. Biography Edith Sc ...

* Dietrich W.H. Schwarz (1913–2000)https://www.inc-cin.org/obituaries.html * Jirí Sejbal (1929–2004) * Charles Seltman * Camillo Serafini * Jules Silvestre (1841–1918) * Adolf Soetbeer * Dmitry Sontsov *

Frederic Soret Frederic may refer to: Places United States * Frederic, Wisconsin, a village in Polk County * Frederic Township, Michigan, a township in Crawford County ** Frederic, Michigan, an unincorporated community Other uses * Frederic (band), a Japanese r ...

* Attilo Stazio (1923–2010) * Johann Gustav Stickel * Stanislaw Suchodolski * Charles Surasky *

Ioannis Svoronos Ioannis N. Svoronos ( el, Ιωάννης Ν. Σβορώνος; Mykonos, 15 April 1863 – Athens, 25 August 1922) was a Greece, Greek archaeologist and numismatist. Life Ioannis Svoronos was born in 1863 on the island of Mykonos. After completin ...

(1863–1922) * Francois Thierry (numismatist) * Rudi Thomsen (1918–2004) * *

Victor Tourneur The name Victor or Viktor may refer to: * Victor (name), including a list of people with the given name, mononym, or surname Arts and entertainment Film * ''Victor'' (1951 film), a French drama film * ''Victor'' (1993 film), a French shor ...

* Lucia Travaini * Oluf Gerhard Tychsen * Leandre Villaronga i Garriga (1919–2015) * Johan van Heesch *

Dorothy B. Waage Dorothy Boylan Waage (January 8, 1905 - December 11, 1997) was an American numismatist, who published the catalogue of 14,000 Greek, Roman, Byzantine and Crusader coins excavated by Princeton University in the 1930s. This has been described as "th ...

* Helen Wang *

Raymond Weiller Raymond is a male given name. It was borrowed into English from French (older French spellings were Reimund and Raimund, whereas the modern English and French spellings are identical). It originated as the Germanic ᚱᚨᚷᛁᚾᛗᚢᚾᛞ ( ...

* Gareth Williams *

Yordanka Youroukova Yordanka Nikoleva Youroukova (; 19 January 1936 – 31 March 2012) was a Bulgarian archaeologist and numismatist, who was a corresponding member of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. Biography Youroukova was born in 1936 in Sofia. In 1960, she ...

* Benedikt Zaech * Jörgen Zoega * Mohit Kapoor * Alexander Nikolaevich Zograf

References

{{Authority control *

Training and recognition

Numismatic organizations (selection)

Biographical resources

List of scholar numismatists

See also

References