The Greek colonies in southern Italy had been using coins for most of this time, and this technology had also been adopted by a number of other Italian cities, such as Naples, Taranto, Velia, Heraclea, Metapontum, Thurii and Croton, who produced them in large quantities during the 4th century BC to pay for their wars against the inland Italian groups encroaching on their territory.

We must avoid the notion, suggested to some people by examples such as those just mentioned, that ideas are `` units '' in some way comparable to coins or counters that can be passed intact from one group of people to another or even, for that matter, from one individual to another.

There are extant silver and copper coins of this king.

* 708 – Copper coins are minted in Japan for the first time ( Traditional Japanese date: August 10, 708 ).

Conversely the use of true brass seems to have declined in Western Europe during this period in favour of gunmetals and other mixed alloys but by the end of the first Millennium AD brass artefacts are found in Scandinavian graves in Scotland, brass was being used in the manufacture of coins in Northumbria and there is archaeological and historical evidence for the production of brass in Germany and The Low Countries areas rich in calamine ore which would remain important centres of brass making throughout the medieval period, especially Dinant – brass objects are still collectively known as dinanterie in French.

Alpha bronze alloys of 4 – 5 % tin are used to make coins, springs, turbines and blades.

There are approximately 9, 000 coins, medals and banknotes on display around the British Museum.

Prices drop for coins that are not in long-term demand, and increase along with a coin's perceived or intrinsic value.

Typically they purchase coins that are composed of rare or precious metals, or coins that have a high purity of a specific metal.

Usually, if the enthusiasm of the novice increases over time, random coins found in circulation are not enough to satisfy their interest.

Registry Sets are private collections of coins verified for ownership and quality by numismatic grading services.

Likewise, a type collection might focus on an unusual design feature such as coins with a hole in the middle, coins that are not circular in shape or coins with brockage.

Coins of Roman, Byzantine, Greek origin are amongst the more popular ancient coins collected.

Coins reflect the events of the time in which they are produced, so coins issued during historically important periods are especially interesting to collectors.

These usually are not high-value coins, but the interest is in collecting a large volume of them either for the sake of the challenge, as a store of value, or in the hope that the intrinsic metal value will increase.

Such services are an effort to bring more confidence to investors in rare coins under the guise of being " official.

Dealers that sponsor infomercials on shortwave radio are notorious for such sales pitches, most notably Discount Gold & Silver Trading on WWCR, which proclaims graded coins, in direct contradiction to their pricing history, as having appreciated more than non-graded coins, or as not likewise being " opinion coins.

Contacts with the distant Roman Empire are evidenced by the fact that Roman coins have been found at archeological sites dating from the 2nd and 3rd centuries.

These are usually the coins and banknotes of a particular government, which comprise the physical aspects of a nation's money supply.

Historically, a great number of coinage metals ( including alloys ) and other materials ( e. g. Porcelain ) have been used practically, artistically, and experimentally in the production of coins for circulation, collection, and metal investment, where bullion coins often serve as more convenient stores of assured metal quantity and purity than other bullion.

Following the Spanish discovery of great silver deposits at Potosí in Bolivia and in Mexico during the 16th century, international trade came to depend on coins such as the Spanish dollar, Maria Theresa thaler, and, in the 1870s, the United States Trade dollar.

Most of them we know only by their coins, a great many of which are found in Afghanistan.

On these coins the Emperor is depicted, with few exceptions, with an combat helmet, a spear, a shield and a chi-rho, looking towards right ; this typology was derived by a rare type minted in Ravenna for Honorius and used in great quantities only by Majorian, while it was dropped by his successors.

The numerous coins of Nicaea which still exist attest the interest taken in the city by the emperors, as well as its attachment to the rulers ; many of them commemorate great festivals celebrated there in honour of gods and emperors, as Olympia, Isthmia, Dionysia, Pythia, Commodia, Severia, Philadelphia, etc.

Of no great importance in early times in the 2nd century BCE, it fell under the dominion of indigenous kings whose names appear on its coins.

The city was famed for its great output of electrum coins struck from the late 6th through mid 4th centuries BC.

Pennies were produced in 1911 – 1922 inclusive, and 1926 – 1936 inclusive bearing George V's effigy, however the 1933 penny is the great British numismatic rarity of the 20th century — only seven coins were minted, specifically for the king to lay under the foundation stones of new buildings ; one of the coins went missing when a church in Leeds was demolished in the 1960s, and its whereabouts is currently unknown.

Ferrary started collecting in his youth, then inherited a great fortune of approximately 120, 000, 000 French francs, which he dedicated to the purchase of rare stamps and coins.

The Roman fort at Momčilov Grad produced a great number of coins of Byzantine Emperor Justinian ( 525 – 565 ).

Clearly, not all coins that circulated contained precious metals, as the value of these coins was too great to be convenient for everyday purchases.

Theudebert was the first Frankish king to formally sever his ties to the Byzantine Empire by striking gold coins with his own image on them and calling himself magnus rex ( great king ) because of his supposed suzerainty over peoples as far away as Pannonia.

He was fluent in Greek and was a great admirer of Greek culture, and the Greeks hailed him as their liberator ; they minted coins with his portrait, and in some cities he was deified.

The face that the city continued to mint coins in its own name, however, indicates that it had a great deal of freedom even under the Persians.

After this he once again issued his coins from Verulamium, now bearing the title Ricon, Brythonic for " great / divine king ".

The Romans appear to have built a significant stone causeway across the marshes here ; a periodical, the Ambulator of 1774, noted there have been discovered within the last few years the remains of a great causeway of stone, which, by the Roman coins found there, would appear to have been one of the famous highways made by the Romans < ref name = old & new >< cite >' The northern suburbs: Haggerston and Hackney ', Old and New London: Volume 5 ( 1878 ), pp. 505-24 accessed: 15 December 2006 </ ref > The river forms a natural boundary, so in 527 AD it formed the boundary between the Saxon kingdoms of Essex and Middlesex.

Apollodotus also issued a great number of bilingual Indian-standard square coins.

His Verzeichniss der japanesischen und chinesischen Münzen des kaiserlichen Münz-und Antikencabinets ( Catalog of Japanese and Chinese coins in the imperial coin and antique collections ; 1837 ) and Atlas von China nach der Aufnahme der Jesuitenmissionäre ( Atlas of China after the arrival of the Jesuit missionaries ; 1843 ) are finely executed, and deserve mention as specimens of his great liberality.

In 1810 a further find of great interest was made in the parish of two rare Greek coins or medals, one of Mithridates King of Pontus, and the other of Perseus King of Macedonia, both very well preserved.

He carried heavy loads of coins every day, and so developed great strength over the years.

In Scandinavia, there was a great import of goods, such as coins ( more than 7, 000 ), vessels, bronze images, glass beakers, enameled buckles, weapons, etc.

Many busts, gems and coins represent Antinous as the ideal type of youthful beauty, often with the attributes of some special god.

Pulcheria had heard about this young girl, who had only 100 coins to her name, and when she met her she was " astonished at her beauty and at the intelligence and sophistication with which she presented her grievance.

Charles Shadwell " in his younger days " had been " strikingly handsome, both in figure and feature ", " with a face like those to be seen on the finer Attic coins "; he had been the unnamed inspiration of an unpublished early paper of Pater's, ' Diaphaneitè ' ( 1864 ), a tribute to youthful beauty and intellect, the manuscript of which Pater gave to Shadwell.

With the ascendance of coin collecting as a hobby for larger numbers of people in the decades after World War II, commemorative coins came to be seen as treasured items, their beauty and impressive appearance readily appealing to many.

Stunned by the beauty of the hat, King Derwin grants him reprieve and trades him 500 gold coins for the 500th hat.