![]() ![]() Image Courtesy of: Heritage Auction Galleries, One of the first coins ever struck by the United States was a 1792 half dime. ![]() 1982-2008 Lincoln - Memorial Copper Coated Zinc.1943-1943 Lincoln - Wheat Ears Zinc-Coated Steel.1864-1909 Indian Head - Oak Wreath Bronze.1860-1864 Indian Head - Oak Wreath Copper-Nickel.1859-1859 Indian Head - Laurel Wreath (no shield). ![]() Small Cents were minted in the following years: In 1856 the United States produced its first small cent coin made out of an alloy of copper and nickel. This is happening again today, where the cost of the metal and the coin is worth more than its face value. So it wouldn't be long before the value of the copper in a coin would be worth more than its face value. Images Courtesy of: Heritage Auction Galleries, Beginning around 1800, the price of copper was rapidly rising. "The pictures were a way to communicate social solidarity," he said, "letting people know who we are, who our heroes are." Romans commemorated their emperors, while the Celts engraved their money with runes, animals and important kings.Various small cents from the United States mint. The majority of cities had their own design to reflect local pride. There were some early kinks to iron out, said Figueira, mostly to do with the sheer variety of coins around Europe. People could move around with something to show for it, aside from just the clothes on their backs, Figueira said. Roman and then Celtic coins later followed the same traditions.Ĭoins provided social mobility to those who didn't have it, everywhere they appeared. Gold and silver replaced electrum as the material of choice, with coin values reflecting the actual value of the metal and not an arbitrary amount imposed on the coin, as in the case with modern currencies. "It's pretty clear that it worked," Figueira said, "and Greek city-states were a laboratory for all kinds of social experiments like this."Īthens, Aegina and Corinth and Persia all developed their own coins by the 6th-century B.C, expanding trade networks with a newfound ease. Shiny new coins began sprouting up throughout the Mediterranean just a few decades later, as the Lydian experiment appeared to be going well. "They made people feel that things like war subsidies were orderly and transparent." "Coins allowed the processes of city-states to be organized in a way that was elegant and just," Figueira told LiveScience. Keeping things tidy in a society that had gradually become very complex was the catalyst for minting those first pieces, he thinks. Shells were used as currency in ancient China and, about 5,000 years ago, Mesopotamians had even developed a banking system where people could "deposit" grains, livestock and other valuables for safekeeping or trade.īut it wasn't until the actual coins appeared-money for money's sake-that the social effects of having a currency really started to take hold, Figueira explains. The concept of money had been around awhile. They featured the stylized head of a lion and were made of electrum, an alloy of gold and silver. The world's first coins appeared around 600 B.C., jingling around in the pockets of the Lydians, a kingdom tied to ancient Greece and located in modern-day Turkey. ![]()
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