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How to Identify Ancient Coins

Coin history covers much of human history. Therefore, finding the exact date or location that a society produced a certain coin may take some detailed and exhausting research. However, the pleasures of finding from where your coin originates can provide much historical wonder. As you look at your ancient coin, you can imagine the exact society that produced that coin, including the things that people used coins to purchase.

Instructions

- 1
  Write down the possible time period for the coin, using the shape as a determinant. Early coins in coin-making history tend to be oddly and irregularly shaped, sometimes resembling triangles or strange squares; these coins originated around 500 B.C. (from regions such as Aegina). Coins from 450 B.C. to 350 B.C. tend to be more circular, although with fairly large imperfections in the circularity of the coin. Later coins become more and more circular. On your paper, place the approximate time period for your coin.
  
  If the coin shape is relatively striking, such as a serrated-edged coin, then note this.
- 2
  Write down any language on the coin. Look at the alphabets from Roman, Greek and other ancient cultures to determine which culture the coin came from. Ancient Scripts compiles many ancient alphabets, including regional differences.
  
  Once you determine the language of origin, you may be able to translate the language to determine the location of origin.
  
  For example, you used the shape of the coin to determine that the coin probably came from 450 to 350 B.C. You also notice that the coin has a little bit of writing. Using Ancient Scripts, you determine that the writing is Greek, most likely from Athens.
- 3
  Some coins do not possess any scripts, but contain pictures. Look for recognizable features from the ancient world. Do not just look at the emblem, but the way that the artist designed the emblem. For example, late Roman two-dimensional art tends toward more realism than earlier, Greek art, according to History World.
  
  For example, you research a coin that has no writing on it. However, the coin has a strange block-like pattern and a relatively crude drawing style. You research the block-like pattern and discover that the pattern is a "Greek Key." Because of the cruder drawing style, you determine that the coin most likely originated in Greece (rather than in the Roman Empire).
- 4
  Search through a coin database, using all of the previous information to help determine the region and time period for the coin. Wild Winds' database covers coins from most of the ancient world, searchable by time and region.

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