How old must a coin be to be considered “ancient”?
There is general consensus that coins produced prior to the fall of the western Roman Empire in 476 CE are deemed as ‘ancient’. However, there are other reasonable views on this question. Some experts extend the cutoff designation for ‘ancient’ coins up to Charlemagne’s coronation, ca. 800 CE. Others slightly expand that up to the end of the Dark Ages, ca. 900-1000 CE. (This view is roughly tantamount to using 1,000-years-old as the point a coin may be termed ‘ancient’.) Yet another reasonable view holds that coins produced up to the fall of the Byzantine/Romaion Empire, ca. mid-15th century, may be categorized as ‘ancient’. (With this last view it should be remembered that ‘Medieval’ is an appropriate term for coins produced in the Middle Ages.)
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What is a “biblical coin”?
As preface to answering this question, it should be stated that in the most constrained sense, an “ancient biblical coin” would be a coin type mentioned in the Bible, or a coin type issued by a ruler mentioned or alluded to in the Bible, or a coin type that was produced and/or circulated in the area commonly referred to as the Holy Land during the Second Temple period on through the Bar Kochba Revolt, ca. 136 CE. Roughly 60% of the coins in this website’s collection are indeed “ancient biblical coins” by this strict definition. However, many “biblical coin” collectors, including this author, do not restrict their biblical coin collections to only ancient coins.
For the purpose of this collection a “biblical coin” is a coin which meets any one (or more) of the following seven criteria:
…Coin of a type, weight, value or denomination mentioned in the Hebrew or Christian Bible
…Coin produced or circulated in the Holy Land during Second Temple times through the Crusades
…Coin produced or feasibly circulated contemporaneously in a place mentioned in the Hebrew or Christian Bible
…Coin issued under the reign of a ruler named/referenced in the Hebrew or Christian Bible, or in the deuterocanonical books of Maccabees
…Coin that connects in some clear way to the textual content in the Hebrew or Christian Bible, or deuterocanonical books of Maccabees
…Coin issued by a ruler contemporaneously to their control of a portion of the Holy Land during Second Temple times up through to the Crusades
…Coin that includes a symbol, word/phrase, or portrayal in reference to the faiths of Judaism or Christianity; or that in some way intersects with the history of Christianity or Judaism — inclusive of ancient, medieval, and modern times.
Note that all but the last 2 of the above 7 criteria mandate that a coin be ancient by the most strict definition.
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How can I find a specific coin(s) on this website?
Four methods:
1. Simply browse the coins as displayed from top-down on the Home Page.
2. Utilize the “Categories” buttons to display only the coins issued in the selected time period. Note: Because this website is in an early-stage (with coins being added in approximate chronological order beginning with the oldest) the current number of Categories is limited. Eventually the Categories will include: 9th-7th Century BCE, 6th-4th Century BCE, 3rd-1st Century BCE, 1st-3rd Century CE, 4th-7th Century CE, 8th-11th Century CE, 12th-15th Century CE, and 1500-2021 CE.
3. Utilize the “Tags” buttons to display coins that connect to the tagged topic. Note: Because this website is in an early-stage the number of tags currently available is limited – but will steadily grow.
4. Utilize the “Search” feature to display coins with text content that match the word(s) typed into the Search field which is accessed by clicking the small magnifying glass symbol at the top right of each web page.
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Are the coins of this collection genuinely ancient?
Yes.
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