When Were Dates Added To Coins? - Coin Community Forum

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Author	Replies: 7 / Views: 1,692
jpsned Pillar of the Community United States 2210 Posts	Posted 05/30/2016 8:21 pm The "How far back can we go" thread got me to wondering. When was the first time the year of manufacture (assuming it was so) put on a coin? And what was the reason for doing so? Report this Post to the Staff

Spence Moderator United States 34425 Posts	Posted 05/30/2016 8:37 pm @jpsned, that is a complicated question I think, but the earliest coin with an AD date on it is a denar from Denmark dated 1234. Number two is a tie with coins from both Aachen and Schoonvorst-Sichem minting coins with the date 1372. "If you climb a good tree, you get a push." -----Ghanaian proverb "The danger we all now face is distinguishing between what is authentic and what is performed." -----King Adz Report this Post to the Staff
CelticKnot Bedrock of the Community United States 12844 Posts	Posted 05/30/2016 9:04 pm 1-2-3-4? That's amazing! I've got the same combination on my luggage! Report this Post to the Staff
aiglet7 Pillar of the Community Canada 695 Posts	Posted 05/31/2016 12:32 am A similar question was asked in this post on CCF in 2012:- https://goccf.com/t/126499 Report this Post to the Staff
Sap Moderator Australia 16845 Posts	Posted 05/31/2016 07:04 am This question in the OP is broader - or at least, I am choosing to interpret it more broadly: "when was the first date ever put on a coin?" Because different calendars were in use and used on coins long before the AD calendar was invented. The earliest date on a coin is from the Hellenistic Greek series. Many Seleucid pieces bear dates in the Seleucid Era, a calendar which recognized Year 1 as the founding of the dynasty in 312 BC. The oldest date on a Seleucid coin that is recorded in Sear is Year 116 featured on a bronze coin of Antiochus III, which converts to 197-196 BC. As for the question of why dates were put on coins in the first place: Dates on coins were, historically, part of the quality control system in an ancient or medieval mint. If a coin bears a date, then the government that issued it can know when the coin was made, and therefore how fine the metal is. They can also more easily detect if a mintmaster is issuing debased or underweight coins without approval. Putting dates on coins also makes it easier to recall coins of certain type or issue; you only have to instruct your people to keep an eye out for certain dates. Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis Report this Post to the Staff
Finn235 Pillar of the Community United States 6130 Posts	Posted 05/31/2016 09:03 am Dated coins with regnal years were actually quite common in the early Roman imperial era. For reasons listed by Sap above, the most frequently dated coins were produced in the provinces of Rome, where mintmasters worked under little or no supervision. I believe that my oldest dated coin with a visible date is a prutah of Herod Agrippa, dated L-S for year 6; 43 AD (all of his coins ever unearthed have that date, so it may be outside of that range). I have a slightly older prutah of Pontius Pilate, but the coin is too damaged to discern a date. Silver coins of the Western Satraps (35-405 AD) in India also sometimes bore dates beginning with the foundation of their empire. Report this Post to the Staff
srs77 Pillar of the Community United States 3194 Posts	Posted 05/31/2016 11:16 am I guess this means a looooong time ago! Report this Post to the Staff
january1may Pillar of the Community Russian Federation 5174 Posts	Posted 05/31/2016 3:23 pm See also this thread for another similar discussion (TL/DR - the big series started in the 3rd/2nd century BC, but some occasional dated issues were made even earlier). Report this Post to the Staff
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