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 Replies: 15 / Views: 1,166 |
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Valued Member
United States
75 Posts |
Here's a silly question:
Why bother putting dates on coins?
Anyone ever thought about that? Is there a good reason?
I'd be interested to hear your thoughts.
BTW I did a quick search of the forums and didn't find a related topic. If there's one, just point me there. Thanks.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3499 Posts |
Very good question, though I'm not sure that I have much of an answer for you. Prior to the 16th century in Europe the placing of dates on coins had never really occurred. So, obviously these older coins would be dated based on the mention of a reigning king or other leader. But I must admit that other than the placing of a date on a coin in order to commemorate something, there has never really been a reason. The reason why dates were added to non-commemorative coins can only be speculated upon. It is possible that it was done in order to indicate quotas of production of coins for a given year and it just continued as a sort of tradition as well as a way for money changers to monitor what was being circulated.
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Rest in Peace
United States
2668 Posts |
Let's us know how long the money lasts? Actually an excellent question.  |
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
839 Posts |
I actually like the dates on coins, gives us a good indication of when it was made, pretty much FOR collectors infomation? and I agree with parklane (lol I just accidently wrote parklame) to let us know how long it lasts?
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Moderator
 Australia
16806 Posts |
CCF member nds76 has wondered this same question. Twice, in fact: here and here.  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
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Valued Member
 United States
75 Posts |
Very good. Thanks for the replies and the links.
I guess I didn't dig deep enough into the archives, but at least I promise to ask this question only ONCE!
:)
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
655 Posts |
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New Member
United States
17 Posts |
So you know how old the coin you are holding is.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
6326 Posts |
I've never thought about it before.......
But...."without" dates, our albums wouldn't need to contain nearly as many coins!!.......how about Mint marks too ? take them off ?
Mintage numbers for different "years" are often a leading indicator as to it's value.....so THAT would be gone.......
And that date, immediately shows me the age of the coin.....and some years are very significant in history.....with wars.....or famous people.....or hard times....etc. etc. etc. etc.
I couldn't imagine liking coins with no dates.......all Morgans the same ? all IHP's the same....Mercs. ?.....Large Cents the same ?.....new coins minted now that in 100 years won't be differentiated from one year to another ?......hummmm.....dunno......I think I'm glad the year is there !
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Valued Member
United States
487 Posts |
I'm surprised congress hasn't put expiration dates on the coins.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
6326 Posts |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
Probably numerous reasons. 1. So the government can find out if anyone is actually working at the Mint. Without a date the Mint workers could say we made millions this year and just went to the race track every day.  2. Dates show people the difference from coins made in BC. No BC after the date means made in AD.  3. Adding dates on coins makes it a necessity to pull many out of circulation for coin collectors making it possible for Mint workers to work overtime keeping up with that.  4. An excess of metals would put the illigal metal recyclers out of business. 5. Many coins would now have an empty place on them. Now making it impossible to tell a doubled date. (purposely put there by the Mint for collectors). 6. Without dates on coins there would be approximately 90% less books produced on coins. So now what do we do with all those trees? |
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Moderator
United States
23478 Posts |
Though most collectors take dates on coins for granted, dates on coins did not come into wide-spread use in Europe until the 16th century.
Prior to that time most rulers thought it sufficient to put their name on the coin, and maybe a mark for the mint or person who made it.
Oriental coins generally were not dated until the 19th or 20th century. However some mints made minor differences in the style of the characters on Cash coins, which allowed the coins to be dated to the exact year they were made even though they did not carry a visible date.
Today, although most oriental coins are dated, they are not always dated with an AD date. Both Japan and Taiwan date their coins by the number of years the emperor or government has been in power. Thailand coins are dated using the Buddhist Era, but the same date may be struck for many years.
In the Middle East dating of coins goes back to ancient times, though coins were often dated by the years that the king was in power. After the rise of Islam coins began to be dated based on the number of years since Mohammed fled to Medina in 622AD (AH date).
However because the Islamic calendar is a lunar rather than a solar calendar, the year is about 3% shorter.
Numerous other calendars have been used in various areas.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
6326 Posts |
rg....... That's very interesting !....Thanks for the perspective and historical information.....  I always like to learn stuff I didn't know before !.....now I can go home for the day !,...  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2443 Posts |
Because without them, it would make coin collecting boring! Good question, I never though of it.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
581 Posts |
Actually, if they ever take dates off coins, someone rattle my cage cuz I gotta go down and buy all the Type Set Albums I can find.....
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Replies: 15 / Views: 1,166 |
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Posted 06/29/2008 11:49 pm
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