History of Numismatics
The Roman Emperors gave it the name the “Hobby of Kings”.
Coin collecting has been in existence since ancient times.
Numismatics reached its peak due to the great demand for coins during the late Middle Ages and in the early Renaissance period. Coins were collected during this period by the European royalty and nobility. It is known that both Augustus and Julius, Roman Emperors, collected Greek coins.
The scientific aspects of numismatics are of recent origin. While the ancients occasionally preserved individual specimens for their beauty, they did not have formal collections. Petrarch is credited with having been the first collector of any note.
The importance of the study of all coins has been more and more recognized with the 19th century being the most proactive in building up national collections and in publishing catalogs.
In the twentieth century, the coins were seen more as archeological objects than as simply coins. After World War II, a project was launched to register every coin found within Germany. This has been done in other countries as well.