History of Numismatics

Coin collecting has existed since ancient times - it is known that Roman Emperors were among some of the earliest coin collectors. It is called the "Hobby of Kings", due to its most esteemed founders. Numismatics reached its apex due to the great demand during the late Middle Ages and the early Renaissance. In this period ancient coins were collected a great deal by European royalty and nobility. It is known that Roman Emperors Augustus and Julius collected Greek coins. Other collectors of coins were Pope Boniface VIII, Italian poet Petrarch, Emperor Maximilian of the Holy Roman Empire, Louis XIV of France, Ferdinand I, Elector Joachim II of Brandenburg who started the Berlin coin cabinet and Henry IV of France to name a few. The science of numismatics is of comparatively recent origin. The ancients do not seem to have formed collections, although they appear to have occasionally preserved individual specimens for their beauty. Petrarch has the credit of having been the first collector of any note; but it is probable that in his time ancient coins were already attracting no little notice. The importance of the study of all coins has since been by degrees more and more recognised, and at present no branch of the pursuit is left wholly unexplored.
The 19th century was the most productive in building up national collections and in publishing catalogues. Theodor Mommsen fostered the idea of a general corpus of all Greek coins from all collections, an idea which has still yet to be realized
In 1931 the British Academy promoted the idea of the sylloge, systematic publications of single collections, according to mints and each coin illustrated. Some hundred volumes appeared until today. The idea was taken over by scholars of medieval Britain and in 1993 in the field of Islamic numismatics.
In the 20th century as well the coins were seen more as archaeological objects. After World War II in Germany a project, Fundmünzen der Antike (Coin finds of the Classical Period) was launched, to register every coin found within Germany. This idea found successors in many countries.