I'm curious - coins have been minted for more than a couple of millennium but somewhere along the line, dates have been added. What is the first coin that had an year on it so that it could be identified for many years down the road?
Hard to pick anything that would be even remotely close to a fixed date ... Apart from earlier date systems (you can find "dates" even on ancient Seleucid pieces) and medieval Arabic coinage, European countries started doing that in the 13th/14th century, and it became common in the 1500s. Even among "AD" dates you can find interesting variations - Roman digits but also "abridged" years, e.g. "69" instead of "1569". Christian
The Ptolemies and Seleucids dated many of their coins, going back to the 3nd-century BC. These are regnal dates - the year of rule of a particular emperor, but they do allow us to accurately date the coins according to the Gregorian Calendar. Are there 4th-century BC (or earlier) coins with regnal dates on them? It's worth investigating.
Usually when someone asks this question they are looking for a "hard date", not a regnal year or something, but firm dating on a known dating scale. For European coins, there is a book, "Dated coins prior to 1500". In there I believe there are coins dated in the 1300's which would probably qualify for the OP, but all dated coins before 1500 are pretty scarce. It seems the Renaissance in the West made it a "thing to do" to date all coinage, since it seems like a flip was switched and everyone started dating their coins all at once.
Bishop of Roskilde Denmark had a coin dated 1234 in Roman numerals, about six of them are known. My earliest dated coin is from Hungary from 1509.
The oldest coin with Anno Domini date is the Danish "Roskilde denier", with the date, 1234, in Roman numerals See the link http://www.medievalcoinage.com/earlydated/1370s.htm The oldest coin with date in Arabic numerals, is a coin from St. Gallen, Switzerland, AD 1424. Today three pieces are known (see "New 27" in the link above). A resume of the oldest European coins with date: 1234 Denmark (Roskilde) 1372 Belgium (Schoonvorst) 1372 German States (Aachen) 1424 Switzerland [St. Gallen] the first with Arabic numerals 1437 Netherland (Gröningen) 1456 Austria (Graz and Wiener Neustadt) 1459 Balkan States 1478 Sweden 1480 Italy (Forlì) 1491 France (Lorraine) 1499 Hungary 1504 Poland (Glogau) 1506 Lithuania 1525 Bohemia 1548 England, Shilling of Edward VI [MDXLVIII] petronius
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ptolemaic_Kingdom http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seleucid_Empire Two ancient superpowers.
Let us not forget the Parthians who occasionally dated coins not just to year but to month. The example below of Volagases IV reads Apelaioy (in exergue) 464 between heads on rx) or roughly November 152 AD. Who knows when the month was included on a coin dated in AD?
This is only partly accurate. Seleucid dating on coins is based on the number of years from the start of the Seleukid era in 312 BC. One of the oldest dated coins was shown recently in this thread: https://www.cointalk.com/threads/ancient-seleucid.253825/#post-1999911 by Maridvnvm. The three Greek letters on the bottom of the reverse of the Demetrios I Soter tetradrachm can be read as the Seleukid year 162, corresponding to 151/0 BC. For an explanation of the date coding look here: http://www.parthia.com/parthia_calendar.htm#Seleucid . The Seleukid era was also used on their coins by the Parthians. These also included the month of issue. THis is the oldest dated i have: Again Seleucid Demetrios I Soter. Dated XP = 160 SE = 153/2 BC
All around the world there are myriads of dating systems used on coin. Get into Central Asia/India and you have many such dating systems like THCoins describe, based upon other "foundational" dates. However, most people only want to know a Phoenecian date of a still used dating system when they ask the OP's question IMHO. Usually when I talk about regnal dates, Seleukid dates, Buddhist dates, (which is still used at least in Thailand btw), and other dating systems, they lose interest.
Like this one: This is a silver drachm issued by the Western Satrap ruler Damasena from north India. The coins from this dynasty over several centuries are dated in the Saka Era. The characters behind the head of the ruler read as 152 SE = 230 AD.
How about the story of the archaeologist who was amazed when he found a coin dated 56 BC? [got 'cha!]
This tetradrachm of Antioch is dated in two systems right of the eagle. It is year 7 of Nero's reign and year 109 of the Caesarean era. Some would call that 60/61 AD. Who else has double dated coins?
It is rare but has happened. One example: You will know that the Vatican issues "Sede Vacante" coins - well, in 1978 they had two such cases. The second piece, issued after the death of John Paul I, says "SEPTEMBER MCMLXXVIII" ... The Vatican is also a good example of modern double dated coins. "AN. XXIV · MMII" - the 24th year of the Pope's reign, and the calendar year 2002. Older examples ... I think there are some Frederick II tari coins (Sicily) with dual dates, e.g. 595 AH in Kufic and 1198 AD in Latin. Surprise, I do not have any. Christian
Sure admittedly, I'm "not" a professional coiner (coinologist ... coiningeer?) => however, I have recently invested all of my life's savings towards my ground-breaking thesis work ... Welcome to my unveiling => the first dated coin => obviously from 400 and somethun' BC, right? ... am I right? => oh yah, please carefully count the four dots ... yeeessss, I'm gonna make a million off of this discovery!! (this is easy) Sicily, Akragas Cast AE Trias (4 Onkia) circa 450 BC Diameter: 14 x 19 x 20 mm Weight: 16.28 grams Desc: Eagle standing left & trident of crab’s claws on sides, four pellets on base
The oldest dated coin that I have is this Prutah from Pontius Pilate. If I have it correct, the "L" is an abbreviation meaning "year". “IZ” = 17 of the rein of Tiberius. Tiberius became emperor in the year 14 C.E (AD), so we have : LIZ = Year 30 AD Possibly the year of the crucifixion.
