Money makes the world go round. Money makes the man, and money answers all things. Even time is money. We use it every day, we talk about it every day, but it remains hard to define what it is and how it works.
This exhibition will show you the different shapes of money: coins, cowrie shells, salt, tokens, gold, paper money, credit cards and many more. It illustrates how money is first and foremost a way to store wealth and make payments. It makes trade easier and lets governments, merchants, and individuals pay their debts. But money is much more than just an economic object.
Every coin and paper bill can be a work of art, a political messenger, or a piece of jewelry. By looking at the money of many cultures and periods, we not only learn about their histories and attitudes, but we also gain a better understanding of how our own money works and what it says about our own culture and history.
Since at least the Renaissance, coins have attracted large numbers of collectors. Today millions of people all over the world—poor and rich—collect coins, medals or paper money. Individually, coins allow you to hold a piece of history in your own hand. Sometimes, we even know intriguing details about the person who used a coin or what it bought. More commonly, a coin is a silent witness. But, whether worn, fresh from the mint or cut, it shows us that someone in the past used or cared for it.
The American Numismatic Society and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York together invite you to visit this exhibition and learn more about the fascinating history of money.
Location:
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York
Closed September 28, 2012.
Contents:
Ancient Greece and the Mediterranean World
Exhibitions Home Return to Drachmas, Dubloons, and Dollars homepage The first coins were struck in...
Read moreAncient Rome
Return to Drachmas, Dubloons, and Dollars homepage The Romans established a highly centralized system of...
Read moreMedieval Byzantine and Islamic Empires
Return to Drachmas, Dubloons, and Dollars homepage The Byzantine emperors in Constantinople struck a...
Read moreThe Medieval West
Return to Drachmas, Dubloons, and Dollars homepage Throughout early Medieval Europe, coins were not...
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Ancient and Medieval East and South Asia
Return to Drachmas, Dubloons, and Dollars homepage East Asian coins are noticeably different from Western...
Read moreNew Sources: The 15th and 16th Centuries
Return to Drachmas, Dubloons, and Dollars homepage The 15th and 16th centuries are probably...
Read moreEurope in Transformation: The 17th Century
Return to Drachmas, Dubloons, and Dollars homepage By the early 1600s, the rich mines of...
Read moreThe Enlightenment: The 18th Century
Return to Drachmas, Dubloons, and Dollars homepage The 18th century was an age of...
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Early America
Return to Drachmas, Dubloons, and Dollars homepage North America's first European settlers often traded...
Read moreAfrican Money
Return to Drachmas, Dubloons, and Dollars homepage Although the rulers of the great Ethiopian kingdom...
Read moreEast and South Asia in the 19th Century
Return to Drachmas, Dubloons, and Dollars homepage In the 19th century, three factors changed the...
Read moreEmpires and Colonialism in the 19th Century
Return to Drachmas, Dubloons, and Dollars homepage "It was the best of times, it was...
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Moving West: 19th-Century America
Return to Drachmas, Dubloons, and Dollars homepage The United States began the 19th century as...
Read moreCoins of the World
Return to Drachmas, Dubloons, and Dollars homepage World coinage reveals the dramatic history of the...
Read moreThe United States in the 20th Century
Return to Drachmas, Dubloons, and Dollars homepage U.S. coinage in the 20th century was greatly...
Read moreThe Art of the Medal
Return to Drachmas, Dubloons, and Dollars homepage Medal making first appeared as an independent...
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The Future of Money
1983.183.1 1983.183.2 1983.187.1 1983.188.1 Return to Drachmas, Dubloons, and Dollars homepage Other pages of...
Read moreU.S. Treasures of the American Numismatic Society
Return to Drachmas, Dubloons, and Dollars homepage Great rarities of United States coinage owned by...
Read moreManhattan Money
Return to Drachmas, Dubloons, and Dollars homepage From its early days in the 17th...
Read morePaper Currency of the World
Return to Drachmas, Dubloons, and Dollars homepage The first true paper money was produced...
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