Ancient Egyptian Coins

seemyauction

I recently watched a show on the Discovery Channel about Ancient Egypt and it started me thinking..........The Egyptians were very artistic & were surprisingly organized with their civilization. Its very easy to tell they loved Gold, so I figured there would be some fantastic designed gold & silver coins from Ancient Egypt.


So far all I can find is coins that were influenced by other cultures, I find this odd. There is evidence of trade, merchant records, what did they use for money?

Are there any Ancient Egyptian coins that were not influenced by other nations?

Sapyx

<< <i>Are there any Ancient Egyptian coins that were not influenced by other nations? >>


Hardly any, no. The simple answer is, coins came too late.

The invention of coinage coincided with the dying days of Pharaonic Egypt. Prior to the invention of coinage, Egypt (and everywhere else) used precious metals as simply another commodity to barter. Coins were a Greek invention; the Egyptians were in no rush to copy the habits of foreigners. It was the conquering Persians and Greeks that brought the concept of coinage in everyday use to Egypt.

There are, in fact, only a few pre-Greek Egyptian coin designs known to us. The most significant of these are the gold Nefer Nub staters of Pharaoh Nektanebo II, the last ethnic Egyptian pharaoh, struck circa 350 BC. The heiroglyphics on the reverse translate to "fine gold". It's speculated these coins were struck primarily to pay Greek mercenaries, who would have been more familiar with the concept of gold coins than the locals. These are the only coins listed in Sear for Pharaonic Egypt. As you can imagine, they're not cheap.

In recent years, some bronze "coins" of this same pharaoh have come to light. I'm not entirely convinced that these aren't simply balance weights.

7Jaguars

Well in classical New Kingdom Egypt (ie time of Ramses II et al) they did use gold ring shaped media and also ingots like the hide shaped copper ingots from the island of Cyprus.

JoesMaName

Great post Sapyx, I had no idea there were any indigenous Egyptian stater issues - quite interesting.
Only valued at $15,000 I wonder how many are known to exist?

seemyauction

Sapyx, thank you.

You probably saved me 100 hours of OCD research........

TwoKopeiki

Great posts, Sapyx and 7Jaguars! I've learned something new today

SYRACUSIAN

Basically, everytime sapyx posts something, you can be certain that it's an interesting read before you even open the thread.

thestig

How about the Cleopatra I as Isis.

CaptHenway

<< <i>How about the Cleopatra I as Isis. >>



Cleopatra was a Greek occupier of Egypt.

thestig

If I was a beginner, witch I am. I want to start off with coins, for long term value.
What would be good, Should I stick with gold, or all rare type?

Can you list a few types that are very hard to find, so I can read up on them Please, much appreciated.

CaptHenway

<< <i>If I was a beginner, witch I am. I want to start off with coins, for long term value.
What would be good, Should I stick with gold, or all rare type?

Can you list a few types that are very hard to find, so I can read up on them Please, much appreciated. >>



Serious advice: read everything.

cladking

The pyramids were ancient long before the concept of money was invented.

It's difficult to concieve how such massive engineering and building might even
be considered without money. Silver was rare in those days but they had lots
of gold coming in from the south. They were built in the bronze age but there's
no doubt they were familiar with iron. They couldn't smelt iron and had limited
or no knowledge of working it.

cladking

The 7th reply here is pretty good.