Numismatics

High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Numismatics is the study or collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money, and related objects. While numismatists are often characterized as students or collectors of coins, the discipline also includes the broader study of money and other payment media used to resolve debts and the exchange of goods. Lacking a structured monetary system, people in the past lived in a barter society and used locally-found items of inherent or implied value. A few people today still use bartering in absence of a monetary system. Early money used by people is referred to as "Odd and Curious," but the use of other goods in barter exchange is excluded, even where used as a circulating currency (e.g., cigarettes in prison).