When Money Talks. A History of Coins and Numismatics by F. L. Holt

Abstract

Reviewed by: When Money Talks. A History of Coins and Numismatics by F. L. Holt Antonino Crisà F. L. Holt. When Money Talks. A History of Coins and Numismatics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021. Pp. 336. £25.99. ISBN 9780197517659. Publishers are invited to submit new books to be reviewed to Professor Lawrence Kowerski, Classics Program, Hunter College, 695 Park Ave., New York, NY 10065; email: lawrence.kowerski@hunter.cuny.edu. The title of this book clearly reflects its essence. When Money Talks is a novel book on coins. They are examined and "narrated" as speaking objects and contextualized in a variety of circumstances, epochs, and frameworks. This book is also a work on numismatics, the discipline that studies coins through various methodological approaches and links with other fields of studies (history, archaeology, art history, economics, etc.). Frank Lee Holt, professor at the Department of History at the University of Houston, opts for wider and unconventional perspectives on the numismatic discipline, also including a new subfield (cognitive numismatics) and current forms of alternative coins (see, for instance, Bitcoins). Chapter 1 of Holt's book is a general introduction to coins, which tells us the basics of numismatics ranging from ancient to modern and contemporary case studies. The author also provides information on the magic and mystery that coins and banknotes can conceal (see, for instance, the Masonic symbols printed on US dollars) (8–9). Chapter 2, "From the Coin's Point of View," is a conceptual and broad analysis of coins that "exist only for reasons of our own choosing and in forms of our own making" (19). Coins can be produced in large quantities for different purposes, and, therefore, the perception that human beings have of them changes from time to time. "The Invention of Coins" is a more historically narrated chapter that explains how coins have been conceived and then invented to overcome the first forms of barter (35–38). Holt describes the evolution of early coinages in Lydia until the establishment of the mint states, which issued coins for pride and profit, two correlated aspects of self-promotion (48). Chapters 4 and 5 both focus on the history of numismatists, but not in the traditional way that one would expect. In chapter 4, Holt first considers the Greeks as the earliest numismatists ("the inclination of the ancient Greeks to examine everything made them natural numismatists") (55), then the Roman tresviri monetali, because they "had more than an ordinary knowledge of Roman currency" (62), and even "Jesus the numismatist from Nazareth" (66). Such an approach, even if nonconformist, is certainly noteworthy, since the author revolutionizes the very concept of being a numismatist. Chapter 5 ("The Second Wave") is entirely focused on antiquarian studies from the Renaissance to the work of Joseph Eckhel (1737–1798), the inventor of modern numismatics. The next evolution of the discipline is described in chapter 6. The author continues his narrative on numismatists in the first half of the nineteenth century, when private collectors – like the Danish merchant Thomsen – began to buy hundreds or even thousands of ancient coins, which made their way into freshly arranged collections. At that point, the constant demand for collectable coins generated a vast antiquarian coin market. While collectors enlarged their collections, new scholars, such as Théodore Mionnet (1770–1842), perfected [End Page 107] numismatic analysis. Meanwhile, the foundation of numismatic societies led to the birth of professional journals, like Revue numismatique (1836) and Numismatic Chronicle (1838). Chapter 7 ("Finding Hoards") provides a series of new perspectives on coin hoards. For instance, Holt pinpoints the effect of looting coins or the concept of hoarding in ancient literature (109–110). Opening with a short section on the importance of hoards for historians, archaeologists, numismatists, and economists, Chapter 8 ("Why Hoards Matter") is more focused on their interpretation and assessment. Holt proposes a special (and intriguing) factor (X), which represents the misery index (133), in connection with the failure to recover coin hoards by their original owners. "The Ethos and Ethics of Collecting," the penultimate chapter, is shaped as a narrative mainly involving a coin-collector scholar and some Classics students discussing the ethical problems related to coin collecting. It...