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What Date is on that coin, Daddy?
Dates and dating eras on coins throughout the ages,
Recently I was trying to date an old Syrian coin and began thinking of the many dating
systems on coins over the years and the different methods that many countries used.
Below are some examples of this with coins from my collection.
The bronze tetrachalkon coins of Syrian Antioch are a good example. Their diameter is
usually from about 20mm to 28mm and their obverse shows the head of Zeus with the
reverse having the statue of Zeus enthroned. As we all know, Greece did not have
numerals at that early time and used normal alpha characters instead. Alpha, Beta,
Gamma was 1, 2, 3 – Iota, Kappa, Lambda was 10, 20, 30
and so on.
The first coin I show is from the Seleucian era, year 1 of
which dates from the Battle of Babylon in 312/11 BC. At
the bottom of the coin, in the exergue, we see the date
ΓΛΣ or 233 Sel. Which is 80/79 BC.
The second coin was minted some 32 years later and has
a date of only ΙΘ or 19 Pom. This is the last coin dated to
the Pompeian era which counted the years from the
region's conquest by the Roman general Pompey in 63
BCE. Even though the numerical date is less it equates to
48/47 BC.
Of course, we had to have another battle – This time
at Pharsalus between Pompey and Caesar. Caesar
won the battle so the dating was changed to Caesarean
which began in 48 BC and this coin is dated Γ or 3
which equates to about 47/46 BC. So the earlier coin is
dated “19” and three years later coins are dated “3”.
And then, guess what. There was another battle when
the Parthians invaded and took control of Antioch in 40
BC. They, of course, used the Seleucid dating system
and so this coin (a one year only coin) is dated ΒΟΣ or
272 Sel. which equates to 41/40 BC.
The Romans couldn’t let it rest at that so, in 39 BC,
Mark Antony’s forces defeated the Parthians, took
back Antioch, and set the calendar back to the
Caesarean system. This coin is dated ΘΙ or 19
which equates to 31/30 BC (if your memory is good,
you might remember that the second coin
mentioned in this article was also dated 19 but it
was a Pompeian date and this is Caesarean).
These people loved their wars. In 31 BC Octavian
defeated Mark Antony at the battle of Actium. He
was so pleased with this battle that he changed the
calendar once again. The last coin illustrated in
this series has a different reverse to the others and
is dated ΕΛ or 35 in the Actian calendar, which
equates to 4/5 AD.
So we see, that in Antioch alone, we find six changes of eras in the short space of time of
thirty-two years.
You might think that is unusual and ask why didn’t they pick a nice simple system like
ours which is based on the time since the Birth of Christ (BC/AD). Simple, yes - BUT,
the experts advise that Christ was probably born in 5 or 6 BC so our system is not that
perfect.
There are many eras of dating that have been or are being used throughout the world.
Below I will mention just a very few of them.
In 1792 France abolished the monarchy by the simple
expedient of cutting off the head of the king. They then
instituted a new calendar with 1792 being year one of
the Republic. The coin shown here is a 5 centime piece
dated year 8 which equates to our year 1800.
In 1922 Mussolini was elected to the position of Prime
Minister of Italy and the reign of Fascism had begun.
An extra date, in Roman numerals, was shown on the
coins and “era Fascista” had begun. This coin is an
Italian 10 centesimi of 1940 with the second date of
XVIII, being the 18th year of the Fascist calendar.
The ancient Chinese didn’t place a date on their
coins but they did show the name of a reign or
descriptive title which can be dated from historic
records. The characters on this coin translate to
“Coinage of greater reverence” which puts it in the
reign of Emperor Hui Tsung and dates it to 1102
to 1107 AD.
The coins of Israel follow the
Jewish calendar which starts with the
calculated Biblical creation of the earth date of
3760 BC. The Israeli coin shown here is a one
Lira coin which is dated, in Jewish characters,
5727 (5727 years since creation). This equates to
our date of 1967.
Here is a coin of Morocco. It is a 10 Mazuna
(where do they find these names?) made of bronze
and plainly showing the date 1340. However, in
this example, it is not a Western dating but an
“Anno Hegirae” date, year 1 of which was 622 AD
when Mohammad emigrated from Mecca to
Medina. The year shown equates to 1921 (or
1922).
This coin, at first, is a puzzle. It has THREE
dates showing. One of these is shown on the
obverse and is the date AH1335 in Arabic
letters. On the reverse, we have the western
date 1920 and the AH date of 1338, again in
Arabic letters. The puzzle is solved when you
realise that AH1338 equates to AD1920 and
the AH1335 equates to 1917 which is the
accession date of the reigning Sultan, Fuad I.
There are many more instances of coins being dated according to important religious
dates, specific political dates, the dates of accession of various rulers, etc. However,
there can be other problems with dates on, and the dating of, coins. Following are just
three examples of some of the many problems that may arise.
Try finding the date on this coin. It is a fifty
centimes from Morrocco and was minted in 1921
HOWEVER it does not have a date. Apparently,
the mint didn’t think dating the coin to be
important – or perhaps they just forgot it.
Many Spanish coins show two dates on the coin.
The larger and easily seen date is the series date
or the year in which that particular design was
first used. The second date is the mintage date or
true date and is found in the tiny six-pointed
stars incorporated in the design. The coin shown
here is a Spanish 2.5 peseta with the series date
of 1953 shown under Franco’s head and the
mintage date of 1954 inside the tiny stars.
Here is another Morroccan mystery. This coin
is a one Franc piece with both AD and AH
dates. It shows the Western date of 1951 and
the Islamic date of 1370. But here lies the
problem: These same dates were struck on
this type coin for more than 20 years without
change of date until 1974. So this coin’s true
date could be anywhere between 1951 and
1973.
The search, the learning and the knowledge gained are just some of the
enjoyments of being a Numismatist.