copy, object labels, exhibit case design
Wall text panel written for the Italic Cultures exhibit case of the Greek and Roman Galleries of the Rhode Island School of Design Museum of Art.
The first coins, made of a mixture of gold and silver called electrum, were minted in Lydia, in modern day Turkey. Though standardized weights of metal had been used for centuries as forms of payment before the first coin was minted, issues with the ratio of different elements in electrum led to the advent of coinage. The metal was stamped to lend authenticity and accountability to the value of the coin. To make ancient coins, craftsmen melted metal in small bank disc molds called flans. These flans were then placed between two engraved molds, or dies. Finally, the dies were struck with a hammer, imprinting the coin with images.
Greek coins were designed and crafted by die-engravers, master artists whose coins came to rival statuary and paintings in their prestige and craftsmanship. There were several types of images that were displayed on coins. The most common were depictions of patron deities, puns on city names, and local products. Analyses of the images on coins reveal many varying political aspirations, religious ideals, and local civic pride. Coins conveyed information about their makers in both their imagery and their location. They traveled across the Mediterranean, Europe, and Africa, and their provenances have informed much of the known history of the ancient world.