Gold Coins

The history of gold coinage is the history of world political power. Since Croesus of Lydia, gold coins have both symbolized and actualized political and mililtary might.

Solon Numismatics presents a modest collection of gold coins from the Lydians through the Greeks, the Romans, the Byzantines, the Medieval Kingdoms of France, England, Spain and the Italian city-states, right through to modern times.

These coins have been chosen not only for beauty and state of preservation, but also because they can be read as informative historical documents.

For the vast majority of recorded history, perhaps for the reasons enumerated by Aristotle,* gold has always been money. There are many recorded instances of civilizations attempting to use an array of other types of currency: cowrie shells, chocolate, beer, oxen, little colored pieces of paper, and our modern experiment with electronic chits.

So far, all other currencies have failed. Whether or not the world returns to a gold standard, it is clear that gold is quickly regaining its status as the ultimate currency.

*"Gold is durable, not like wheat, divisible, not like diamonds, convenient, not like lead, constant, not like real estate, and best of all, as jewelry, it has intrinsic value."

We are a memeber of the American Numismatic Association. All coins are guaranteed genuine in perpetuity, except where explicitly noted. All coins are available for sale or trade. All serious offers considered.

Click the images to see the coins. Click the coins to see larger images. If a coin doesn't load, click the heading again.

Terms and conditions:All coins are unconditionally guaranteed to be authentic in perpetuity. Coins must be paid in full before shipped. Upon receiving the coin you have 5 days to examine ungraded coins. If you send it back, I must receive it in exactly the condition it was sent, and I will refund the cost, minus my shipping expense. The pictures are large and accurate so you should have a reasonable idea of what you want before you order. I realize that on ancients it’s good to be able to examine the coin in hand. But please be confident you can do so with sensitivity, as my coins are very high grade, and the value is easily affected by minor handling marks. All sales final for graded coins.

Read my daily gold blog at:

http://gold-stater.blogspot.com

For full contact info, and a word on gold collecting/investing, as well as some brief commentary on the idiocy that passes for economic analysis these days: click here

ABOUT ME: This site is maintained and operated by J. Kahn. I have a B.A. from Yale in comparative literature (with a concentration in ancient literature) and an MFA in film. I am also a registered financial representive, and worked for years in Hong Kong as an analyst for Paine Webber. I became interested in gold and gold coins about ten years ago when it became clear to me that the radical debt-soaked experiment we call Supply Side Economics (also known as Voodoo Economics, or Neo-Liberal Economics) was doomed to severely compromise the US economy, the US dollar, and by extension, the world economy. For more on this, and info on gold as an insurance policy against global economic instability, click the link underlined above.

Contact me: J. Kahn, PMB 280, 123 Seventh Ave, Brooklyn NY 11215. Phone: 347 517 4055
Email: Jkahn21@nyc.rr.com

Quote of the day: “Owners of capital will stimulate the working class to buy more and more expensive goods, houses and technology, pushing them to take on more and more expensive debt, until their debt becomes unbearable. The unpaid debt will lead to the bankruptcy of all banks, which will have to be nationalised, and the State will have to take the road which will eventually lead to communism.”

...........................................................................Karl Marx (envisioning the birth of Arthur Laffer)

Quote of the month: " There is no subtler, no surer means of overturning the existing basis of society than to debauch the currency. The process engages all the hidden forces of economic law on the side of destruction, and it does it in a manner which not one man in a million is able to diagnose."

.........................................................................John Maynard Keynes (reflecting on the birth of the Fed, and, it should be said, the results of his own policies)

Quote of the year: "The central bank is an institution of the most deadly hostility existing against the Principles and form of our Constitution....Bankers are more dangerous than standing armies......(and) if the American people allow private banks to control the issuance of their currency, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and CORPORATIONS that will grow up around them will deprive the People of all their property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their Fathers conquered."

.......................................................................Thomas Jefferson - (just being generally prophetic)

Quote of the minute: “I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. Corporations have been enthroned, an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money-power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until the wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed.”

.................................................................Abraham Lincoln (envisioning the birth of Goldman-Sachs)

Timeles Quote: "paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value: zero."

...............................................................................................Voltaire, 1729

All coins are kept in bank vaults.

For info, comments, purchase requests contact: Jeff Kahn at Jkahn21@nyc.rr.com
Rare Gold Coins | Greek Gold Coins | Medieval Gold Coins | Roman Gold Coins