Online Coin Museum

This is one of the coolest things I found recently, an online museum of coins, stamps and notes. The amount of information is amazing, and very readable with my screen reader.

I found it a few weeks ago, and I’m not sure for how long it has been online. The site is:
http://mintageworld.com.

Let me admit, first I was a bit skeptical about an online museum. I know this is not the first, but what is really an online museum? Isn’t any catalog with pictures one? But after I started exploring the site, I honestly didn’t care about the definition of an online museum, I think I’ll never find out.

Let’s start with the current statistics. At the time of this writing, there are 21371 coins, 1156 banknotes and 4749 stamps. This alone is very impressive. But there is much more to it. Here I will only discuss the coins, but I’ll definitely read the information about stamps and notes.

The coins are organized chronologically, you can choose the era, state, dynasty, etc., where you will find the coins listed. You can also read about the history of the states, rulers, and dynasties, though for some of this information you will need premium membership.

All basic information about the coins is freely available, though to read all of it, the sites requires registration. There is quite a bit of information about most coins, but what was most amazing to me is the level of descriptions they provide. Definitely much more than what you really need when looking at the image, so it is a goldmine for blind readers.

I hope the site owners won’t mind if I list two examples here.

Just out of curiosity, I checked the Braille 2 Rupees and compared it to Numista.

Obverse

Numista:

Asoka lion pedestal & denomination, between horizontal lines

Mintage World:

Bharat/India on top. National Emblem and value ‘2’ in center between two parallel lines, Rupaye/Rupees at bottom 

Reverse

Numista:

Bust of Louis Braille
Braille script reads: “L.BRL”

Mintage World:

Bust of Louis Braille between 1809-2009. Louis Braille in Devanagari and LOUIS BRAILLE in roman above the bust. Braille Script below reads: L.BRL , short for Louis

Just out of curiosity, I picked an ancient, recently posted coin, a Tetradrachms, which I didn’t know anything about. Here is what Mintage World says about it:

Obverse Description :  King stands facing to left, offering oblations in a altar with right hand, wears a diadem, tall bonnet, tunic, trousers and boots,
sword in left hand, trident-axe in field on left, club and symbol to right. Inscription in Greek starting from 1 o’clock “??S????S ??S???O? S???P MEG?S
????? ???F?S??” meaning king of kings, great savior, Vima kadphises.

Reverse Description :  Oesho with Three heads 1. moustached youth facing front, 2. horned animal on left, 3. bearded man on right. Naked with erect lingam,
holding trident in right and left hand resting on the bull, nandipada to left in field. An inscription in Kharoshti starting at 12 o’ clock “maharajasa
Rajadirajasa Sarvalogaishavarasa Mahishvarasa Vima Kathpishasa tradara”

Now this is impressive. I am just lost right now. I knew a little bit about modern Indian coinage, but it is one of the most complex countries to collect. There is so much to know, so many coins, many varieties, and an immense amount of history to understand to even start to put the whole thing into perspective. It is just way too much to even start to flip through each one of them.

There is nothing else to add. The page speaks for itself. Just head over and start exploring. Once again, it is at: http://mintageworld.com.