Ancient Coins (Leather Portfolios)

Gladiators and gods, aqueducts and Augustuses, togas and triumvirates, legions and lions: fifteen centuries after the fall, Rome remains fixed in the popular culture—and for good reason. For five full centuries, from the ascension of Caesar...

Maximilien RobespierreThe Incorruptible to his allies; dictateur sanguinaire to his opponentswas a French lawyer and statesman: arguably the most influential, and inarguably the most controversial, figure of the French Revolution. He supported radical...

When put to the test by the Pharisees, Jesus famously answers the question of taxation. The story is related in all three synoptic gospels; in Matthew 21:15-22: Then the Pharisees went and plotted to entrap him in what he said. So they sent their...

This Third Reich 1 Reichspfennig coin, was struck in zinc, and features the Nazi swastika.

This copper kopek coin was issued during the reign of Nicholas II, when Rasputin enjoyed enormous influence over the Romanov royal family.

A prolific author, a bold theologian, and a saintly presence, John Paul II was hailed as the great by his successor, Benedict XVI, upon his death in 2005. The epithet has stuck, and he is now known as John Paul the Great. He was beatified in 2011 and...

A very scarce bronze 1/2 Centenionalis coin minted for a brief period, to commemorate the 1100th anniversary celebration of the founding of the old city of Rome. Issued in the names of Constantius II and Constans, the coins depict the phoenix bird.

At the time of his death at age 46, Philip II was the most successful king Macedon had produced: streamlining the military, consolidating power, and successfully defeating the Spartans, the Scythians, and the Achaemenids. When he was stabbed to death on...

Once upon a time, some 300 million years ago, Europe, Asia, Africa, Oceania, Antarctica, and the Americas were all part of one enormous supercontinent: Pangaea. The namea combination of the Greek words pan, for entire, and Gaia, for Mother Earthwas...

The Pact of Steel is the agreement signed by Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini that established the European Axis. This album contains a Nazi and and Italian coin, as well as stamps bearing the portraits of the two men, separately and together.

In September of 1942, Lt. Gen. Leslie Groves was appointed director of what became the Manhattan Project. He tapped J. Robert Oppenheimer to head the secret weapons laboratory, which was established at Los Alamos, New Mexico. Despite his lack of...

This one-duit coin was widely used in the Dutch colonies, including New Amsterdam, and has come to be known as the First New York Penny.

This album contains a 2 hao banknote, P-69, issued in 1958, as well as three commemorative Vietnamese postage stamps, one of which features Ho Chi Minh.

Set of 5 coins and 2 banknotes used by the notorious Fascist ruler of World War II Italy.

Late Medieval Hungarian silver denar showing Mary, the patron saint of Hungary, with baby Jesus.

Issued in 2012 by the South African Reserve Bank, these 10 rand banknotes are part of a series honoring "The Father of South Africa," the anti-apartheid activist and revolutionary leader Nelson Mandela.

Silver tetradrachm of King Azes II of Bactria, identified by historians as having sent one of the three magi, or wise men, to pay homage to the baby Jesus.

When Ranjit Singh was born on November 13, 1780, even the most prophetic seer could not have predicted his meteoric rise. A childhood bout of smallpox left him with a pockmarked face and blind in his left eyeand he was short of stature and homely in...

This 1000 won banknote, P-8, was issued by the Republic of Korea in 1950, the year the war began. It features a portrait of Syngman Rhee, the Korean nationalist who was the president of South Korea from 1948-1960.

Five banknotes from five countries occupied by Japan during World War II: China, Burma, Malaya, the Netherlands East Indies and the Philippines.