Ancient Coins (Leather Portfolios)

Piracy in the Caribbean arose because of a perfect storm of eventsincluding a literal perfect storm. First, the War of Spanish Succession, a World War Zero that saw the major European powers enjoined in battle for a dozen years, ended in 1714, leaving...

Struck from 1982-84, this Mexican 50 pesos coin features a design found on an ancient Aztec stone disc.

The Balkans were the powder keg of Europe before and after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo in 1914. In 1903, members of a radical secret society called the Black Hand killed the Serbian king and his mistress-turned-wife, in what...

Sun Tzu, the great Chinese military strategist, wrote The Art of War in the fifth century BC. The ancient treatise contains 13 chapters, each devoted to different aspects of warfare: strategy, discipline, weaponry, espionage, and so forth. The text...

A special set of 2 coins and 1 banknote issued in Uganda during the regime of the notorious dictator Idi Amin.

15 uncirculated, legal tender coins from 15 different African nations, all featuring images of their indigenous wildlife.

Oversized 5-afghani coin issued in 1961 by King Muhammed Zahir Shah features his portrait—in violation of Islamic law prohibiting graven images.

These coins are actual 1, 5 and 10 Reichspfennig coins struck by the Third Reich in zinc metal, and circulated throughout Germany and the occupied lands during the Second World War between 1940 and 1945. 100 Reichspfennigs equaled 1 Reichsmark. There is...

In 2003, at the age of 83, Pope John Paul II reached a rare and significant milestone: the 25th anniversary of his pontificate. To commemorate this anniversary, the Polish government issued this special-edition 2-z?otych coin.

The first Jewish coin was minted around 135 BCE by King John Hyrcanus I of Judea, founder of the Hasmonean dynasty that restored Israel to Jewish rule, giving rise to the so-called Second Temple Period.