Coins as Tangible History

Normally, the way I experience history is behind some kind of barrier: either text or or the glass of a museum’s display case. But there’s one tiny slice of history that you can experience right up close: over the weekend a friend invited me to the New York International Numismatic Convention, and I learned something crazy when I got there: you can actually touch the coins.

“Who’s on that coin?”

“Julius Caesar. It was coined in February.”

“February? As in the month before he was assassinated?”