which issued them, the craftsmen who made them and the people who used them. Listed by country it gives an account of world coinage from its beginnings in the 7th Century BC. Alexander the Great, Cleopatra and Napoleon appear alongside other rulers, of whose existence we only know about because of the coins issued in their name. It follows the development of the four separate coinage traditions of the Mediterranean, India, China and Islam, as the origins and progress of coinage in each country are traced within a concise historical framework. It also describes when and why new currencies and denominations were introduced, what they were made of and how they were designed and inscribed.

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