From primitive coinage to precious metal coins and today's banknotes, they retrace the stages in the evolution of society and the economic life of the people of the Mediterranean and Near East.
Covering a rich history spanning almost 25 centuries, they reveal not only the skills and artistic sensibilities of countless metalworkers, but also the role of money in the history of people since Antiquity, in the East as in the West. This is demonstrated by the coins issued by politically and commercially advanced powers such as Carthage, Athens, Rome, Byzantium and later the Umayyad, Abassid, Aghlabite, Fatimid, Zirid, Hafsid and Ottoman dynasties…
