Oriental Numismatic Society
The Oriental Numismatic Society is a world-wide network of those interested in Oriental coins and money (collectors, scholars, and enthusiasts).
The Society publishes the Journal of the Oriental Numismatic Society, an international journal that is released quarterly to our members worldwide.
The different regional sections of the Society hold meetings around the world at which members can meet and hear talks by collectors, scholars and enthusiasts working on a variety of numismatic topics.
Society Activities
Upcoming Meetings
Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Saturday, 18th July. UK and via Zoom.
15:00-17:30 (London time), at the British Museum Coins and Medals Department
The Michael Broome Memorial Lecture will be delivered by Shailendra Bhandare (Ashmolean Museum)
Memes in Miniature: Some Thoughts on Imitative Gold Coins in Ancient and Late Antique India
Numismatists have often regard “imitations” as inferior and happily consign them to the “miscellaneous and unattributable” detritus, in the lower rung of a neatly classified and arranged coin ‘cabinet’. However, in recent years, their value as evidentiary objects throwing a significant light on economic, social and cultural histories is being increasingly recognized. Prompted by the discovery of a group of Byzantine imitations from North Maharashtra, the talk presents an overview of various imitative coins and coin-like objects, from the first to the fifteenth centuries, to bring out and comment on interesting aspects about their circulation and consumption. The commentary will be restricted mainly to gold objects because there is more data available for them.
ONS Quarterly Lecture Series online/worldwide Saturday August 22
- Phil Hauret on coins of Arakan; 4 pm London time.
ONS-meeting Leiden 11 September 2026
ONS Promotion at the Expo Houten (Utrecht) 19 September 2026
ONS Quarterly Lecture Series online/worldwide Saturday October 17
- Paul Landgraver on Sriwijaya coins; 4 pm London time.
Oriental Numismatic News
The ONS has awarded the 2024 Ashoka Prize to Dilip Rajgor.
The ONS has awarded the 2024 Steve Cribb Memorial Award to Robert S. Wicks.