Iron was occasionally used in antiquity and in German coins of World War 1. Zinc was employed by Rome as a constituent of fine brass coins and as an alloy in a few Chinese coins. In crises, currencies have been produced from leather, cloth, card, paper and other materials. Organised collecting of coins is dated to the time of the Italian Renaissance but numismatic scholars began to catalogue and document existing collections only in the 17th century. Distinctions between the genuine and the spurious became surer only then.
Numismatic evidence plays a part in historical reconstruction now.
Specialist societies have emerged and are responsible for scholarly publications. Under the apex of the International Numismatic Commission a vast body of private collectors in many lands provide a fund of resource material for the numismatist. The Numismatist Society of Sri Lanka and Numismatist K.N.V. Seyone are classic examples of the spread of specialist societies and coin collators.