Modern
The Modern Department includes all coins, tokens, and currency from Europe, sub-Saharan Africa, and Oceania made after the use of minting machinery—the screw press, the roller press, and later the hydraulic press—became standard. Minting machinery was first introduced in the mid-sixteenth century, but it did not become widely used until the second half of the seventeenth century. The total number of objects in the modern cabinet is approximately 90,000 coins, tokens, and paper currency items. Areas of particular strength include an extensive series of thalers, British tokens, Spanish coins, Napoleonic Europe, and emergency money from World War I and the inter-war years in Europe (especially Germany, Austria, and Russia).