Sebastian ZAMBANINI / Martin KAMPEL
(Computer Vision Lab, Vienna University of Technology, Austria)
Outline: We present ILAC (Image based cLassification of Ancient Coins), a recently started project in an interdisciplinary topic, computer vision together with numismatics. The overall goal of the project is to develop a selection of methods for image-based classification of ancient coins. Up to now documentation and classification have been done manually which means a lot of routine work for numismatists and a very time consuming process for each object.
Abstract: Nowadays, the number of digitally recorded coins is heavily increasing due to the broad use of digital cameras. While computers are extensively used for storing and working on numismatic data, no computer aided classification system for ancient coins based on images has been investigated so far. Since specialists are usually able to classify coins from 2D image information only, computer vision methods can be applied to coin images to support numismatists on the examination of coinages as well as to speed up the overall processes significantly.
To achieve this goal the ILAC project has been initialized which brings together the expertise of the Computer Vision Lab of the Vienna University of Technology and the Coin Cabinet of the Museum of Fine Arts Vienna in order to build an automatic image-based coin classification system. Within the project the scope of the application is restricted to gold and silver issues of the Roman Republic period, but the project is assumed to serve as a groundwork for tackling other periods and new scientific challenges in the future.
In the talk an overview of the project will be given, including detailed project aims, data description, methodology, technical challenges and expected implications. Furthermore, first classification results on an initial subset of the total stock of coins available at the Coin Cabinet will be presented.
Keywords: Coin Classification, Numismatics, Computer Vision