Information is a slithery concept, 'information-bearer' possibly even more so.In this paper I will discuss various ways in which ancient coins serve ashistorical information-bearers and generate (mainly but not solely throughhoards) emergent information. We will see how this information may be'virtualized' through computer applications and what the possible advantagesof this are. I will present a few existing online databases and other facilitiesthat are useful for numismatic research and suggest how these facilities maybe improved and complemented.
