Summer 2006 Volume 5 Number 2

Features

• The Authorized Version: Money and Meaning in the King James Bible by Oliver D. Hoover
• The Archer M. Huntington Award and the Margaret Thompson Memorial Lecture by Juliette Pelletier
• Russian History in Medals: Peter the Great by Olga Less
• World Medals, Orders, and Decorations
• A Treasure Worthy to Be Known: The Coin Cabinet of the Musée Condé by Donatien Grau (translated from the French by Oliver D. Hoover)

Departments

• From the Executive Director
• News
• From the Collections Manager
• Development News
• Current Cabinet Activities
• Archivist's News

Book Reviews

• The Dassiers of Geneva: Eighteenth-Century European Medallists
• Portrait d’Alexandre le Grand: Histoire d’une découverte pour l’humanité

Obituary

• James H. Schwartz

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Current Cabinet Activities

by Robert Wilson Hoge

Ongoing Researches and Inquiries

Many people travel considerable distances to study materials in the ANS cabinet. Other visitors have only to visit our Web site at http://www.numismatics.org or contact us by letter, telephone, or e-mail to satisfy their numismatic curiosities. Serving our membership and the public, the curatorial staff of the American Numismatic Society remains fully committed to (and thus very largely occupied with) providing access to the cabinet for all kinds of inquiries. We are always offering assistance concerning items in the collection, both on site and, via outreach consultation, to those unable to visit our facilities themselves, and we routinely answer all sorts of questions concerning not only specimens in the cabinet but any other numismatic materials to which ANS items might relate. Along with these activities, of course, the staff is always busy providing photographic services, whether for study, comparison, documentation, or publication—or just plain appreciation of these small but important pieces of civilization.

Those modest photo order and use fees enable us to continue adding images to our unsurpassed online database catalog; they also help cover a little bit of the cost of access and consultation, which are provided free of charge. One reason why I like to make mention of some of the people conducting their research with our collections and using images of pieces in the cabinet is so that readers may appreciate those who are contributing to make the collections available to you, “online.” I think it is very worthwhile, too, for you to catch a glimpse of how fascinating and informative so many of these items are.

In conjunction both with visitations by researchers and with our regular work to supply information and images, a constant effort is underway to expand and upgrade the catalog descriptions of items in the cabinet and improve their organization and arrangement. As I have sometimes pointed out previously, what we learn at the instigation of others can be very helpful and is sometimes particularly noteworthy. This month, I will review several typical, recent examples of activities involving the various departments and some of their respective photo orders. In terms of making additions and corrections to the existing records and descriptions of items, the greatest improvement recently has probably been in our Latin American department. But this section has seen so much progress—thanks to the expert knowledge and keen eye of Mike Dunigan, the prominent Spanish colonial specialist from Texas, who visited us along with Richard Tailleferd—that I must reserve my report for our next issue of the ANS Magazine. So for our Winter 2006 number, expect to go “south of the border” with me in the Society’s cabinet!

Ancient World

The ongoing popularity of classical studies in numismatics is reflected by the interest shown by many of our visitors and inquiries. Fabrice Delrieux requested an image of a fine and very rare hemidrachm of Hydisos, in Caria, for the article “Les monnaies hellénistiques et romaines d’Hydisos en Carie,” in Mélange en honneur de Pierre Debord (Fig. 1). For the Newseum, Karen Wyatt sought images of a gold stater of Philip II, of Macedon, from the mint of Amphipolis (Fig. 2); and Christine Buese ordered images of coins relating to ancient Athens for the second edition of the Pearson-Longman college textbook entitled The West: Encounters and Transformations (Fig. 3). John F. Cherry, of the Kelsey Museum at the University of Michigan, required images of a splendid tetradrachm of Ptolemy I, of Egypt, featuring a portrait of Alexander the Great as a god, for the chapter on “Classical Archaeology” in Blackwell Studies in Global Archaeology (Fig. 4).

Among recent visiting researchers who specialize in studies involving specimens from ancient Greece and Rome was Christof Boehringer, of the Archaeologisches Institut der Universität, in Göttingen, Germany, who was studying Sicilian silver; he worked with and identified some pieces in the large ANS collection of plaster casts. Another visiting scholar with a large study project was Georges Aboudiwan, of the Sorbonne, who is developing a corpus of the ancient post-Seleucid coins of the city-state of Sidon, in Phoenicia (Fig. 5). Madhuvanti Ghose, of the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London, ordered images of an eastern Greek issue, a tetradrachm of the Indo-Greek king Plato, probably emanating from what is today Afghanistan or Pakistan (Fig. 6); her work concerns early Indian cult image iconography, focusing on that of Helios Surya. Valerie V. Sergeenkova, of the Harvard University Classics Department, ordered photos of an Amphipolis-mint distater of Alexander the Great for an article to appear in the Quaderni ticinesi di numismatica e antichitá (Fig. 7).

Our collection of Roman coins always attracts notice. Dr. Lea Stirling, Associate Professor in the Canada Research Chair in Roman Archaeology in the Department of Classics at the University of Winnipeg, requested several images, among them an issue of Tiberius and Livia (Fig. 8). Rachel Kousser, of the Art Department of Brooklyn College, New York, who was looking particularly at some Roman issues featuring representations of Victory while visiting and studying in the coin room recently, ordered a number of images, including several fetching examples representing the goddess draped only from the hips down, inscribing a victory shield (Figs. 9, 10). Karen Wyatt, of the Newseum, ordered images of an example of the famous Judaea Capta issue (Fig. 11), while Marchel Thibaut, from France, requested images of an unusual antoninianus of Philip “the Arab”—probably from the mint of Viminacium (Fig. 12).

Our splendid collection of Byzantine coinages has not been overlooked by researchers. Irving Lavin, of the Institute for Advanced Studies at Princeton University, requested images of a number of issues in connection with his interests (Figs. 13, 14, 15).

Scholars from a number of museums made their way to the ANS coin room for consulting, research, arranging loans, or lecturing. Among our colleagues from other museums with whom we recently worked regarding classical coins were former ANS Curators Carmen Arnold-Biucchi, now at Harvard, and William E. Metcalf, now at Yale; Michel Amandry, from the Bibliothèque Nationale, in Paris, working on the next installment volume of Roman Provincial Coinage; and Sean Hemingway and Christopher Lightfoot, from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in New York. Of course, specialist dealers and collectors also visit the coin room. Among them recently were dealers John Aiello and Dmitry Markov. And as he regularly does, Alexander Naymark, of Hofstra College, brought a group of his students to the Society for a numismatic orientation. The ANS is also working on helping with an exhibit on Athenian coins for the Onassis Foundation, in New York City.

Medieval and Modern Europe

There was not much activity in the Medieval department, but Christopher Lightfoot, of the Metropolitan, did have an interesting question with which we were able to assist. In last summer’s archaeological excavations of the site of an early Christian church in the Lower City of Amorium, in Turkey, a curious coin (SF6598) was discovered. Its full provenance citation is AM05/A14-3/SF6598; from the Lower City Church, 21.07.05; AR denier; 19 mm, 1.35 g. The coin, which remains in Turkey, will be published in the report of Lightfoot’s work by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. We do not have a photo to illustrate it; a plaster cast served for me to attribute this specimen and to conjecture that it might well have found its way to the site as a piece carried by an eleventh-century pilgrim. The Amorium denier bears the types, respectively, of a cross and a monogram, with the legends +S. MAVRICIVS on the obverse and +VRBS VIENNA on the reverse. These place it as an issue in the sequence of the Archbishops of Vienne. The monogram appearing on this issue would seem to have been a cause for confusion among numismatists of the past, having been read as representing either the Franconian emperor Conrad II “the Salian” (1024-1039) and/or Henry III “the Black” (1039-1056). While earlier authors favored the latter interpretation, reading the monogram as HE, the more probable of the two possibilities would seem to be a reading as CH—indicating Conrad (whose name would have been spelled contemporaneously as Chonradus). Henry’s connections with the archbishopric and the city are not documented, but Conrad subjugated Vienne in 1034, so the anonymous monogram coinage may well date from ca. 1034-1039. Specific published references for the issue found at Amorium (see bibliography) are: Boudeau 1041; Dieudonné 162; Engle and Serrure 1254; Poey d’Avant 4820, Pl. 106, 9; Roberts 3975; and Serrure 660.

New York City is always an active hub for international numismatics. We were able to help Edgar Munhall, of the Frick Collection Museum, by providing a recommendation of a coin and image for a forthcoming publication. Although our cabinet of eighteenth-century French gold coins is not very extensive, a Paris-mint Louis d’or of 1759 met his needs (Fig. 16). Colleagues Ian and Eva Wiséhn, from the Royal Coin Cabinet of the National Museum of Economy, in Stockholm, Sweden—one of the world’s great numismatic collections and exhibitions—stopped by for a visit while traveling in New York, and they will be returning again for the next Krause-Mishler Forum, which we will be hosting in October.

East and South Asia and Islam

For a forthcoming sixth-grade social-studies textbook to be published by MacMillan/McGraw-Hill/School Division, we were able to provide Michelle Vitiello with an image of a nice Zhou-dynasty Chinese bronze spade coin. The ANS’s magnificent Chinese collection is underutilized, so we were especially pleased to help in such a context (Fig. 17).

Curatorial Associate Peter Donovan has been making excellent progress in cataloguing Turkish and Indian coins in the cabinet, making it more user-friendly than ever. Robert Schaaf stopped by to review an issue of the Sasanian king of Persia Yazdgird I, and he also acquired some images of Parthian coins. Stuart D. Sears continued his study and recording of the extensive collection of early Muslim silver (Arab-Sasanian) drahms found in the ANS cabinet. The Society is also engaged in a publication project for the entire collection of Kushan coinage, which should bear fruition before long.

Americana

Activities in the American section involve all of the kinds of inquiries, searches, and research mentioned earlier. For upcoming articles in our specialized publication The Colonial Newsletter, we have been able to provide, for authors of a number of forthcoming articles, suitable materials for illustrations. These include counterfeit Virginia halfpenny items for Roger Moore (Fig. 18) and contemporary forgeries of Connecticut coppers for Mike Ringo (Fig. 19). Other scholars and authors have ordered images both for study and inclusion in books they are preparing, among them John Howes (Mould and Atlee Productions, etc.) (Fig. 20), and ANS Trustees Sydney Martin (Wood’s Hibernia issues) (Fig. 21) and Roger Siboni (“Confederatio” copper, etc.) (Fig. 22).

For Janet Miller, of the Yale University Department of Paintings and Sculpture, we were able to provide a nice image of a U.S. 10-dollar gold piece of 1795, to be used in a forthcoming catalog of a traveling exhibit called “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness: American Art 1660-1893 from the Yale University Art Gallery” (Fig. 23).

Roger Burdette ordered images of a couple of our Augustus Saint-Gaudens trial-strike galvanoes for use in an article in Coin World. Three colleagues from other American museums also visited, to confer regarding future exhibitions their institutions are planning: Elena Lioubimova, from the Yorktown-Jamestown Heritage Foundation, in Virginia, is preparing for the “World of 1607” feature for the 300th-anniversary celebration of the first English settlement in America next year; Leo Smith, from the Durham Western Heritage Museum in Omaha, Nebraska, is developing a presentation on the economic history of that city and state in 2009; and Joel Sweimler, from the American Museum of Natural History, our neighbor in New York City, is completing arrangements for an exhibit focused on gold in all its uses and ramifications. The ANS welcomes opportunities to work with other museums in our effort to broaden the appreciation of numismatics.

One aspect of Americana I have noticed is that, more and more, people seem to be appreciating, collecting, and inquiring about early American paper money. This subject has come up frequently in the past partly on account of the plethora of copies of old notes made by the Historical Documents Company, of Philadelphia—“Antiqued Parchment Replicas ‘That Look and Feel Old,’” according to their advertising—but I think students and collectors are increasingly recognizing the rarity and economic significance of the actual notes, poignant mementoes from the colonial era. Lisa Drazin sought information to help handle inherited materials including pre-Revolutionary Pennsylvania currency. Recent auction records have no doubt also helped bring attention and awareness to this still uncircumnavigated field.

Although not nearly as large as it could be (or as representative as one would hope), the ANS collection of pioneer gold—the so-called private and territorial gold pieces emanating from the days of the nineteenth-century gold rushes—includes a fine assortment of examples, original dies, and minting equipment. Young numismatist William Robins has made this field his special area of interest, and I was glad to show this material to him upon his visit (Figs. 24, 25, 26, 27, 28). Some of the premier specimens (such as the original Bechtler coining press) are on display at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, in “Drachmas, Doubloons, and Dollars: The History of Money,” our long-term exhibit there, while others are in storage in the Donald Groves Building’s fine new vault facilities or in secure off-site locations. The ANS Magazine provides us with the opportunity to present some images of these items to you, printed for the first time in color!

Medals

Although some specimens in the cabinet have not yet been catalogued in our database, the ANS collection of medals is a wonderful assemblage of numismatic art and history. It surely comes as no surprise to readers that a relatively high percentage of the cabinet’s inquiries regularly obliges me to work in this area. But since information on medals tends to be much less readily available than that on most coins, and since the pieces do not as easily lend themselves to tracking down identifications and references, assisting people in this field can be disproportionately time consuming. The study of medals can be regarded as one of the greatest components of numismatics. While some parts of the ANS collection, including many of our most popular pieces, have been previously published, much work awaits. We are always happy to have a chance to bring forward some pieces that might not otherwise be noticed.

The wonderful series of American Indian Peace medals in the ANS cabinet always receives a fair share of attention, and they have been mentioned various times in this column in the past. Since favorites like the Washington silver ovals and the Jefferson hollow medals have made recent appearances in these pages, we may safely gloss over other inquiries about them, as likewise with the famous Charleston Freed Slave badge, which is regularly imaged and requested on loan, or even the famous Sabine Pass medal of the Confederacy (recently requested once again for inclusion in an article in Civil War Times). But the beautiful Van Buren large silver medal, which with its original attachment ribbon once belonged to Chief Goes to War Often (Zwi-Ye-Sa) of the Yankton Dakotahs, has received less visibility, as has the “President” John Jacob Astor medal of the Upper Missouri Outfit, issued from Fort Union by the American Fur Company (Figs. 29, 30). Images of these medals were recently requested by Kendall Johnson, of the Department of English Literature at Swarthmore College, for use in a publication to be entitled Peace, Friendship, and Financial Panic: Reading the Mark of Black Hawk.

Harry Waterson studied the catalog entries for the outstanding Hungarian-American artist Julio Kilenyi (1885-1959) in our database and ordered images of several pieces (Fig. 31). Kilenyi was a master of modeling and design after the manner of Oscar Roty, as can be seen in his elegant works. He was well known in the 1920s, and he designed Calvin Coolidge’s Presidential inaugural medal (for which he received the less-than-princely sum of $150!). One elegant, uninscribed Kilenyi plaquette featuring a half-length portrayal of an austere, elegantly dressed gentleman surely depicts President Woodrow Wilson. The features resemble those of the unsigned Wilson inaugural medal by the Newark firm of Whitehead & Hoag, who employed Kilenyi to create their high-quality works.

Conclusion

Welcome to the American Numismatic Society! The far-famed strength of the cabinet brings understandable attention, and we are always happy to show portions of the collection to our colleagues and to serious students, collectors, and dealers. For security reasons, we do ask that those who would like to visit to view items at the ANS make appointments in advance and provide us with references and introductions. Meanwhile, hundreds of the greatest specimens from the cabinet may be seen without appointment at other venues. Many are on view in our spectacular exhibit “Drachmas, Doubloons, and Dollars,” mentioned above. This numismatic blockbuster is at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, at 33 Liberty Street—only a few short blocks from the ANS headquarters, the Donald Groves Building, at the intersection of Fulton and William Streets, in Manhattan. Why not come spend some quality time in Old New York with the best numismatic collection in the country? Or if you can’t, let us share data with you and learn more together in cyberspace. We’re only a click away...!

Bibliography for Further Reading