The Princeton University Numismatic Collection

Upcoming Exhibits

Money on Paper

Banknotes and other monetary graphics from the collections of
Vsevolod Onyshkevych ’83
and the Princeton Numismatic Collection

Milberg Gallery
July to December, 2010

This exhibit will illustrate the interplay between the monetary and the graphic elements of banknotes and other forms of negotiable paper, from fourteenth-century Chinese mulberry paper notes to contemporary polymer issues. It will draw on the strong holdings of the Princeton Numismatic Collection in the United States series, including colonial and continental currency, nineteenth-century broken bank notes, and the series of unique Brazilian vignettes and proofs recently donated by William T. Anton III. The Onyshkevych collection is especially rich in emergency issues, and has great depth in twentieth-century series, allowing comparative displays on a horizontal and vertical basis.

Among the principal topics to be explored are the development of printing technologies to foil counterfeiting and the contribution of innovations in paper money printing to printing in general, especially in terms of copper engraving transfer processes, type fonts, paper making, watermarking, and ink manufacture.

Current Exhibits:
New Acquisitions

The Numismatic Collection's exhibits of recent acquisitions are located within the reception area of the Department of Rare Books and Special Collections of Firestone Library. On display now is an exhibit of contemporary medals by European and American artists.

Past Exhibits:
Numismatics in the Renaissance.

This major exhibit was held in the main exhibit hall of Firestone Library, November 19, 2007 through July 20, 2008. It comprised a selection of early printed books from Princeton University Library holdings that contain numismatic illustrations based on ancient coins, displayed alongside coins from the Princetone University Numismatic Collection that correspond to those illustrations. The books included treatises on numismatics, works on ancient history, and editions of classical texts such as Suetonius’s Lives of the Caesars. The confrontation of the printed and numismatic sources illuminated the role of numismatics in the development of humanistic writing and publishing and the effect of the inclusion of coin images on the development of book illustration. Additional features of the exhibit were an example of the 1561 map of Rome by Pirro Ligorio, which used ancient coin images as the basis of the illustration of many buildings, and sixteenth-century coins and medals that display the growing interest in and knowledge of ancient coins in the era.

A Symposium entitle "The Rebirth of Antiquity" was held in conjunction with the opening of the exhibit. The papers given at the symposium were published in the Winter 2008 issue of the Princeton University Library Chronicle and are available as a hardbound volume.

More information on the Numismatics in the Renaissance exhibit.

The Byzantine Mint of Thessalonica. In the central Middle Ages, the Byzantine empire faced progressive loss of lands in Asia Minor in the face of Turkish expansion. It increasingly turned its attention to its western, Balkan lands. This new orientation is epitomized in the coinage of the mint of Thessalonica in northern Greece, which had operated only sporadically since the seventh century. As part of his far-reaching currency reforms, Alexius I Comnenus re-opened the mint of Thessalonica, probably to supply coins to his troops in the northern Balkans. It remained the second mint of the empire until the capture of Constantinople by the Europeans on the Fourth Crusade in 1204, and resumed its role as an important mint after the restoration of the unified Byzantine Empire in 1262. The 18 coins in this exhibit were purchased in 2005 with matching funds provided by the Program in Hellenic Studies with the support of the Stanley J. Seeger Hellenic Fund

The Diplomatic Medal. The Diplomatic Medal was intended as a gift to foreign diplomats who had helped the American Congress during the Revolution. Thomas Jefferson chose to have this medal made by the French Mint, as had Congress when awarding medals to the heroes of the American Revolution, as it was considered to be the best equipped artistically and technically. The arms depicted on the obverse constitute one of the earliest appearances of the Great Seal of the United States. The reverse is typical of the art of its day, with the juxtaposition of classical, historical and contemporary motifs – note the Indian maiden in a chief’s bonnet and grass skirt, and the sailing ship behind Mercury. The medal was designed by Augustin Dupré. The dies were completed in 1791, and examples in gold were presented to the Marquis de la Luzerne (French Minister to the United States from 1779 to 1784) and the Count de Moustier (French Minister to the United States from 1787 to 1791). Both of the recipients were forced to emigrate during the French Revolution, and their medals are presumed to have been melted. Six examples were struck in bronze and were delivered to the American government; of these three are known to have survived. The example on display is the only one in a public collection.Gift of Cornelius C. Vermeule, III, 2003, from the collection of his grandfather, Senator Cornelius C. Vermeule (1858-1950).

Alan Stahl
Curator of Numismatics
astahl@princeton.edu
(609) 258-9127

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