A Compendium Of Numismatic Displays In Museums Around The World (Evergreen)

Excellent!

The Karples Manuscript Library is actually a series of buildings across the US that draw from what wikipedia calls "the world's largest private collection of original manuscripts and documents". I recently visited a couple of them in Buffalo NY. As expected, the focus was on manuscripts rather than coins, but still the displays were quite interesting. At one, there was a large collection of 20th Century Cuban documents, including Castro's high school yearbook (with a pic taken before all those years of wearing dusty fatigues and growing bushy beards). I've also included a pic of a 5 Centavos coin dated to 1943--the year he graduated from Ecos de Belen.









The other site in Buffalo seemed to focus more on historical maps, including a map showing the major players in the Third Crusade: Philip Augustus of France, Frederick Barbarossa of the Holy Roman Empire, Richard the Lionhearted of England, and Saladin Sultan of Egypt. I've included one of my Denier Parises from Phillip II's reign (1180 to 1223 AD), although more information about him can be found in @orfew's excellent CCF thread here: http://goccf.com/t/295185

At least you got to see it.

I was recently in Harper's Ferry, West Virginia--very nice hiking on the Appalachian Trail plus lots of Civil War history to absorb. While there, I managed to take a pic of the iconic building that remains from John Brown's 1859 anti-slavery revolt (and of course graces the rev of one of our 2016 Washington quarters).







While walking around the lower town, I poked my head into the John Brown museum. The three time-coordinated videos provided a nice primer on the revolt, but the only vaguely numismatic display was of the hard times tokens, "Am I not a man and a brother" and "Am I not a woman and a sister". I don't have either of these items in my admittedly small token collection, and as far as I know, neither of them has ever been posted in CCF. Here is one brief mention of a modern mule in a prior thread:

http://goccf.com/t/169846

Excellent!

Nestled in a building just off the quad at Emory University is the Michael C. Carlos Museum. It is a short uber ride from downtown Atlanta Georgia and well worth the trip. According to a placard, the collection got its start like this:




When I visited the Carlos Museum recently, I found quite a bit of drool-worthy material for us numismatists. There were a surprising number of Greek and Roman coins as well as some incredible Egyptian amulets. For example, see below for Tets of Alexander the Great and Philip II, Drachmas of Sikyon and Ephesos, and the obligatory Athenian Tet.

At the end, I've added pics of my own Triobol from Sikyon--it is always nice to be able to compare my old worn coins to ones with much more remaining detail. You can even see the scratch mark that I inadvertently made under the dove before I knew about bending the staples on my 2x2s.














Finally, @albert sorry that I just noticed your invite to the state museum in Trier. Yes, I will connect to you via CCF email when I next have plans to be in that part of Germany.

It was in the Swiss National Museum (Zürich Landesmuseum) that I learned about the so-called Oath on the Rütli Meadow (Rütlischwur). As the legend goes, three farmers (from the towns of Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden) met to create a pact. According to wikipedia, the meeting could plausibly have occurred on November 8, 1307. A little later (in 1481 AD) and after years of infighting, the Treaty of Stans was signed. The 10 cantons mutually recognized their various territories and promised to support each other against all others. More recently, in 1851 the Swiss Franc replaced more than 800 different coins minted by 79 holders of the right of coinage. At that time, it was pegged in value to the French Franc.

The Swiss Landesmuseum has a pretty amazing collection of Roman, Dark Age, Medieval, and Renaissance-era coins, along with a pretty neat exhibit of Swiss paper money. You can safely plan on spending several hours immersed in their amazing collection.


Swiss Bank Notes:




Cast Potin from Basel Canton (135 to 50 BC):




Quinarius from Solothurn Canton (135 to 70 BC):




Triens from Ticino Canton (ca. 600 AD):




For comparison, here is my oldest coin of Switzerland: A Pfennig of the Swiss Bishopric of Basel that dates to between 1150 and 1200 AD.