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

Tons to see for the travelling numismatist at the Met (Metropolitan Museum of Art) in New York City. Realistically you need several hours, but as I only had a couple, I spent most of my time in the Byzantine and Greek/Roman sections. Interestingly, many of the display coins are on loan from the American Numismatic Society. Below are pictures of a small sample of the eye candy on display:


Roman/Byzantine
A line of 13 Roman and Byzantine Solidii dating from the 4th through the 7th Centuries



Byzantine
From left to right on the top row are: Solidus of Irene, Tremissis of Theophilos, Solidus of Leo VI and Constantine VII Porphyrongennetos, Solidus of Constantine VII Porphyrongennetos, Histamenon of John I Tzimiskes, Histamenon of Zoe and Theodora, Histamenon of Isaak I Komnenos, and Hyperpyron of John II Komnenos. For the bottom row: Solidus of Leo VI, Miliaresion of Basil II, Miliaresion of Romanos III, Hyperpyron of Michael VIII, and Solidus of Justinian II.



6th Century pectoral with Byzantine coins and an amazing pseudo-medallion.



Armenian
From left to right on the top row are: Two silver Trams of King Levon I, bronze Tank of King Levon I, and two silver Trams of King Het'um I and Queen Zabel. For the bottom row: Two different sized of silver Trams of King Het'um I, Bronze Tank of King Het'um I, and Bronze Tank of King Het'um II.



Judaica
On the left is a Tet from Bar Kokhba that was overstuck on a Roman coin while on the right is a Sestertius of Vespasian with the Judea Capta inscription.

When I was in Munich as part of my trip to Europe, I visited the "Staatliche Münzsammlung München", https://www.staatliche-muenzsammlung.de/
A small but very well displayed collection of coins from Bavaria and other German States, covering the period 1840-1872, in addition to separate display featuring coins from older time periods from the Greek and Roman era to today.
I thought the collection was very well layed-out using the coins to tell the history of Bavaria.

I am sure many of you are familiar with this institution, as I was at the ANA Money Museum last Thursday in Colorado Springs.
They have a very nice display of medals, coins, and currency from the USA as well as from Europe and Asia. But most of it from the United States.
Loved how they explained the history of money and depicted US history by coins and medals.
They have some treasures there, including a bronze 1943 cent
I highly recommend visiting this museum if you are in the neighborhood of Colorado Springs.

Very interesting!

Very interesting!

Very interesting!

Thx for that information @spy. Looks like the Congleton Museum is ways south of Manchester. Hopefully your post can spur on some of our members to visit and ask about the coin cabinet there! If you managed to take any pics during your recent tour, pls add them to this thread. Thx!

Been a while since my last update to the thread, but I recently visited the Penn Museum is in Pennsylvania PA. It is $18 to enter and non-flash, amateur photography is permitted.

I was pleasantly surprised about how numismatics as a theme was threaded through so many of the exhibits. For example, in the "Inventing the Alphabet" exhibit, there were several coins used to showcase the transition from early Canaan to present day. By way of example, there was a Qing Dynasty cash, showing its tri-lingual inscriptions. These coins are quite inexpensive (mine cost $1 several years back).








Archeological exhibits from several regions of the ancient world were also on display, including Asia, the Eastern Mediterranean, Greece, Italy including both Roman and Etruscan cultures, Africa, Mexico, and the Middle East. At the moment, the Egypt exhibit is under construction.

In the Roman section, there was a great display showing examples of coins dedicated to various gods, such as Bonus Eventus, Victoria, Concordia, Libertas, and Salus. Most interesting to me was the portion of this exhibit devoted to Rome's second king, Numa Pompilius (715-673 AD). He instituted the rituals, priesthoods, and calendar of the Roman religion. The Denari are obviously not contemporary as they date to the first century BC, but honor his memory:





I really liked the "Coins and Empire" exhibit:




I immediately recognized this 1/8 Shekel as it is very similar to one that I got from my grandfather.







Finally, there was a huge coinage exhibit in the Greek section, with a pictorial description of the minting process and examples of coins from various themes, including City Emblems, Myths, Animals, Local Deities & Heroes, Athletics, Puns, and War Commemoratives. Many of these coins came from the Daniel Dannenbaum collection that evidently was split between Penn and Yale. One coin that caught my eye was a Tet from Macedon with a bust of Artemis on a shield as it is one of my favorite recent pick-ups from ancient Greece.