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Unique Roman coins and medallions in the collection of the National Museum of Ukrainian History in Kyïv

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Bursche A.

Wiadomości Numizmatyczne

2008

vol. 52

issue 2(186)

167-181

The Numismatics Department of the National Museum of Ukrainian History has in its keeping a little-known, but at the same time quite extensive and extremely interesting collection of ancient coins. Its core is formed by a collection which originally belonged to King Stanislaus Augustus. In its day it was the most magnificent Polish collection of coins and medals of recognized European rank. The collection went through rather complicated changes of fortune: e.g., by way of the Volhyn High School in Krzemieniec and Vilnius University it finally found it way to Kyïv. There it was initially kept at the University of Saint Vladimir as a part of coin room (Paweł Jarkowski, former librarian of the Krzemieniec High School was its organizor and keeper). Then it passed by the way of Peczersk Lavra to the National Museum of Ukrainian History. Until the Bolshevik Revolution it continued to grow, first through donations and acquisitions, and then also thanks to coins from excavations. Piercing or adding suspension loops was typical of gold Roman coins in the territory of Barbaricum, particularly those associated with the Dancheny-Brangstrup archaeological horizon (which linked the region of the lower Danube with Denmark by the way of Wielbark and Cherniakhiv cultures). These additional elements, as well as the domination of denarii from the time of the Antonines in the bulk of silver coins in the Kyïv collection, indicate that a part of this collection must have originated from local finds in the territory of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and later from the area of Volhyn and Ukraine at large. Unfortunately, due to the fact that a vast part of the archives regarding the collection had perished or cannot be traced and the collection itself had become completely disorganised by numerous relocations and putting into hiding, it is usually impossible to establish provenance of specimens. There are, however, exceptions to this rule, and one of them is a quaternio of Licinius discussed in the article. Similarly, it is often difficult to determine whether the individual coins belonged to the collection of Stanislaus Augustus, or were acquainted later in Krzemieniec or Kyïv. Some of them must have been described in detail in handwritten catalogs prepared by F. Skarbek-Rudzki in the Volhyn High School in Krzemieniec and P. Jarkowski in the University of Vilnius. So far, these manuscripts have not been located in Kyïv archives. Some specimens from the Kyïv collection, especially the unique ones, can still be linked with J. Ch. Albertrandi’s descriptions of coins from the collection of Stanislaus Augustus. It is the case of four unique coins: an aureus of Septimius Severus, medallions of Valerianus and Licinius I and solidus of Valentinianus II; these specimens kept now in Kyïv colection must originate from the collection of the last Polish King (4 figures).

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1 Wiadomości Numizmatyczne

1 2008

1 Bursche A.

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Unique Roman coins and medallions in the collection of the National Museum of Ukrainian History in Kyïv