Best in Show: Ancients of the Tyrant Collection

CoinWeek.com, 2021

The magazine Numismatic Scrapbook was published from 1935 to 1976 at Chicago by printer and collector Lee Hewitt (1911-1987). In 1974, Numismatic Scrapbook listed 10 record auction prices for ancient coins. CoinWeek asked me to revisit this list, exploring what equivalent coins might sell for in today’s super-hot ancient coin market.

This paper seeks to outline the medieval and modern coins from a private collection, which was kept for some decades at the National History Museum of Romania. The coins have an important numismatic and monetary value, some of them being extremely rare, while some of them seem to be part of larger hoards. Due to the fact that the access to this collection will be restricted, the main purpose of the article is to present and in this way preserve all the possible information about these specific coins. The process of collecting precious objects with historical value is the reflection of two main conditions: the selection made by the collector according to his budget and his historical interests and the available objects on the antiquities market. Therefore, while some collectors are continuously seeking specific objects for their well-defined collections, some of them are purchasing items insomuch as they are emerging on the market. Due to the diversity of the pieces, the coin collection fragment that I will present in this article seems to fit in the second category. This collection, which I will name the R collection, in order to keep private the name of the collector, is kept at this moment in the collection of the Coin Room from the National History Museum of Romania 1. Soon however, the entire collection will be returned to the inheriting family, a fact which unfortunately will potentially place these remarkable coins in a cone of shadow. Therefore, due to the fact that I find these pieces very important for the numismatic research, I decided to present them with all their data and illustrations. It is very important to mention that the collection was gathered mainly in the first half of the 20 th century, a very wealthy period in the history of private collections from Romania, when many educated and rich people were passionate about assembling remarkable antiquities collections. Beyond their financial value, these collections should be seen as history keepers, many coin hoards found at the beginning of the century being saved by the intervention of the collectors, who acquired fragments of some of the most important treasures, which allow us to write the monetary history of Romania. In the second half of the 20 th century the political context and therefore the legislation weren't very friendly with the collectors, hence most of them have decided to

An introduction to the ways in which coins can help us reconstruct the ancient past, touching on chronology, iconography, metrology, and distribution.

Faces of Power. Roman Gold Coins from the Victor A. Adda Collection. Edited by H. Gitler and G. Gambash, 2017

The exhibition Faces of Power Roman Gold Coins from the Victor A. Adda Collection at the Israel Museum displays 75 coins that Jackie Adda Coen donated and as a tribute to a great collector and connoisseur, Victor A. Adda. These 75 eye-catching golden coins from Adda’s collection have never before been displayed to the public. Bearing the portraits of Roman emperors and their family members, these coins offer a rare glimpse into the world of the rulers of the Roman Empire, as well as revealing the great artistic skill involved in their creation and the use of the human face to reflect a person’s character, mostly as a means of propaganda. The exhibition follows the development of portraits on coinage over a period of almost 350 years, and relates to the slogans on the coins –– the majority of which include words relating to victory, security and peace –– displaying how little propaganda has changed over thousands of years. In conjunction with the exhibition we published a book with the same name as that of the exhibition. The content of this book is a result of numerous discussions I had with Jackie and our mutual interest in bringing together a group of specialists on Roman numismatics to contribute from their knowledge in order to produce an extensive work that covers the periods to which the 75 gold coins date. This publication is a result of the work of 17 devoted scholars who are first of all my friends. I would like to express my deepest gratitude to each one of them. The book begins with a personal touch, the life story of Victor A. Adda in Jackie’s own words. This lovely text takes us back to Alexandria at the turn of the twentieth century. Arturo Russo, to whom we are ever indebted for funding and publishing this volume, describes the Adda collection in context, as one of the century’s major collections of Roman gold coins. The collection consists of just over 1,000 coins, of which the main nucleus is Roman: 761 aurei and solidi covering a period from Julius Caesar to Romulus Augustulus, from the last years of the republic to the end of the empire. Side by side with Roman coins, the Adda collection also included 38 Byzantine gold coins; 65 Bosporus staters; 28 Greek pieces and the 11 issues (+ one small cake ingot) of the renowned Delta hoard. The attractive selection of 106 Egyptian coins begins with a beautiful Nectenebo II stater depicting a bridled horse and two hieroglyphs: collar with six beads (nwb = gold), heart and windpipe (nfr = good). It is followed by an impressive selection of Ptolemaic gold and silver issues, which culminated with Cleopatra at Ascalon. Catharine Lorber, a leading expert on Ptolemaic coins and one of my dearest friends, commented the following on this section of the collection: “The greatest rarity that should be pointed out, even more than the wonderful Cleopatra tetradrachm of Ascalon, is a unique mnaieion depicting the radiate Ptolemy V (without the spear), dated to year 6. Also important and worth mentioning are two extremely rare portrait mnaieia of Arsinoe III, one from Alexandria and the other from a Syro-Phoenician mint, and a tetradrachm and didrachm of Paphos depicting Ptolemy VIII with a radiate diadem and wearing the aegis like a chlamys. These varieties are the only coin portraits of Arsinoe III and Ptolemy VIII and accordingly the only reliable evidence we have for their appearance. Overall, I would observe that the Ptolemaic collection favors gold over silver and is especially strong in third-century issues, no doubt reflecting Victor A. Adda’s ability to acquire coins from the Benha hoard of 1936 (IGCH 1694). Adda made a point of collecting unpublished varieties, especially of mnaieia in the name of Arsinoe Philadelphus, and very rare small denominations like the half mnaieion depicting the radiate Ptolemy III and the quarter mnaieion of the K-series Arsinoes. One can observe that he was interested in style, favoring coins of beautiful style but also ensuring that his collection included a range of attractive or interesting styles, especially in the portraiture of Arsinoe Philadelphus. It’s obvious that Victor A. Adda was extremely knowledgeable about Ptolemaic gold coinage, and that he possessed exquisite taste”. A selection of 16 pages of Victor’s Adda’s handwritten French catalogue are illustrated along with scannings of the plates of the entire Victor A. Adda collection, which appeared in a private catalogue produced by Christie’s in 1986 for the family (part of the Victor A. Adda collection was sold in two Christie’s auctions in 1984 and 1985). A brief introduction about the aureus as the premier coin in the Roman monetary economy is followed by papers written by 14 scholars, covering a period of more than 300 years, from the end of the republic (first century BCE) to the beginning of the fourth century CE (Richard Abdy, Michel Amandry, Roger Bland, Andrew Burnett, Aleksander Bursche, Gil Gambash, Cristian Gazdac, Haim Gitler, Achim Lichtenberger, Jerome Mairat, Rodolfo Martini, Markus Peter, Johan van Heesch, Bernhard E. Woytek). These papers focus on crucial developments during the Golden Age of the Roman Empire as reflected by the Adda coins. In a comprehensive overview of this volume, Matti Fischer outlines a framework for analysis of the Roman emperors’ portraits themselves. This includes the use of art-historical methods such as analysis of the frame, composition, the physiognomy, the iconography of the bust and face and meanings inherent in the use of style, and the special type of production and distribution unique to coins. He provides insights into the meaning of identity and value while projecting new concepts relevant to research both of ancient coins and of modern uses of the face. Yaniv Schauer, co-curator of the exhibition, prepared with the help of Jonathan Grimaldi from NAC an extensive catalogue of 611 of 1,012 coins from the original collection that are dated to the period under discussion. This catalogue includes valuable information on the provenance of those specimens that Victor Adda purchased on the antiquities market. I would like to thank my dear friend Gil Gambash for co-editing this volume and for his most productive insights during our dialogues about the exhibition.

Yale University Art Gallery Bulletin, 2017

Although most of McGill's collection of classical coins has been catalogued and published, the origin of the collection, has, until now, defied explanation. This article reconstructs the history of the collection by examining the numismatic holdings of the Natural History Society of Montreal (1827-1925), random coin donations over the years to McGill University and to the University Library. This research also sheds light on the rather mysterious connection between a coin collection belonging to Margaret Murray (d. l927), wife of McGill professor of philosophy John Clark Murray, and the collection of the University's Principal, William Peterson. The article concludes with a survey of the coins now comprising the collection, and of their vital and valued contribution to teaching and research activities at McGill.

Journal of Ancient History and Archaeology, 2023

This study deals with an unusual case of a coin hoard discovered by a metal detectorist in Jidvei, Alba County, recovered with judicial implications. The discoverer (a metal detector owner) approached the find thoughtfully, sparing it and proceeding with all the necessary legal and ethical steps, thus ensuring a scientific documentation and complete recovery of the hoard and the context details. This story had a happy ending, although initial circumstances did not suggest such an outcome, especially since the responsible public institution for taking initial protective measures for the context, perimeter, and contents of the find completely ignored its legal obligations. This case highlights the potential for responsible metal detecting to contribute positively to archaeological discovery and heritage preservation when conducted in accordance with legal and ethical guidelines. Thus, 115 silver coins: 57 tetradrachms dating from the 3rd to 1st centuries BC (Macedonia Prima type - 2nd century BC); 51 Dacian drachms of the Rădulești- Hunedoara type (3rd-2nd century BC) and 7 roman denarii (Antoninianus type, 3rd century AD), were recovered and eventually became part of the collection of the Museum in Alba Iulia. The context of their origin was documented as efficiently as possible within a legal framework. This case highlights the risks to cultural heritage when the responsibilities stipulated by normative acts (such as OG 43/2000) are knowingly ignored by state institutions. It underscores the importance of adhering to legal and ethical standards in the handling of archaeological finds to protect and preserve cultural heritage. This situation emphasizes the need for updated legislation and strategies to effectively manage and regulate metal detecting activities in line with contemporary realities and technological advancements.

Working Abstract: There has been considerable interest in the history of numismatics and coin collecting in recent years as evidenced by the publication of significant works on the subject, including The Hidden Treasures of this Happy Island: A History of Numismatics in Britain from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment (Burnett, 2020) and Ars Critica Numaria: Joseph Eckhel and the Transformation of Ancient Numismatics (Woytek and Williams, eds., 2022). An insufficiently discussed aspect of this history is the role of antiquarians known primarily for their contribution to the study of ancient art to the development of numismatics – in particular Greek numismatics – in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, and the foundations they laid for subsequent developments which culminated in Barclay V. Head’s Historia numorum (1887). This lecture will discuss aspects of the development of Greek numismatics at the turn of the nineteenth century by focusing on the contribution of some of the most distinguished antiquarians and art connoisseurs of the period, and the way that problems posed by the study of ancient art in turn stimulated important questions and advanced knowledge about Greek coins. Building on the work of François de Callataÿ and Andrew Burnett on the significance of coins to Johann Joachim Winckelmann (1717-1768), generally regarded as ‘the father of art history and archaeology’, this lecture will shed new light on the contribution to the study of numismatics of antiquarians who followed on his footsteps, including Ennio Quirino Visconti (1751-1818), Richard Payne Knight (1751-1824), and Taylor Combe (1774-1826).