[Authors and titles are listed at the end of the review.]
This effective volume edited by François de Callataÿ, a well-known numismatist interested in antiquarian studies and the history of coin collecting, presents a selection of 14 contributions derived from the 2017 conference “Numismatic antiquarianism through correspondence (16th–18th c.).” The event can be considered a milestone of Fontes Inediti Numismaticae Antiquae (FINA), a long-standing research project focusing on the “Republic of Medals” of numismatists and coin amateurs in the modern age.[1]
The aim of the Rome conference was to present a selection of case studies on the highly valuable antiquarian correspondence produced and circulated through the 18th century amongst antiquarians (and before the death of Joseph Eckhel [1737–98], the father of modern numismatics tout court). De Callataÿ explains the origin and purpose of the book in the Foreword, as well as providing details on the FINA project. However, a separate introduction would have been much appreciated in order to provide some overall remarks on the themes or common ideas identifiable in the volume’s contributions.
Contributors’ short biographies are provided in the two-page “About the Authors” section. The main language of the volume is English, although it contains two essays in French and Italian. Considering the significant number of contributions, I will not be able to provide an in-depth analysis of all the chapters, but will instead focus on a selection of papers.
The chapter by Daniela Williams, a long-standing researcher working for the FINA project, sheds new light on the collection of forgeries in the modern era by providing a series of case studies on Italian antiquarians and coin collectors such as Giuseppe Magnavacca (1639–1724) and Apostolo Zeno (1668–1750). This paper is valuable because the author considers the collections of coin forgeries essential, handy “tools” for identifying other fake specimens and for making collectors, dealers, and antiquarians aware of any potential fraud which could damage their reputation. In fact, sometimes dealers were also keen to consult collectors of fake coins to purchase coins which they suspected were forgeries. Therefore, these apparently “atypical” collections played a vital role in the complex networks of antiquarians in modern Europe[2].
The issue of forgeries is also discussed in John van Heesch’s article, “The Missing Caesar: Inventing Bronze Coins for Otho.” Van Heesch highlights how European coin amateurs were often obsessed with acquiring full sets of bronze coins of the Twelve Caesars. This compelled them to purchase fake specimens in order to complete their collections as soon as possible. The chapter is mostly focused on the analysis of Henri-Thomas Chifflet’s Dissertatio de Othonibus aereis, however, and less on letters and archival records.
“Speaking about Manuscripts: Unpublished Works in Correspondence,” by Michiel Verweij, is also of great interest. In fact, his contribution provides a more theoretical approach to antiquarian studies. Benefiting from the analysis of some targeted case studies, the author explains how we can utilize antiquarian sources and manuscripts such as letters, dispatches, and handwritten and printed catalogues to gain a better understanding of the activities of coin collectors and numismatists. In a concluding paragraph, he stresses how comprehending the function of the catalogue within the context in which it was produced (especially if it is handwritten) is essential.
In the “Republic of Medals,” most collectors were interested in purchasing and acquiring single coins or lots of numismatic specimens in order to complete their collections. But what about the methodologies and practices in documenting and recording coin hoards? The illuminating chapter by Ute Wartenberg and Jonathan H. Kagan, “Recording Coin Finds and Hoards in Early Modern England,” offers insights into this (often) neglected topic, focusing on England. There, antiquarians and coin amateurs operated in a similar way to their colleagues on the continent. The authors analyze some case studies, such as a medieval coin hoard discovered in Harkik (Lancashire) in 1611 and studied by William Blundell. The strength of the article is the conclusion, in which Wartenberg and Kagan compare England to the European framework. In particular, they find, British antiquarians were more focused on detailing on archaeological contexts and findspots of coin hoards than the European ones.
Several amateurs were interested in collecting particular coins or even tokens (such the erotic tesserae called spintriae).[3] John Cunnally’s chapter outlines the collecting trends of contorniates, a series of late antique medallions (4th–5th century AD), showing the portraits of emperors, famous characters of Roman history, mythical scenes, athletes, and the like. Classified as Pseudomonetae by Eckhel, contorniates were described and illustrated in several antiquarian works including the Omnium Caesarum verissimae imagines by Enea Vico (1553). Cunnally also focuses on coin exchanges and correspondences amongst European antiquarians and scholars (Antonio Gori, Francesco Ficoroni, Havercamp, etc.), highlighting the importance of networks for tracing and collecting such special specimens. A complementary analysis is provided by Federica Missere Fontana in the following contribution about Italian collectors of Roman medallions.
The birth of coin collecting and Middle Eastern numismatics studies in modern age Europe are discussed in Martin Mulsow’s contribution, “Numismatic Antiquarianism: Coins from the Ancient East in Early Modern Europe.” This topic is undoubtedly worth being studied and assessed considering the scarcity of published relevant studies.[4] The author also outlines the early debates on the origin of Middle Eastern numismatics, benefitting from the study of the correspondence of European scholars.
The English context is, again, discussed by Andrew M. Burnett, who focuses on the royal coin collection. “Queen Elizabeth and the Twelve Caesars” benefits from a valuable assessment of some unpublished letters (written as early as 1561). It is now clear that Queen Elizabeth was in contact with an antiquarian dealer based in Paris who offered her a set of coins of the Twelve Caesars. This chapter offers vital insights on the earliest stage of British royal coin collecting, outlining how social networks worked in that peculiar high-level environment. Burnett’s contribution is remarkable since it sheds new light on an antiquarian context which is certainly different from the more usual world of amateurs and collectors. He also provides the full text of these letters, which are now finally available to all scholars.
Turning to early European collectors, the prolific and dynamic Italian context in which coin exchanges and antiquarian studies were widespread is additionally assessed in two contributions by Marco Callegari and Maria Cristina Molinari, respectively. The first outlines the correspondence of Giulio Antonio Averoldi (1651–1717) with Charles Patin (1633–93) between 1679 and 1693. Averoldi was mostly interested in Greek and Roman coins. His collecting trends and letters provide evidence for a favorable link between the Republic of Venice and France in the late 18th century. Molinari also describes the remarkable activity of Francesco Gottifredi (1596–1669), one of the most well-known numismatists of modern age Rome. With his substantial expertise in Roman coins, Gottifredi wrote a remarkable unpublished book on numismatics. This chapter focuses on its complex gestation and final outcome, highlighting the role of Gottifredi within the wider context of antiquarian scholars. Molinari assesses the book manuscript and also studies his correspondence. Her contribution is vital since it includes a series of plates which are published in this volume for the first time. In this regard, Bernhard Woytek’s article has a similar focus since the author analyzes the three editions of the well-known Doctrina Numorum Veterum by Eckhel, thoroughly utilizing a selection of letters previously neglected by scholars.
Numismatic antiquarianism through correspondence (16th–18th c.) does have some defects. First, the volume does not have an index, which would have been useful for tracing the names of the essential antiquarians, places, works, coin types, iconographies, and other important elements. Second, a list of figures would have been much appreciated to quickly track images of coins, illustrations taken from manuscripts and antiquarian books.
In conclusion, there are several aspects of this volume that are quite valuable. The heterogeneity of topics discussed—including case studies which are often little known by scholars—represents its main strength. Furthermore, the variety of areas covered (e.g. Austria, England, France, Italy, etc.) is expansive. On the whole, the volume can be considered a mine of information on numismatic antiquarianism and coin collecting in the modern age, offering a great deal of valuable information for exploring the “Republic of Medals” through the analysis of social networks amongst collectors, novel archival records, and antiquarian sources which have at times been neglected by researchers before now.
Authors and Titles
François de Callataÿ. Foreword.
Daniela Williams. Fool Me Once, Don’t Fool Me Twice: Collecting Forgeries to Train the Eye (17th–early 19th Centuries).
Guy Meyer. Moulages de monnaies antiques ou comment produire des copies (XVIe–XVIIIe siècles).
Johan van Heesch. The Missing Caesar: Inventing Bronze Coins for Otho.
Michiel Verweij. Speaking about Manuscripts: Unpublished Works in Correspondence.
Ute Wartenberg and Jonathan H. Kagan. Recording Coin Finds and Hoards in Early Modern England.
John Cunnally. Two Centuries of Collecting, Describing, and Explaining Contorniates.
Federica Missere Fontana. Di vizi e di virtù. Di Pertinaci e di Didii, di Pescennii e di Gordiani.
Martin Mulsow. Numismatic Antiquarianism: Coins from the Ancient East in Early Modern Europe.
Andrew M. Burnett. Queen Elizabeth and the Twelve Caesars.
Elena Vaiani. Peiresc and the Coins through his Correspondence.
Marco Callegari. About Books and Coins: The Letters of Charles Patin to Giulio Antonio Arevoldi between 1679 and 1693.
Maria Cristina Molinari. The Story of Francesco Gottifredi’s Unpublished Book through the Analysis of the Letters of his Contemporaries.
Manuela Mayer. Monastic Antiquarianism in Austria and the République de Médailles: The Numismatic Collection of Göttweig Abbey.
Bernard E. Woytek. Publishing the Doctrina Numorum Veterum: New Evidence on the Three Editions of Joseph Eckhel’s Masterwork.
Notes
[1] In particular, substantial series of letters and archival records testify how complex the social networks and coin exchanges were in Europe for centuries. This volume is well connected to the wider topics of antiquarianism, archaeology, numismatic collecting and coin exchanges in modern Europe. Several works on these subjects have been published. Amongst them, we can mention: Equizzi, R. (2006), Palermo, San Martino delle Scale: la collezione archeologica. Storia della collezione e catalogo della ceramica, Rome; Missere Fontana, F. (2009), Testimoni parlanti. Le monete antiche a Roma tra Cinquecento e Seicento, Rome; Barrett, K. (2012), “Writing On, Around, and About Coins: From the Eighteenth-Century Cabinet to the Twenty-First-Century Database”, Journal of Museum Ethnography, 25, 64–80; Crisà, A. (2012), Numismatic and Archaeological Collecting in Northern Sicily during the First Half of the Nineteenth Century, Oxford; Guzzetta, G. (2012), “Alle origini della numismatica di Siracusa: da Filippo Paruta e Vincenzo Mirabella al Principe di Torremuzza”, Archivio Storico Siracusano, 4, no. 47, 83–130; Haidenthaller, Y. (2023), “Collecting Coins and Medals in 18th-Century Sweden”, Artium Quaestiones, 34, 111–37.
[2] On numismatic forgeries in Rome, see also: Spier, J. and Kagan, J. (2000), “Sir Charles Frederick and the Forgery of Ancient Coins in Eighteenth-Century Rome”, Journal of the History of Collections, 12, no. 1, 35–90.
[3] On Roman erotic tokens see, for instance, the following work: Talvacchia, B. (1999), Taking Positions: On the Erotic in Renaissance Culture, Princeton, 55–67; Martínez Chico, D. (2018), “Sexo y erotismo en las llamadas spintriae, las supuestas y problemáticas tesserae de lupanar de la Antigua Roma”, Athenaeum. Studi di letteratura e storia dell’antichità, 2, 533–57.
[4] For instance, on the history of Oriental numismatics in Sicily, see: D’Ottone Rambach, A. (2017), Roma, Museo Nazionale Romano. La collezione di Vittorio Emanuele III: monete arabe. Bollettino di Numismatica on-line, 35, Rome, 9–14.