Besides coins of all the European countries except Russia, this section contains numismatic pieces from America and Australia, 350,000 in all. These are coins, hoards, duplicates and a small amount of paper money.

The collection is poor in coins of the Merovingians and Carolingians. But it has 150 gold coins of the Merovingians including such rare as two tremisses bearing inscription of the name of St. Eligius. The minting of gold coins of the Carolingians was also poor, but nevertheless it is represented by several examples; among these is a rare gold solidus struck in Drestad.

The Hermitage possesses two known today coins struck by Count Florentius of Holland (1049-1061).

The collection of coins representing the period from 12th to 15th century also has rare pieces including denar of Ferri of Lorraine (1251-1303), struck probably in 1298. Also of interest are early florins and ducats particularly from Italy, Hungary and Germany (vicinity of the Rhine). Amongst German coins of the late period, of interest are the following: a grote of 1668 from Magdeburg, gold gulden of 1552 and four ducats struck in Branderburg, gold thaler struck in honour of Prussian minister Hoim, ducat of 1653 from Paderborn, thaler of 1563 of the Thorn Abbey (Westphalia), and silver grotes of Theodoricus Dinslaken. A very rare piece is a thaler of 1528 struck in Lippe by Simon V (1511-1536), and thaler of 1556 from Korvey struck under Reinhard II (1555-1585). The collections of Bamberg, Wurzburg, Eichstedt and Nuremberg are distinguished by their completeness. The selection of gold coins is also remarkable, particularly valuable are rare 3-ducat and 10-ducat pieces from Regensburg.

The Netherladish, English and French collections consist of well preserved gold coins.

The English collection of coins contains a collection of tokens. The Austrian collection is rich in thalers including rare 2-thaler and 4-thaler pieces, and gold coins including 10-ducat and 4-ducat pieces.

The museum has a considerable collection of Italian coins of the late 15th-18th centuries. The Polish collection possesses such rare examples as denars of Meshko I and a denar of Boleslaw I the Brave with Slavonic inscription. Gold ducats of Sigismund I and heavy donativums of 17th-19th centuries are also interesting. The collections of Hungary, Spain, Portugal and Scandinavian countries also possess a lot of rare pieces.

If you enjoyed this collection, you might want to also visit the other collections at the State Hermitage Museum.

Western European Art