28 JULY 2008
ICOMON members are probably wondering why they haven't received their Newsletter in many months. There are several reasons, including changes in my personal situation and work on a new, permanent exhibit at the Smithsonian Institution (of which more later). But you haven't received a Newsletter partly because I haven't gotten enough information from members and their museums to put together a new edition - at least, not in the form I've been sending out for nearly a decade.
But I was talking with Catherine Eagleton, ICOMON'S Webmistress, and she and I came up with what we both see as a viable alternative to a twice- or thrice-yearly, formal Newsletter. She has generously given me this spot to relay to you members' news, new publications, and the like as I receive them. This represents a signal advantage, I think. Members won't have to wait weeks or even months to find out what's going on: they'll find out as soon as I find out. And the utility of the old ICOMON Newsletter (something I've always seen as a bulletin board for the enjoyment, enlightenment, and use of our members) will continue, and expand.
-R. G. Doty, Washington, 28 July 2008
HAPPENINGS
ARGENTINA- The Instituto de Numismatica e Historia de San Nicolas de los Arroyos recently celebrated its fiftieth anniverday. The celebration consisted of a two-day symposium (held 19-20 July), along with the striking of a commerative medal and publication of an exhaustive catalog of medals relating San Nicolas de los Arroyos. The Instituto is one of the longest-lived players in Argentine numismatic research, and its publications are always eagerly awaited, both within the country and well beyond.
GERMANY- Reiner Cunz has advised me that he has received a number of our early Proceedings volumes, those for Stavanger (1995) Vienna (1996), and Madrid (1999). Those interested should email him directly, at reiner.cunz@t-online.de. He also advises that the German Numismatic Commission has a new program for the promotion of young scholars, enabling them too attend and speak at the International Numismatic Congress in Glasgow (September 2009). The German Numismatic Commission is especially interested in papers on German coin hoards; Baltic hoards from the 10th and 11th centuries; modern medals and numismatics since 1870; and numismatics and museology. Interested young scholars are urged to get in touch with Professor Cunz as quickly as possible. Deadline for receipt of abstract, cv, and a list of publications is 15 February 2009.
ITALY - The Museo della Musica and Museo Archeologico have just opened a joint show in Bologna. Called Monete Sonanti (Sonorous Money), it examines the connections between music and coins and medals, drawing upon the numismatic collections of the Museo Civico Archeologico di Bologna for the purpose. The display opened on 20 November and will remain on view through 18 January 2009. A series of talks and guided tours, featuring the participation of ICOMON members Paola Giovetti and Daniela Picchi, will extend over the next two months. In conjunction with the show, a concert will take place at Bologna’s Chiesa di San Giacomo Maggiore on 12 December.
SPAIN- Our colleagues at the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya continue their valuable activities with two more events. The first, a symposium on local Catalonian money in medieval and modern times, took place on 22 and 24 April 2008. The second is a new numismatic exhibit, "Monedas en lluita: Catalunya a l'Europa napoleonica" ("Money in Struggle: Catalonia in Napoleonic Europe"). The display opened last June and will remain on view until the beginning of next May.
The Museo Nacional d’Art de Catalunya announces its XII Curs d’història monetària d’Hispània, to be held in Barcelona, 27-28 November 2008. Coordinated by Marta Campo, this gathering will examine moneying techniques employed on the Iberian Peninsula from classical times to the early Middle Ages. Go to the museum’s website, www.mnac.cat, to learn more.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA- I mentioned above that the Smithsonian Institiution's National Numismatic Collection is creating a new, permanent display, and that it was absorbing much of my time. It's scheduled to open in March 2009, and it will consist of five different views into numismatics, numismatists, and money itself. There will be a section on the development of money in America, called "Frontiers", ranging from traditional barter objects to a new one, the credit card. This section will be joined by four others, one devoted to a Russian collector, Grand Duke Georgii Mikhailovich, and his magnificent assemblage of Russian coins and medals (which came to the Smithsonian half a century ago, resulting in the strongest Russian collection outside Russia itself); a second on women, goddesses and actual people, and the ways in which an attribute (Liberty) gained a permanent place on American coinage and the forms she assumed once she arrived; a third, "Three into One", describing how the concept of coinage arose in three different places, in three different forms, then came together in one, the mass-produced, modern world coin; and a final look at money and all the forms and materials it has embraced over the centuries. This final section bears the working title "Bet You Didn't Know that...", and its big idea is to make our visitors think about something they take for granted in new ways.
NEW PUBLICATIONS
I can't leave without mentioning a superb new book, editied by Lucia Travaini and Alessia Bolis. It's called Conii e scene di coniazione, and it consists of over a dozen articles on many aspects of numismatics across the centuries. The contributions are in Italian, Spanish, French, German, and English, and the book was published by Edizioni Quasar, Rome. You can learn more about it by emailing the publisher at qn@edizioniquasar.it.