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Description: | The University of Glasgow possesses one of the world's major collections of coins and medals. The basis of this remains the cabinet of Dr. William Hunter, probably the finest ever put together by a private individual. In the 18th century it was considered to be second in importance only to the French royal collection. Subsequent to Hunter's death, it was brought from London to Glasgow, under armed escort, in 1807. Since then it has doubled in size so that the Hunterian Museum now houses some 70,000 coins, medals, tokens and related material.
William Hunter's own account book shows that he was actively collecting coins and medals from about 1770 until his death in 1783. Given his commitments to medical matters and his wide collecting interests, he depended on the advice of a small group of eminent numismatic friends. He preferred to buy complete collections in order to to take out examples he did not possess or items in better condition than those he already had. He purchased extensively in England and Italy; from fellow collectors or their heirs, at auction, from dealers, medallists and the Royal Mint. George III gave him the then unique gold coin struck during the siege of Athens in 296 BC.
He thus built up his outstanding collection of classical coins. These cover the ancient Greek cities from Athens to Syracuse from the 6th century BC as well as the kings from Philip II and Alexander the Great and their successors, the Antigonids, Seleucids and Ptolemies. Rome, too, is well represented with some 2,000 silver denarii of the Republic and thousands of Imperial coins that include an astounding 1,500 gold coins of the Roman emperors as well as medallions, contorniates and spintriae. Important holdings of Anglo-Saxon, Scottish, English and Irish medieval coins and modern British coins are included. There are many outstanding rarities and very little duplication.
The medal collection consists of a number of Renaissance items but is particularly strong in the British series from 1600 to 1800. In addition there is a good run of Papal medals as well as many Baroque medals of Tuscany and several French issues.
Hunter also had collections of 17th century trade tokens, reckoning counters from the 14th to 18th century and some superb patterns and proofs. | Subjects: | Numismatics | Source: | Hunterian Museum | Address: | University of Glasgow,
University Avenue,
G12 8QQ | Creator: | J.D. Bateson | Contributor: | William Hunter; William Hunter Trustees | Identifier: | C-0069 |
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