DOI article:
Suchodolski, Stanisław: Beware, the fraud!: On alleged finds of deniers with the legend GNEZDVN CIVITAS and other coins from the reign of Bolesław the brave
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21230#0308
Brno, produced no results. No information was obtained by Zygmunt
Zakrzewski, either, despite his well-known good contacts with Czech
scholars. In my view, the whole matter has arisen from a misunderstand-
ing, though of course it cannot be precluded that such a specimen may
someday emerge.
From what we have seen so far it seems elear enough that coin no. Cz.
9051 is probably a uniąue specimen. There is, however, a certain amount
of apparent evidence to the contrary, including information published
in a regional annual (about a fmd near Lvov) and in the daily press (about
a coin preserved in Głucha Puszcza), and found in archival materials
(about a discovery in Ciechanów), and finally certain actual specimens
presented as authentic (in the "hoard" allegedly discovered between
Lublin and Warsaw). We shall examine these in turn, beginning with
the most recent matter, which is also perhaps the most shocking: the
report of a fmd in the village of Pidberizci.
Unofficial reports about a sensational new find made in the Lvov area
had already been making their way to Poland by various routes for several
years. It is also known that in 1995 the National Museum in Cracow was
approached with an offer to sell a new specimen of the Gnezdun cwitas
coin.10 The seller remained anonymous. It was known, however, that he
came from the Ukrainę, and that he was acting through intermediaries,
including the late Prof. Igor Swieshnikov, in whose good intentions there
can be no doubt. Ultimately, however, the specimen was never presented
in Cracow. In the meantime, the National Museum's interest in the coin
dwindled. This happened when a xerographic reproduction was sent which
aroused serious doubts regarding the coin's authenticity.
The key to the entire matter is a brief publication by Lvov archaeolo-
gists Vladimir Petehyrych and Alexander Ovchinnikov, entitled "The Coin
oj Bolesław the Brcwe from the Vicinity of Lvov", published in the Rocznik
Przemyski, vol. 32 (1996).11 This article contained photographs (correspond-
ing to the photocopies previously sent to the National Museum in Cracow)
and sketches of the coin from the Lvov vicinity (and comparisons to the
Cracow specimen, cf. Fig. 3 below), as well as information about the dis-
10 I am grateful for this information to Bogumiła Haczewska, Keeper of the Numismatic
Department of the National Museum in Cracow.
" Z. 3, Archeologia, pp. 69-74.
308
Zakrzewski, either, despite his well-known good contacts with Czech
scholars. In my view, the whole matter has arisen from a misunderstand-
ing, though of course it cannot be precluded that such a specimen may
someday emerge.
From what we have seen so far it seems elear enough that coin no. Cz.
9051 is probably a uniąue specimen. There is, however, a certain amount
of apparent evidence to the contrary, including information published
in a regional annual (about a fmd near Lvov) and in the daily press (about
a coin preserved in Głucha Puszcza), and found in archival materials
(about a discovery in Ciechanów), and finally certain actual specimens
presented as authentic (in the "hoard" allegedly discovered between
Lublin and Warsaw). We shall examine these in turn, beginning with
the most recent matter, which is also perhaps the most shocking: the
report of a fmd in the village of Pidberizci.
Unofficial reports about a sensational new find made in the Lvov area
had already been making their way to Poland by various routes for several
years. It is also known that in 1995 the National Museum in Cracow was
approached with an offer to sell a new specimen of the Gnezdun cwitas
coin.10 The seller remained anonymous. It was known, however, that he
came from the Ukrainę, and that he was acting through intermediaries,
including the late Prof. Igor Swieshnikov, in whose good intentions there
can be no doubt. Ultimately, however, the specimen was never presented
in Cracow. In the meantime, the National Museum's interest in the coin
dwindled. This happened when a xerographic reproduction was sent which
aroused serious doubts regarding the coin's authenticity.
The key to the entire matter is a brief publication by Lvov archaeolo-
gists Vladimir Petehyrych and Alexander Ovchinnikov, entitled "The Coin
oj Bolesław the Brcwe from the Vicinity of Lvov", published in the Rocznik
Przemyski, vol. 32 (1996).11 This article contained photographs (correspond-
ing to the photocopies previously sent to the National Museum in Cracow)
and sketches of the coin from the Lvov vicinity (and comparisons to the
Cracow specimen, cf. Fig. 3 below), as well as information about the dis-
10 I am grateful for this information to Bogumiła Haczewska, Keeper of the Numismatic
Department of the National Museum in Cracow.
" Z. 3, Archeologia, pp. 69-74.
308