Notae Numismaticae - Zapiski Numizmatyczne (11.2016)

THE NOR.TH BLACK SEA COLLECTION...

Ignacy Terlecki (Fig. 1) was bom in Korzec, Volhynia, in 1860. He completed
his medical studies at the University of Warsaw, and beginning in 1898, he worked
in Kerch, Crimea, as the chief surgeon of the military hospital of the Special
Border Guards Corps in that city. At the same time, he carried on an extensive
non-military medical practice. In the city of Kerch and beyond, he was also known
as a collector, acąuiring antiąuities from locals and antiąuarians alike. Besides
ancient coinage, he would also collect Russian coins, Polish medals and coins as
well as other assorted antiąue artefacts such as pottery, glassware, and jewellery.3
The municipal museum of Kerch, where Terlecki exhibited parts of his col-
lection of metal-, glass-, and earthenware, keeps archival photographs of some
showcases and exhibition arrangements with a number of these artifacts. Some
contemporary scholars, e.g., Yuliy Yul’evich Marti, make reference to cer-
tain archaeological specimens from his collection.4 Terlecki was also in con-
tact with the museunTs director, Karl Dumberg, and later on with his successor,
Vladislav Vyacheslavovich Shkorpil.5 Sometimes he would donate individual
items of historical value to museums, e.g., to the Hermitage and the Kerch muse-
um, but considerable portions of the artifacts he acąuired would be sold directly
to various museums or through the Imperial Archaeological Commission, most-
ly to the Hermitage. In 1908, around 100 items, mainly pottery, were obtained
by the National Museum in Kraków, where they remain to this day.6 Some of
the specimens, have been acąuired by the National Museum in Kraków in ex-
change for drawings.7 At the same time, Terlecki maintained extensive relations
and an extensive correspondence with many scholars, e.g., Aleksey Oresh-
nikov,8 Aleksander L. Berthier de la Gardę,9 and Ellis Minns,10 who studied

3 On the life, activity, and first collection of Ignacy Terlecki, see BOROVKOVA 1999: 39-40, 83-94,
95-97; ABRAMZON and IVANINA2010: 13, 15; IZBASH-GOTZKAN 2016.
4 Cf. Marti (1913: 79, fn. 1), where he clearly remarks that “the ancient pottery collection of Dr I.A.
Terlecki is also of interest.”
5 In his report no. 7, addressed to the Russian Imperial Archaeological Commission (1908), V.V. Shkorpil
notes that almost all of the ETtigen hoard found in the years 1907-1908 (the first mention of which is in:
BERTHIER DE LA GARDĘ 1911: 37; publ. STOLBA 1998; STOLBA 2002) was purchased by four Kerch-
-based antiąuarians and Ignacy Terlecki, among others, for 600 rubles; cf. ABRAMZON and IVANINA 2010: 15.
6 BOROVKOVA 1995; BODZEK 1997: 66; IDEM 2006: 73; MOCZULSKA 2006: 70.
7 BODZEK 1997: 66; IDEM 2007: 66.
8 A. Oreshnikov (1912: 37) notes that “F. Prowe’s fine collection of ancient coinage was enlarged by
the addition of a significant part of I.A. Terlecki’s collection in late 1911.”
9 BOROVKOVA 1999: 95; IZBASH-GOTZKAN 2016: 217-218.
10 E. Minns (1913: 661) brings special acknowledgements to Dr Terlecki for his consultation and assistance
during the author’s visit to Kerch, remarking that some of the best coins from this collection had been sold
to T.F. Prowe. Several coins from Terlecki’s collection are included in pl. V. 19, 21-23 (Panticapaeum), VI.3-5
(Panticapaeum), VII 14, 15, 17 (Bosporus), IX.11 (Phanagoria - a possible error here, as the literaturę refers
to Panticapaeum [BURACHKOV 1884: pl. XIX.4], as indicated by the coin type).