DOI issue:
Artikuły / Articles
DOI article:Fischer-Bossert, Wolfgang; Bodzek, Jarosław: Ancient Sicilian coins in the National Museum in Krakow
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.43282#0015
ANCIENT SICILIAN COINS...
to the MNK in 1946.7 The Sicilian coins in Halama’s collection are with few exceptions
bronze pieces. The provenances are not known. While it is elear that some ancient
coins in Halama’s collection come from hoards,8 the Sicilian pieces form a group of
different origin. As Halama was in contact with the numismatic scene in Poland, Austrią
Germany and perhaps other countries, one may guess that the international market was
the major source for his Sicilian coins. The king of Italy, Vittorio Emanuele II, whose
acquaintance Halama had made during holiday s in Dalmatia, might have played a role in
the formation of the official’s collection of Sicilian and ancient coins from the Peninsula.
However, details are not known.
A smaller group of Sicilian coins, ten pieces, were donated to the MNK by Lech
Kokociński. The donor (born 1944), honorary President of the Polish Numismatic
Society, is an eminent person among Polish numismatists.9 He is eminent among Polish
collectors of ancient coins during the last decades of the 20* Century, and his collection
includes also medals, paper money, forgeries as well as numismatic documents and
old prints. He has regularly enriched the MNK with parts of his collection from
the beginning of the 21st Century, until most recently in 2016. In total, he has donated
to the MNK 9000 coins, medals, paper money and numismatic forgeries as well as more
than 1,000 volumes of numismatic literaturę. Among these donations there are more
than 3,500 ancient coins of various periods and regions.10 The Sicilian coins, exclusively
bronze pieces, form a small group and were purchased on the antiquities market.
The remaining nine Sicilian coins in the collection of the National Museum
in Krakow stem from various sources. Two of them were purchased from Tadeusz
Kalko wski (1899-1979), one of the most eminent Polish collectors of coins, medals
and paper money in the 20* Century.* 11 Kalko wski, an active member of the Polish
numismatic scene, is the author of a very popular book entitled “Thousand Years
of Polish coinage”.12 During the years 1967-1978 he sold parts of his collection of
ancient coins to the MNK: in total, 164 pieces.13
A tetradrachm of Akragas was donated to the MNK by countess Bronisława
Starzeńska (1855-1934), the widów of count Edmund Józef Starzeński (1844-1900),
the founder of the so-called Museum of the Pokucie Region in Kolomyia (today
Ukraine).14 After the count’s demise, his museum and collection were managed by his
7 Cf. ANON. 1948; SKOWRONEK 1982: 3; BODZEK 1997: 65, 72; IDEM 2003a.
8 Cf. for example SKOWRONEK 1965; IDEM 1970.
9 Cf. BODZEK 2003b.
10 A group of the coins have been already published; cf. Bodzek 2006; IDEM 2016.
11 See MĘKICKI 1999.
12 KALKO WSKI 1963.
13 SKOWRONEK 1982: 3; BODZEK 1997: 66, 73.
14 SIWAK 1901.
to the MNK in 1946.7 The Sicilian coins in Halama’s collection are with few exceptions
bronze pieces. The provenances are not known. While it is elear that some ancient
coins in Halama’s collection come from hoards,8 the Sicilian pieces form a group of
different origin. As Halama was in contact with the numismatic scene in Poland, Austrią
Germany and perhaps other countries, one may guess that the international market was
the major source for his Sicilian coins. The king of Italy, Vittorio Emanuele II, whose
acquaintance Halama had made during holiday s in Dalmatia, might have played a role in
the formation of the official’s collection of Sicilian and ancient coins from the Peninsula.
However, details are not known.
A smaller group of Sicilian coins, ten pieces, were donated to the MNK by Lech
Kokociński. The donor (born 1944), honorary President of the Polish Numismatic
Society, is an eminent person among Polish numismatists.9 He is eminent among Polish
collectors of ancient coins during the last decades of the 20* Century, and his collection
includes also medals, paper money, forgeries as well as numismatic documents and
old prints. He has regularly enriched the MNK with parts of his collection from
the beginning of the 21st Century, until most recently in 2016. In total, he has donated
to the MNK 9000 coins, medals, paper money and numismatic forgeries as well as more
than 1,000 volumes of numismatic literaturę. Among these donations there are more
than 3,500 ancient coins of various periods and regions.10 The Sicilian coins, exclusively
bronze pieces, form a small group and were purchased on the antiquities market.
The remaining nine Sicilian coins in the collection of the National Museum
in Krakow stem from various sources. Two of them were purchased from Tadeusz
Kalko wski (1899-1979), one of the most eminent Polish collectors of coins, medals
and paper money in the 20* Century.* 11 Kalko wski, an active member of the Polish
numismatic scene, is the author of a very popular book entitled “Thousand Years
of Polish coinage”.12 During the years 1967-1978 he sold parts of his collection of
ancient coins to the MNK: in total, 164 pieces.13
A tetradrachm of Akragas was donated to the MNK by countess Bronisława
Starzeńska (1855-1934), the widów of count Edmund Józef Starzeński (1844-1900),
the founder of the so-called Museum of the Pokucie Region in Kolomyia (today
Ukraine).14 After the count’s demise, his museum and collection were managed by his
7 Cf. ANON. 1948; SKOWRONEK 1982: 3; BODZEK 1997: 65, 72; IDEM 2003a.
8 Cf. for example SKOWRONEK 1965; IDEM 1970.
9 Cf. BODZEK 2003b.
10 A group of the coins have been already published; cf. Bodzek 2006; IDEM 2016.
11 See MĘKICKI 1999.
12 KALKO WSKI 1963.
13 SKOWRONEK 1982: 3; BODZEK 1997: 66, 73.
14 SIWAK 1901.