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Coins and Numismatics

One of the most wide-ranging holdings at the Museum, this collection features more than 1,500 coins, notes, and other types of currency. The foundation of the collection dates to the early days of the Museum with purchases from the collection of Mount Holyoke Professor of Archaeology and Greek (1903-1937), Caroline M. Galt. A sizable gift of Roman coins from acclaimed collector Mark Salton greatly expanded the holdings in 1999, followed by a generous donation in 2004 of over 600 examples spanning ancient Greek through Byzantine and medieval coins from the estate of Nathan Whitman. The strengths of the Museum’s collection continue to be in ancient Mediterranean coinage, but these are complemented by recent acquisitions of currency from the Islamic World and Early Modern Europe, adding to the breadth of this encyclopedic assemblage.