Fig. 39. — Kurt Regi.ing (1876-1935), director 

 of tiic Miinzkabinctt in Berlin (photo 

 courtesy Staallichc Musecn, Berlin). 



work of art, a inaiiifcslatioii of the hia;hly esthetic 

 mind of the ancients and an equal to major works 

 of art. His book Die antike Miinze als Kunstwerk 

 (1924) has found many enthusiasts, with the rcsuh 

 that it has become a tradition ainons^ wider circles 

 of collectors and art students to consider Greek coins 

 almost exclusively from the esthetic point of view. 

 Giulio E. Rizzo's monumental pui)lication on tlu! 

 Greek coinage of Sicily, h4onete greche della Skilia 

 (1946), and especially Charles T. Seltman's work. 

 Masterpieces of Creek Coinage (1949), with its excellent 

 photographic enlargements taken from outstanding 

 specimens and accompanied by explanatory text, 

 have contributed greatly to the diflusion of this 

 attitude. RecenUy, Prof. W. Schwabacher has pub- 

 lished an excellently written monograph devoted to 

 one of the great mastcrworks in ancient Greek 

 numismatics, the demarcteion of .Syracuse. Das 



Demareleion (1958) has found wide appeal with non- 

 specialists as well as scholars. 



In the late thirties, the Germans Max Hirmer and 

 Kurt Lange initiated, almost simultaneously, a new 

 kind of publication with Hirmcr's Die schonstert 

 Criechenmiinzen SizHiens (1940) and Lange's Colter 

 Criechenlands (1940), Herrscherkopje des Altertums (19.38), 

 Antike MUnzen (1947), and Charakterkopje der Well- 

 geschichte (1949). Intended for wider circles of 

 amateurs and the public in general, these books 

 accentuated the esthetic aspect of coins by reproduc- 

 ing enlarged and artistically executed photographs of 

 beautiful specimens. Many of the volumes carry 

 very little text. A few notes or a brief introductory 

 study gives the reader necessary information and 

 entrusts to pictures the function of telling the story. 

 These very attractive publications, which usually do 

 not limit themselves to the Greek period but freely 

 roam the entire span of history, have had a highly 

 educative result and certainly contribute more than 

 any other kind of publication to the familiarization 

 of the uninitiated with the world of numismatics. 



Outstanding publications of this kind are: Herbert 

 Cahn's Monnaies grecques archdiqiies (1947), Friih- 

 hellenistische MUnzkunst (1945); Leo and Maria 

 Lanckoronski's Das romisc/ie Bildnis in Meisterwerken 

 der Miinzkunst (1944), Mythen imd Miinzen (1958); 

 Leopold Zahn's Schones Geld aiis zwei Jahrtausenden 

 (1958); and .Jean Babelon's Dauernder als Erz, das 

 Menschenbild auj Miinzen und Medaillen (1958) — also in 

 English as Creal Coins and Medals (1959) — with excel- 

 lent photogra|)hs by Jean Roubicr. 



ROMAN NUMISMATICS 



Based on the preliminary works ol Count Bartolo- 

 meo Borghesi and Celestino Cavedoni, Theodor C. 

 Mommsen (1817-1903),"-' the famous historian of 

 ancient Rome, issued in 1860 in Berlin his master 

 work Die Gescliichte des romischen Miinzwesens. Isolated 

 historical phenomena and loose chronological ele- 

 ments which had puzzled many of his predecessors 

 were solved by Mommsen and built into a single 

 logical structure which attempted to define the evo- 

 lution of a highly organized institution, the Romaii 



1J3 l.Qi- additional bii)i»iai)lii< al and bibliographical informa- 

 tion, sec Moniinsen's obituaries: Dressel in ^rilschrijl Jiir 

 Ntimismatik (l'J04); Gabrici in Revisla italiana di numismatica 

 (1903). 



46 



BULLETIN 229: CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 



