

Fig. 42.— Lauri O. Tudeer (1884- 1955), Finnish numisniiuist (photo courtesy Kongelige 

 M0nt- og Medaillcsamling, Copenhagen). 



mania, of Nicolas A. Moushinov in Bulgaria, of Ivan 

 Rengjeo,'"''' Milan Rcsctar, and R. Marie in Yugo- 

 slavia, although often diilicult to use becuase of 

 language harriers, are significant contributions to 

 the general history of coinage. 



MODERN NUMISMATICS 



Moving into the field of modern numismatics, we 

 would expect to find a strong trend toward the history 

 of money. The emphasis placed upon coins within 

 a framework of historical, economic, and legal 

 functions in the growth of a nation should be the 

 final stage of any specific study dealing with the 

 e\olution of a national coinage. Many of the modern 

 publications, in fact, aim at these higher levels; 

 however, many others still adhere to purely descriptive 

 methods, almost entirely eliminating any historical 

 interpretation. 



The idea that, because modern coins are a part of 

 our lime, when documentary evidence is abundant, 

 they do not need to be exploited as historical source 

 material is chiefly responsible in contemporary 

 numismatics for the scores of works which limit 



IM Corpus (in millrliillrrlichrn .\tunz"> von Kroatien, Slavonien 

 Datmalirn und Bosiiirii (19S9). 



themselves to a listing of denominations, dates, and 

 rulers. Also, since the publication of such works 

 requires less effort and time, many catalogs of this 

 kind have been published. 



Good examples of situations demanding such treat- 

 ment are found in Italy and Germany, tw-o nations 

 which possess extremely intricate monetary histories. 

 King Victor Emmanuel III sohed the problem of 

 descrii)ing Italian coinages by publishing, between 

 1910 and 1940, a huge catalog in twenty volumes, 

 the Corpus numinoriirii Italicnrim. This work lists an 

 imprcssi\c numi)er of the coins struck In* Italians 

 or on Italian territories since the eighth century. 

 A liriefcr work attempting to give a comprehensive 

 history limited to modern Italian currencies was 

 published in 191.S by Gio\-anni Carboneri: Monete e 

 higl it'll i in Italia dalla Riv(ilti~ione franccse ai nostri aiorni. 



The Germans, who ha\'e numerous and excellent 

 studies on various periods and local issues, cannot 

 claim a single comprehensive work on their entire 

 coinage. Mention should be made, howe\er, of 

 noteworthy puijlications in the form of a corpus 

 which place numismatic material w'ithin a historical 

 framew-ork, like the studies of .-Mfred Noss on the 

 coinages of Cologne, Treves, Jiilich, and Berg, or 

 of Friedrich von Schrotter on the coinages of Prussia. 



52 



BULLETIN 229: CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY .A.ND TECHNOLOGY 



