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Besides coins of all the European countries except Russia, this
section contains numismatic pieces from America and
Australia, 350,000 in all. These are coins, hoards, duplicates and
a small amount of paper money.
The collection is poor in coins of the Merovingians and
Carolingians. But it has 150 gold coins of the Merovingians
including such rare as two tremisses bearing inscription of the
name of St. Eligius. The minting of gold coins of the
Carolingians was also poor, but nevertheless it is represented
by several examples; among these is a rare gold solidus
struck in Drestad.
The Hermitage possesses two known today coins struck by
Count Florentius of Holland (1049-1061).
The collection of coins representing the period from 12th to
15th century also has rare pieces including denar of Ferri of
Lorraine (1251-1303), struck probably in 1298. Also of interest
are early florins and ducats particularly from Italy, Hungary and
Germany (vicinity of the Rhine). Amongst German coins of the
late period, of interest are the following: a grote of 1668 from
Magdeburg, gold gulden of 1552 and four ducats struck in
Branderburg, gold thaler struck in honour of Prussian minister
Hoim, ducat of 1653 from Paderborn, thaler of 1563 of the
Thorn Abbey (Westphalia), and silver grotes of Theodoricus
Dinslaken. A very rare piece is a thaler of 1528 struck in Lippe
by Simon V (1511-1536), and thaler of 1556 from Korvey struck
under Reinhard II (1555-1585). The collections of Bamberg,
Wurzburg, Eichstedt and Nuremberg are distinguished by their
completeness. The selection of gold coins is also remarkable,
particularly valuable are rare 3-ducat and 10-ducat pieces from
Regensburg.
The Netherladish, English and French collections consist of
well preserved gold coins.
The English collection of coins contains a collection of tokens.
The Austrian collection is rich in thalers including rare 2-thaler
and 4-thaler pieces, and gold coins including 10-ducat and
4-ducat pieces.
The museum has a considerable collection of Italian coins of
the late 15th-18th centuries. The Polish collection possesses
such rare examples as denars of Meshko I and a denar of
Boleslaw I the Brave with Slavonic inscription. Gold ducats of
Sigismund I and heavy donativums of 17th-19th centuries are
also interesting. The collections of Hungary, Spain, Portugal
and Scandinavian countries also possess a lot of rare pieces.

If you enjoyed this collection, you might want to also visit the other collections at the State Hermitage Museum.
Western European Art
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10-Ducat Piece of the City of
Zurich
1624
Full description
20-Ducat Piece of Leopold I of
Austria
1668
Full description
12-Ducat Piece
of Laslo VI (II) of Hungary
1506
Full description
10-Ducat Presentation Piece
of Sigismund III of Poland
1614
Full description
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