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Numismatic collection

 

The numismatic collection has been accumulated since the establishment of the museum. Its oldest exposition already had a section on numismatics. The first custodian of the collection was Petras Bliumas (1896–1988­), a teacher and volunteer during the struggles for independence. Significant losses were inflicted during World War II and the post-war upheaval, when much of the collection was lost.

 

The numismatic collection reflects the circulation of the regional money from the 14th c. until these days. However, it also contains exotic coins from countries of Asia and America.

 

The pride of the museum - seven Lithuanian silver alloys purchased in 1998. From a numismatic point of view, Lithuanian coins are the most valuable. The denarii and bidenarii minted by the Grand Dukes of Lithuania Vytautas, Aleksandras, Žygimantas Augustas, found in the cemeteries of Tiltagaliai, Drąseikiai and Baroniškės during archeological excavations can be distinguished from them. Among the rarer coins of a larger denomination is the Lithuanian half Groschen of Sigismund the Elder of 1514, Groschen of Sigismund Augustus of 1546. Among the rare Polish coins are Stephen Bathory’s triple Groschen of 1585, Groschen of Sigismund Vasa of 1609 and one-and-a-halfer of 1614, six Groschen of John Casimir of 1661, and auksinas of 1663.

 

A large part of the collection consists of Russian coins from 18th-19th centuries, a lot of German, Prussian and Swedish coins and money from the trade centers of the Baltic Sea basin - coins from Riga, Dancing, and Elbing. 

 

The collection contains six treasures, the most impressive of which is the treasure of 36 Dutch thalers found in Panevėžys.

 

The museum has paper banknotes from all periods of rule of Lithuania, especially large number of banknotes of Tsarist Russia. The collection well reflects the turmoil of the monetary system of 1918–1922: many different means of payment of interim governments of Russia, Ukraine, Central Asia, military units, companies, factories of those times. There are also paper money printed in Riga, Jelgava, Liepaja, Tilžė, Klaipėda, Mogilev, Orenburg, Krasnoyarsk, Chita and elsewhere, some of which are of high polygraphy printing quality for that period. The 25 kopeck denomination banknote issued in Panevėžys in 1919 look very modest among them, but for us it is the most valuable one.

 

A small but historically very eloquent collection of stamps kept in the museum. Most of it consists of stamps and facsimiles owned by Tsarist Russian institutions and private individuals. The most important to the history of the city is the stamp of Panevėžys municipality of the early 20th c.

 

19,846 numismatic exhibits were stored in the museum in 2004: 8,691 coin, 10,498 banknotes, 396 medals and badges, 91 stamp, and 170 securities. Some of them - banknotes, securities, stamps, and coins from archeological digs are stored in collections of objects, archeology, and documents.

 

In recent decades, the collection has been gradually supplemented, giving priority to Lithuanian and Polish coins.