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Compilation of Images of Ancient Objects from Private Collections in Kiev
This collection of images was put together by the Kiev amateur archaeologist Nikolaj Leopardov and numismatist Nikolaj Černev, who also collaborated in writing the introduction and explanatory texts. The images of crosses, icons, and other religious items and brief descriptions of them are included in Part I of the book. Part II contains the images of objects from the Bronze Age, mostly axes and knives, and Jewish Cabalistic amulets and coins. Part III contains the images and description of some of the thousands of medieval lead commercial seals from Drohiczyn ...
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National Parliamentary Library of Ukraine
Franc à cheval, John II
The franc à cheval was ordered issued on December 5, 1360 to finance the ransom of King John II (born 1319; reigned, 1350–64), who had been taken prisoner by the English at the Battle of Poitiers in 1356, during the Hundred Years’ War. The ransom totaled a vast 3 million écus, and the fact that the coin was used to secure the release of the king gave rise to the name by which it was known: franc, meaning free. The value of the coin was set at one livre ...
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National Library of France
Denier
Charlemagne (742–814) was crowned emperor of the Romans in 800. Yet coins bearing his imperial title are so rare that it is believed that he had them minted only after 812, when he received recognition as emperor of the West by the emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire. This denier silver coin is typical of those produced during the Carolingian Renaissance, a period in which art, culture, and religion flourished under the influence of Charlemagne. Such coins include a classical imperial bust and a reverse side often inspired by ...
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National Library of France
Royal Coin, Francis I. Sample Teston
This gold sample teston (16th-century French silver coin) representing the King Francis I (1494–1547; reigned, 1515–47) of France is one of the most characteristic monetary expressions of the Renaissance. The realistic portrait, classical inspiration, significant relief, and weight of the piece are all features that represent a break from the money of medieval times. The 19th-century numismatist, Henri de La Tour, showed that this 1529 coin was the work of Matteo del Nassaro (circa 1490–1547), an Italian artist from Verona who first entered the service of Francis ...
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National Library of France
Royal Coin, Louis XIII. Ten Louis d'Or
The mechanization of the minting of coins from precious metals in France made possible the creation, in 1640, of the louis d'or, named after King Louis XIII (1601–43; reigned, 1610–43), who first introduced the coins. This series of gold pieces was part of a reform that changed the minting method from hammered coinage to a more precisely milled and weighed coinage. These coins included three types: the louis, the double louis, and the quadruple louis. It has been customary since the 17th century (incorrectly) to call the ...
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National Library of France
In the Borodino Museum. Borodino
At the beginning of the 20th century, the Russian photographer Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii (1863–1944) used a special color photography process to create a visual record of the Russian Empire. Some of Prokudin-Gorskii’s photographs date from about 1905, but the bulk of his work is from between 1909 and 1915, when, with the support of Tsar Nicholas II and the Ministry of Transportation, he undertook extended trips through many different parts of the empire.
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Library of Congress
Royal Coin, Philip VI, Chaise d'Or
The chaise d’or was a French gold coin, first issued in the early 14th century, bearing the figure of the king seated on a large throne. This coin, issued under Philip VI (born, 1293; reigned, 1328–50), shows the king in his majesty, seated facing forward on a Gothic throne, crowned, holding the scepter and hand of justice in a lobed trefoil. The reverse side has a four-lobed cross, with leaves and fleur de lis, curved at the heart, in a four-lobed trefoil bordered by four crowns. This type ...
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National Library of France