Oriental Coin Cabinet Jena
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Oriental Coin Cabinet Jena (German: Orientalisches Münzkabinett Jena) is a collection of oriental coins at the Jena University, in Jena, Germany, founded in 1840.
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[edit] History
In 1840, Johann Gustav Stickel, Professor for Oriental languages at the Jena University, succeeded in convincing the Grandduke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach to acquire a collection of 1,500 Oriental coins, and allowing him to study them. The collection was formed by Heinrich August Zwick, missionary of the German Protestant Herrnhut-Brotherhood, in Russia. He lived at the missionary outpost and small city Sarepta at the banks of the Volga river from 1816 to 1832. He is regarded as one of the pioneers of the Wolga archaeology.
Stickel won Maria Pavlovna, the Grand duchess, as the main benefactor of the collection, which in turn grew rapidly. At the death of Stickel in 1896 the collection comprised about 12,000 specimens. At the end of the 19th century the keen interest of Orientalist for Islamic coins as textual sources lost its momentum, because of the abundance of other now edited texts. In 1906 Stickel's successor, the Orientalist Karl Vollers gave the figure of about 14,000 specimens.
The last professor for Oriental studies Arthur Ungnad left the University in 1909. In 1939, about 4,000 coins were given back to the now abdicated Grand-Ducal family. Several hundreds of coins were then lost during the aftermath of World War II. The collection was preserved during the period of the German Democratic Republic.
In 1994, Semitic Philology and Islamic Studies were revived at the Jena University with the establishment of a chair for Norbert Nebes. The scientific activities were coordinated by Stefan Heidemann. At that time the collection comprised still 8,690 coins. The collection was then brought to live again as a modern scientific research tool for the history of the Islamic and Oriental world. With the help of generous private benefactors the collection now holds about 17,000 coins, covering an area from Morocco to Central Asia.
[edit] Sources of the collection
Today the collection contains about 16,000 Islamic and 1,100 East Asian coins. It includes the collections of:
- Heinrich August Zwick (1796–1855; 1,500 coins)
- A selection of the collection of von Sprewitz (bought 1846; 175 coins)
- Justin Sabatier (bought 1852; 728 coins)
- August Otto Rühle von Lilienstern (1780–1847; 870 coins)
- Part of the collection of Frédéric Soret (1795–1865; ca. 1,000 coins)
- Heinrich von Siebold (1852–1908; 343 East Asian coins and amuletts)
- Peter Jaeckel (1914–1996; 1,200 coins)
- Christof Baum (donated 2003; 307 Yemenite coins).
[edit] References
- Johann Gustav Stickel, Handbuch zur Orientalischen Münzkunde. Das Grossherzogliche orientalische Münzcabinet zu Jena, erstes Heft, (F.A.Brockhaus) 1845, Zweites Heft, Leipzig (F.A. Brockhaus) 1870, reprint Leipzig 1975.
- Karl Vollers, Das orientalische Münzkabinett derUniversität Jena im Jahre 1906. In: Blätter für Münzfreunde 41, 6, (1906) col. 3515–3524; 41, 7–8, col. 3529–3537.
- Stefan Heidemann, Orientalistik und orientalische Numismatik in Jena, in: Stefan Heidemann (ed.): Islamische Numismatik in Deutschland — eineBestandsaufnahme (Jenaer Beiträge zum Vorderen Orient 2), Wiesbaden2000, pp. 87–106.
- Stefan Heidemann, Bibliothek des Großherzoglichen Orientalischen Münzkabinetts, in: Friedhilde Krause (general ed.) — Felicitas Marwinski (ed.), Handbuch der Historischen Buchbestände in Deutschland 20, Thüringen H-R, Hildesheim, Zürich, New York (Olms-Weidmann) 1999, pp. 162–163.
- Stefan Heidemann — Claudia Sode, Christlich-orientalische Bleisiegel im Orientalischen Münzkabinett Jena, in: Aram periodical 11–12 (1999–2000), pp. 533–593.
- Sylloge der Münzen des Kaukasus und Osteuropas im Orientalischen Münzkabinett Jena bearbeitet von Tobias Mayer mit Beiträgen von Stefan Heidemann und Gert Rispling (Orientalisches Münzkabinett Jena 1, ed. by Norbert Nebes und Stefan Heidemann), Wiesbaden (Harrassowitz) 2005.
