Odessa Numismatics Museum – The History of Money and Coinage Circulation

In times past, history has revealed its many secrets through what we regard today as an everyday necessity. Yes, today money is needed for the basic provisions of life no matter where you live. But have you thought beyond a simple coin or a banknote? Does it have deeper value? The oldest Constituter ‘Odessa City Collector’s Society’ thinks it does.

Numismatist, Peter G. Loboda is Founder and Director of the first Odessa Numismatics Museum in Ukraine and part of team that researches, preserves and studies the history of ‘money circulation’ and ‘coinage’ of the Ukrainian State. Unlike most institutes the creation of the museum, activity and staff are all seen to by volunteers. The result: augmenting, preservation and the study of historical relics and cultural heritage of the Ukrainian people. This in turn has brought numerous awards from the Ukrainian Parliament, Government, National Bank of Ukraine and the authorities of Odessa region and the city itself.

Within central Odessa city are two branches of the museum. Grecheskaya Street 33, detailing old and modern banknotes, antiques and medieval coins, and Deribasovskaya Street 16, “Monetny dvor” meaning “Monetary Yard” in Russian, with substitute money and modern coins of Ukraine, fine art plastics and money of Kievan Russia and ceramics and antique coins from the region of the Northern Black Sea. Collectively the collection contains over 2,500 coins, each contributing to a significant period in history such as: medieval, antique and modern periods. However, the rarest collection belongs to the ancient coins minted by the Bosporus Kingdom and numerous other city states existing over a thousand years within this Northern Sea Region.

The Odessa Numismatics Museum provides results from their scientific research through the “Bulletin of the Odessa Numismatic Museum”, which is a regularly printed publication. Through this, findings have increased the knowledge of the unique and rare coins contained in this region, such as the examination of the coins’ characteristics which include: semantics of images, chronology, typology, weight data and metallic formulation combined with economic and historical events of the past. The limited editions which were based as non-commercial issues have lead to its rarity, making it into a collector’s item in its own right.

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