by Irina SOKOLOVA, Head of the Department for Storage of Funds of the Vologda State Historico-Architectural and Arts Museum-Reserve (Vologda) The numismatic collection of the Vologda State Historico-Architectural and Arts Museum-Reserve comprises about 95,000 items. This is one of the most valuable collections of our museum (after the archeological collection). It consists of treasures, single coins, paper money, securities, service medals and decorations, tokens, signs and even simple badges. стр. 86 WHY IS IT INTERESTING? The numismatic collection of our museum is famous for being formed of mostly local funds and for its local lore character. Some of its elements have been deeply studied and carefully described (first of all, it relates to the treasures of Russian coins of the 16th-17th centuries), but most items are, unfortunately, out of scientific circulation. We'd like to get readers acquainted with two oldest numismatic sets from the collection: the first one is the House of Peter, which made part of the depository of the Vologda State Museum from the moment of its establishment in March 1923; the second set was collected by the Right Reverend (title of bishop-head of a large eparchy, subordinated to the metropolitan.-Ed.) Yevgeny Bolkhovitinov (1767-1837), which became part of the museum in November 1924. These two collections were not a random choice. And the case is not only that these very collections were laid as a foundation of the numismatic fund of the Vologda Museum. They are the oldest collections formed already in the 19th century. At the same time, they are a bright example representing development of the collecting art in the Vologda Region from the first private collections to the first museum as a depository of antiquities. Thus, the fashion of collecting (including numismatics) came to Russia from Europe in the period of reforms initiated by Peter I. It is a known fact that the Emperor (1672-172 ... Читать далее