Resources for the study of numismatics and coin collecting in the Renaissance
The Amici Huberti Project: A Survey of 16th Century Collectors and Antiquarians
A Checklist of 16th Century Numismatic Writers and Their Books
A Census of Antique Coins Known in the Renaissance
An Annotated Bibliography of Modern Literature on Renaissance Antiquarianism and Collecting
“For every ancient statue that we have today there are many, many medals throughout the world.”
Girolamo Ruscelli in Sebastiano Erizzo’s Discorso sopra le medaglie antiche (Venice, 1559)
“Unburied are treasures, good men to inspire/ Nor will time every cause the coins to expire.”
Johannes Sambucus, Emblemata (Antwerp, 1564)
“I have seen some who were so captured by the pleasure of looking at them [ancient coins], that they turned away from their wicked habits, and gave themselves, as if compelled by a certain stimulus, over to an honorable and noble life.”
Enea Vico, Discorso sopra le medaglie di gli antichi (Venice, 1555)
“Gertrude Stein says that if you are way ahead with your head you are naturally old-fashioned…And Picasso adds, do you suppose Michelangelo would have been grateful for a gift of a piece of Renaissance furniture, no he wanted a Greek coin.”
Gertrude Stein, The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas (New York, 1933)