Wohnrau, Guillaume

Guillaume Wohnrau is a French‑speaking Swiss numismatist from Geneva who specializes primarily in Roman numismatics and also has extensive knowledge of the coinage of the French colonies.

Academic Career

Guillaume Wohnrau (*2000) is one of the many coin enthusiasts whose interest in coin collecting led them to history. He acquired his first Roman denarius at the age of six.

From September 2019 to September 2024, Guillaume Wohnrau studied history and Italian studies at the Université de Genève, with study visits in Paris at the Université Paris Cité and at the Sapienza University in Rome.

His master’s thesis, which will be published shortly, deals with the emergence of paper money in seventeenth‑century New France. Wohnrau analyzes the political stakes that this monetary innovation engendered. His work received two prestigious distinctions: the Arditi Foundation Prize, one of the highest honours awarded by the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Geneva, and the Prize of the Fondation romande de numismatique, granted for the first time to a study focusing on modern numismatics and awarded for the first time to a work on paper money.

Guillaume Wohnrau took part in the European ERC “SILVER” project of the Cabinet des Médailles of the Koninklijke Bibliotheek van België under the supervision of Professor François de Callataÿ. In addition, he supported the digitization of the coin collection of this institution.

Professional Activity

Since February 2021, Guillaume Wohnrau has been working at Numismatica Genevensis SA. He is not only responsible for cataloguing, but is also involved in organization and customer relations. Moreover, he has helped to design several exhibitions.

Member of the numismatic community

As a board member of the Société genevoise de numismatique, Guillaume Wohnrau holds the office of secretary‑general.