British Museum
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Great Russell Street (Southern Main Entrance)
London
WC1B 3DG
Tel: +44 (0)20 7323 8322
Founded in 1753, the British Museum is the oldest museum in the world and is home to an extensive collection of impressive artifacts from almost every region of the world spanning more than two million years of history. With all of its vast treasures, like the Rosetta Stone, the British Museum has not forgotten coin collectors. The Department of Coins and Medals has over 650,000 objects in its collection covering the time period from the 7th century BC to the present. The Department also maintains an extensive numismatic library for use by both scholars and the general public by appointment.
Reopens as the Citi Money Gallery
After an almost 15-year run as the HSBC Money Gallery, Room 68 was closed for nearly six months for renovations. It reopened in June 2012, renamed as the Citi Money Gallery under the sponsorship of Citi Bank for the next six years. The transformed gallery has over eight wall-mounted displays and additional floor mounted displays holding over 1,000 objects as the Museum’s major permanent exhibition.
The displays on one side of the gallery’s wall deal with how money is used in finance, in addition to its cultural significances. Displays progress chronologically through the history of money starting with “The Beginnings of Money—Egypt and Mesopotamia (2500-100 BC)”, along with how money has been made using different forms and metals.
The displays on the opposite wall of the gallery are concerned with the institutions that placed money into circulation and guaranteed its value.
Six floor mounted displays examine the manufacture of money, such as a 1960s geometric lathe from the USA, and cast money in clay molds from the Han dynasty (China, 206 BC-220 AD). The counting of money is illustrated using a 1800s counting board from Travancore, India. One example of several discovered hoards on display is the Corbridge Hoard of Northumberland (c. 160 AD) of 160 gold aurei in a bronze jug.
Several Interesting Displays
The curating staff has put together several interesting displays. One is a spiral of coins—one coin from each member state of the United Nations. In a floor mounted display in the center of the gallery, there are two outward spirals demonstrating forgeries: one is a hoard of 815 fake Roman copper coins (330-340 AD) found at Hockwold, Suffolk; the other is 100 £1-counterfeit coins removed from circulation in 2011.
A popular section of the gallery, especially with children, is the “Hands On” program. With the assistance of Museum volunteers, visitors are able to handle actual objects from the Museum’s collection.
Additional Galleries
While the Museum’s main numismatic attraction is the Citi Money Gallery, there still are additional numismatic items from other parts of the world located throughout the Museum that are incorporated among artifacts from that region, as follows:
- Level -1: Room 34, The Islamic World
- Level 1: Room 33, China, India, Asia and Southeast Asia
- Level 2: Room 67, Korea
- Level 3: Room 69, Greek and Roman Life
- Level 3: Room 69a, Exhibitions and Changing Displays
- Level 3: Room 70, Roman Empire
- Level 3: Room 71, Etruscan World
- Level 3: Room 73, Greeks in Italy
This text was written by Howard M. Berlin and first published in his book Numismatourist in 2014.
You can order his numismatic guidebook at Amazon.
