THE INTERNATIONAL NUMISMATIC CONGRESS

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V18 2015 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 18, Number 42, October 18, 2015, Article 19

John Kleeberg submitted these notes on the International Numismatic Congress and the International Numismatic Council. Thanks! -Editor

The 15th International Numismatic Congress was just held in Taormina, Sicily, Italy from September 21-25, 2015. There were 750 participants and 400 papers were delivered, plus another 50 papers in the form of posters (these numbers are approximate). It is one of the oldest international scholarly conferences in the field of history. The International Numismatic Congresses, with their dates and locations, are:

1. Brussels, July 5-8, 1891
2. Paris, June 14-16, 1900
3. Brussels, June 25-29, 1910 (this was also an international medals exhibition)
4. London, June 30-July 3, 1936
5. Paris, July 6-11, 1953
6. Rome, September 11-16, 1961
7. Copenhagen, August 28-September 2, 1967
8. New York and Washington, September 10-16, 1973
9. Berne, September 10-15, 1979
10. London, September 8-12, 1986
11. Brussels, September 8-12, 1991

13. Madrid, September 15-19, 2003
14. Glasgow, August 31-September 4, 2009
15. Taormina, September 21-24, 2015
16. Warsaw, September 20-24, 2021

As can be seen from the above list, international co-operation in the field of numismatics, which got off to such a fine start in 1891, fell dormant during the dark years of 1914-45, with only the London 1936 Congress keeping it alive. After the Second World War, however, there was a new era of co-operation, and the Congresses have been held every six years or so.

The International Numismatic Congress is organized by the International Numismatic Council, and the hard work of the actual preparations is done by the local coin cabinet or university (at Taormina, it was the University of Messina). The International Numismatic Council and International Numismatic Congress are responsible for four important publications. One is the proceedings of each Congress. These contain some of the papers delivered at the Congress (many participants choose to publish elsewhere).

The proceedings present a real olla podrida of numismatics – you never quite know what gems you will find. Since the Copenhagen Congress in 1967 the Congress has been the occasion for the publication of the Survey of Numismatic Research. The International Numismatic Council publishes an annual Compte Rendu. There are several important series of articles published in the Compte Rendu. One series, “Les Grands Numismates,” publishes biographies of prominent numismatists. Another series concerns the laws concerning coin finds. The INC also publishes the International Numismatic e-Newsletter (INeN) with notices of upcoming conferences, exhibitions, and all sorts of other things – for example, there is a wonderful hoard of gold ducats and florins that was published in INeN 19.

The official languages of the International Numismatic Council are English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish, so you have to be a bit of a linguist to get full advantage from its publications. Here is a link to the proceedings of the Brussels 1891 Congress:

Here is a link to the website of the International Numismatic Congress in Taormina:

This link leads directly to a page of the International Numismatic Congress in Taormina that has the abstracts of the papers, to give an idea of the topics that were discussed:

Here is a link to the website for the 16th Congress, which will be held in Warsaw in 2021; they have a short film (7 minutes in the English version), “2300 Years of Coinage in Poland,” highlighting what we can look forward to in 2021:

Here is a link to the website of the International Numismatic Council – further links will lead to the International Numismatic e-Newsletter (INeN), and to various articles published in the Compte Rendu, such as the series “Les Grands Numismates” and “The Laws Concerning Coin Finds.”