NEW BOOK: 1ST ARMENIAN NUMISMATICS CONFERENCE

On June 3-4, 2015, the Republic of Armenia National Academy of Sciences History Institute sponsored the Armenian Numismatic First International Conference, held in Yerevan at the Academy headquarters. The conference was dedicated to the memory of Khachatour Mousheghian (1919-1992), the first numismatic curator at the History Museum of Armenia. Mousheghian was a vigorous researcher and scholar who authored dozens of books and articles on various topics of Armenian numismatics. The conference was organized by his daughter Anahit Mousheghian, a researcher at the Academy, and in 2016 the proceedings of the conference were published. Due to unavoidable circumstances, my personal copy only reached me a few days ago.

The published proceedings comprise 430 pages on various topics of Armenian numismatics from pre-coinage times until the 20th century. Papers are in Armenian, English, or Russian with summaries in the other two languages, and illustrations accompany most of the articles. Altogether, the proceedings include 17 contributions from scholars in Armenia, Russia, Georgia, France, Great Britain, Austria, and the USA. Included in the volume are several color photographs from the occasion.

Here is a quick summary of the topics included: biography of Khachatour Mousheghian and bibliography of his numismatic works; overview of the past and future of Armenian numismatic studies; an inscribed Babylonian frog weight from Metsamor; Trajan's campaign in Armenia and Parthia (by Andrew Burnett of the British Museum); structure and content of inscriptions; numismatic materials discovered at Karmir Blur; chemical composition of bronze coins of Tigran the Great; coin issues of Georgia; virgin intercessor trams of King Levon (by Prof. Dickran Kouymjian of California State University in Fresno); Armenian gold traders working in Russia; counterfeit thalers from the 1500s; an 18th century Persian coin hoard now at the Central Bank of Armenia; unrecognized varieties of the 10000 ruble 1921 SSR of Armenia paper currency notes; 20th century Armenian commemorative medals; Kh. Mousheghian and the Vienna Mekhitarist congregation; British medals in the State Museum in Moscow; numismatic collection of the Yerevan History Museum; and medals of Armenia in the St. Petersburg Museum.

I hope to be able to secure a few copies of the proceedings for interested collectors.

	NBS (coinbooks.org) Web