Monk of Wittem Collection of 83 Roman coins, with a hand-written catalogue in Latin

Monk of Wittem Collection. Small collection of 83 coins from the Republic to the end of the Empire, accompanied by a hand-written catalogue in Latin.

The village of Wittem, in the Dutch province of Limburg, is home to a monastery that is almost three centuries old. Today it is still home to monks of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, more commonly known as Redemptorists.

Not so long ago a small collection of Roman coins was found in the room of a monk who was recently deceased. It was accompanied by a small hand-written catalogue written in Latin. Unfortunately the only thing the monastery could tell me about these coins, was that they came from a very old collection, handed over two or possibly three generations of monks. There is certainly evidence of multiple hand writings in the catalogue and on the envelopes The catalogue seems to be from the early 1900’s, but there is the date “±1870” written on the first page. If the text was copied from an even older catalogue, that might account for some discrepancies in the discriptions and numbering.

In general the coins are not in prime condition. I think it is safe to assume that most of them have a Dutch provenance; they were given to the monk-collector in Wittem by people in the region who found the coins themselves, as is still happening today. This is confirmed by the fact that the late Roman bronzes in the collection are almost all from Western mints – Trier, Arles and Lyon – as is typical in Dutch finds. Moreover, many coins have the corroded surfaces typically found on coins coming from Dutch soil.

There are, however, some coins that stand out. Some nice 3rd century antoniniani, and most notably, a Trier mint argenteus of Diocletian. Almost all 86 coins described in the hand-written catalogue are accounted for. I could not locate three of them. A smaller number of other coins were bought together with the ‘core collection’ described in the catalogue. Some of these coins were probably later additions, perhaps partly purchased in the trade. These will be sold seperately.

The catalogue is what sets this collection apart from other ‘old collections’ that come to market after multiple centuries or decades. Of course it shows traces of wear and use, and most pages have fallen apart, but its stained paper and the graciously written Latin words have a beauty of their own. It also gives an insight into the history of collecting ancients and it reveals the mind-set of a collector that is surprisingly recognizable. The writer tries to describe his coins as thoroughly and correctly as possible. He gets the attributions right most of the time, but the occasions where he fails are in a way more interesting, for example when ascribing a coin of Galerius to Maximianus and reading a Ticinum mint mark for Trier. These are exactly the same things that show up frequently on the many numismatic fora on the internet today still. The writer also includes short pieces of historical background and occasionally makes a numismatic comment, especially when he is not sure of its attribution.

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