The History of Collecting

B18　—　Cross-cutting theme

The act of collecting itself has a history. As a tool of power, as a foundation for scholarship, and as history in the palm of your hand—this is a cross-cutting theme that traces two thousand years of collecting.

Supervised by: Mitsuru Hayama　／　Reading time (main text): About 6 min (3,096 characters of text at 500 chars/min; exercises and readings not included)　／　Beyond the text: 6 exercises · 2 coins · 6 readings · 3 references

What this course teaches you to do

• Can explain the three types of collecting motives (display, hoarding, and study) with concrete examples.
• Can discuss "meibutsu-gari" (the hunt for famous objects) as a concrete example of collecting becoming a tool of power.
• Can explain the relationship between hoards and collecting—the supply chain from within the earth.
• Can situate contemporary collecting from the perspective of the "translation of value."

Lessons (6)

1. Power Collects — Nobunaga's Famous Object HuntThe collected tea utensils became rewards. Collecting is also a demonstration of power's ability to determine value.
2. Saving in the Earth — The Unintentional Collection Known as a HoardThe person who buried them was not a collector. But the hoard in the ground became a historical source a thousand years later.
3. Scholarship Collects — The Lineage of Ledgers and SpecimensCollection for the purpose of counting created numismatics. Both Hamilton's ledgers and Figuerola's ninety-seven types.
4. A Surviving Witness — Why an Old Coin Has ValueEven if a nation perishes, a single coin can survive. The source of a collection's value lies not in its metal, but in its survival.
5. Provenance Becomes Value — The Maturation of CollectingRecords of discovery, owner pedigrees, catalogue histories. Mature collecting is about collecting the story as well.
6. Anyone can become a collector — starting with a single coin in your palm.A Kan'ei Tsūhō can be acquired for a few hundred yen. The entry point to collecting is surprisingly close.

Readings (6)

• Nobunaga　Japan　the 1570s–1582　Azuchi and Kyoto
  Section 1. The most blatant example of collection becoming an apparatus of power.
• A biography in a single coin　Overview: 2,700 years of the world　a thousand years　Sleep in the Earth
  Section 2. A single coin as a time capsule.
• Ninety-seven kinds of coin　Spain　1868　The market stall
  Section 3. Collecting to count. A portrait of an era: ninety-seven.
• Epilogue　Overview: 2,700 years of the world　the present day　Why We Hold an Ancient Coin
  Section 4. The surviving witness. The thesis of this subject.
• From reconstruction to the palm of the hand　Japan　the present　the palm of the hand
  Section 6. The accessible entrance, and three hundred years in the palm of a hand.
• In the Name of a Dead King　Greece　c. 323–65 BC　The British Museum Catalogue
  The king was on the throne for about thirteen years, yet there are approximately 4,100 types bearing his name in the British Museum's catalogue. Please ascertain the imbalance that is visible only because these have been collected and counted.

Assessment

6 exercises in this course (4 check, 1 compare, 1 written). Progress is recorded by self-assessment.

References

• ANS Digital Library — American Numismatic Society　An open-access repository of numismatic dissertations, auction catalogues, and e-books. 150 years of publications available to read for free.
• Coins and Medals — The Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge　A collection of over 220,000 coins, medals, tokens, and banknotes. The numismatic room as a center for research and education.
• About the American Numismatic Society — American Numismatic Society　A numismatic society founded in 1858. A self-description of its collection, library, and publication system.

Only works and primary sources whose existence has been verified are listed.