The Coins and Medals Collection of the National Roman Museum

The Numismatic Collection of Francesco Gnecchi

In 1923 the Ministry of Education acquired the collection of Roman coins of Francesco Gnecchi, a distinguished scholar of Roman numismatics and passionate Milanese collector. The collection was acquired for the Coin and Medal Collection at the National Roman Museum.
The collection contains over 20.000 items, including gold, silver and bronze coins from the Roman Republican and Imperial periods, and covers a timespan from the first items made in cast bronze (aes grave) to the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The items in the collection also include a significant core of coins from the Gothic area, including the triple-solidus medallion of Theoderic the Great, along with an extensive selection of medallions and contorniates.

Rome. Bronze medallion with portrait of Commodus, son of Marcus Aurelius (obverse), 176-177 AD Coin and Medal Collection of the National Roman Museum

Rome. Bronze follis with portrait of Helena Augusta, mother of Emperor Constantine (obverse), ca. 327-328 AD Coin and Medal Collection of the National Roman Museum

Rome. Bronze contorniate with portrait of the Emperor Trajan (obverse), late 4th-5th Century AD Coin and Medal Collection of the National Roman Museum

Light silver miliarense with portrait of the Emperor Costans (obverse), 340-350 AD Coin and Medal Collection of the National Roman Museum

Rome. Bronze as depicting the prow of a ship (reverse), second half of the 3rd century BC Coin and Medal Collection of the National Roman Museum

Rome. Bronze sestertius with portrait of the Emperor Hadrian (obverse), 125-128 AD Coin and Medal Collection of the National Roman Museum

Social War. Silver denarius of the revolt of the Italian peoples with depiction of Italy (obverse), ca. 91-87 BC Coin and Medal Collection of the National Roman Museum

Rome. Silver didrachm depicting the wolf suckling the twins (reverse), first half of the 3rd century BC Coin and Medal Collection of the National Roman Museum

Rome. Aureus with portrait of Julia Domna, wife of the Roman emperor Septimius Severus (obverse), 193-196 AD Coin and Medal Collection of the National Roman Museum

Rome. Silla aureus with depiction of the goddess Venus (obverse), 81 BC Coin and Medal Collection of the National Roman Museum

Kingdom of the Ostrogoths. Gold triple-solidus medallion (medallion of Theoderic the Great), with Victoria (reverse), 493 AD (?) Coin and Medal Collection of the National Roman Museum