This week’s guest blogger is Alexander Sanfilippo-Scherer, Alumnus Classical Studies Major, Class of 2025, and a budding numismatist. He has completed multiple research experiences and an internship with the CUA Special Collections. . 

What can a simple coin tell us about the past? Ancient Coins can reveal many things to many different people. People that are interested in the Ancient’s economy will be quick to point out that coins and their metal content, quality, size and weight can inform you quickly about the economic health of the period. Others interested in the ancient culture might be interested in learning about the different iconography on the coins and what they mean. I personally like to see coins (especially those from Ancient Rome) as pieces of propaganda. The basic format of the Roman Coins which are the majority of coins in the collection is that on the obverse (or “Heads” of the coin) which displays the Emperor’s titles as well as his image. The reverse (Or “Tails” of the coin) is the most important part of the coin. Because this shows varied things such as the deities the Emperor worshiped or what those images represented. This shows archeologists (as well as people in ancient times) what was important to the Empire. With specific deities as well such as Solus we can also track an estimated date based on when he started appearing on coins when his cult of worship actually started.

Now… where does that put me? In the Spring 2024 Semester I completed a Practicum with the CUA Special Collections. I had been researching them independently for 6 semesters now mainly working in identifying them under the tutelage of Dr Klingshirn of the Greek and Latin Department. But this Spring semester had been a blast as it was my mission to digitize the collection of Coins, that way they can be more accessible by researchers in the future. While it is important of course to physically touch artifacts of any nature,( these coins are quite small, the biggest one I have gotten the pleasure of holding in my hand only happened to be about 3 inches in diameter), as such not all details can be easily seen with the naked eye and it’s hard having to use any magnifying glasses to identify small details due to the strain it can bring. But when digitized, any researcher around the world can use the wonderful zoom feature in order to see all of these details much more easily. Bonus because it would be much clearer if it would be zoomed in photos. Digitizing these also as I learned makes it easier for researchers to research as organizing specific groups of coins to be researched or identified is a very challenging task as they are organized by collection not by Emperor or time period.

Also with about 1,800 coins (ranging from Ancient Greece and Rome, to Ancient China and the Medieval World) it would be an arduous task to even achieve organizing them by that method. So digitizing them makes it easier to actually find and give to researchers as it save’s time from having to pull them into the desired groups needed for that instance. My Practicum was eventful to say the least. And while no I didn’t find the gold of El Dorado, or Viking Runic Coins. I did get to hold in my hands some of the most wonderful pieces of history. For example I got to hold one of the poster child for Classical Numismatics (A genuine Silver Caesar Elephant coin), but I also got to witness coins I have never seen before such as the coins of Ancient Gaul (Which I unfortunately did not get the chance to digitize due to the massiveness of this collection). My practicum was very informative as I didn’t realize all the work that had to go into presenting an object for digitizing until you got it just right that all the details were captured. Some of the coins had their photo shoot multiple times due to how the engravings on the coin would hold it up on the scanner making it miss some parts due to that.

In my final year at Catholic, the coins of the Special Collections where brought to the forefront of my studies as my Senior Capstone project involved them as the primary sources. My senior capstone was a proof of concept course on teaching college level students about the Roman Empire using coins as the primary source. Many of the coins I digitized ended up being included in this project. Overall I loved my time at the practicum, researching, and especially loved being able to share my love for this collection with anyone who would listen frankly. I will miss the evenings where I will tell my mother with excitement all about my day and what I did after coming home to my dorm. I think any student at Catholic interested in the Ancient Past should visit the Special Collections of the Catholic University of America (Afterall its a free personal museum when you think about it!). I, for one, know that the knowledge I gained from my research here, and the experience I had will help me. I am currently a Educator teaching Latin in High/Middle School levels, so I know it shall help me there!

For more information, contact Special Collections and see a previous blog post. Also, thank you to Alexis Howlett.