The Numismatic Collection

The Town Museum in Vršac is the only one which has a separate, systematized numismatic collection on the territory of Banat .

As far as in 1882, the finds from 3 treasures of bronze money from the 4th century in Veliki Rit near Vršac (about 3,000 objects) were the motive for the Vršac municipality to establish a museum in the same year.

Today the numismatic collection contains the collection of coins, medals and bank-notes

 

The history of the collection

1894-1942 - the first acquisitions were recorded in 1894 as gifts. In this period Felix (Bodog, Srećko) Milleker worked as the curator of the museum, and he recorded in writing, besides other things, the finds of money in the old inventory book. These finds are related to the entire area of the South Banat, which is now divided between Serbia (smaller, western part) and Romania. Although there were no experts for money, Milleker assiduously filled the collection with the money and gifts, by purchasing, exchanging from the various periods, as well as from the contemporary to him, the Austro-Hungarian period.

In the period after 1945, the increase of the collection was in connection with the name of R.Rašajski (a curator in the museum from 1945-1979), who, having an extremely developed cooperation with the townsmen, enriched the collection, especially the collection of ancient money, with the finds from the field.

1991 – the collection was separated and has been professionally and independently processed since then. Ljiljana Bakić, a curator, manages this collection.

 

Researches

The area of research is the south Banat, which spreads between the two rivers, the Tamiš and the Danube in the west and south, and in the east it is bordered by the state frontier with Romania . The first finds of money from this region were recorded in 1861, and later, in the older literature they were noted together with the other finds. The collection covers a wide time period, since the appearance of money in this region – the end of the 4th century BC. till the present-day. The collection has been published professionally (beginning with the ancient collection). It has been filled with the acquisitions from the newer archeological researches (Židovar), as well as with the money of modern times.

Collections

• The ancient collection (the 4th century BC till the beginning of the 5th century)

  The collection contains the individual finds and treasures of the Greek, Hellenistic, Roman republican and imperial money, made of bronze, gold and silver. The most significant is the part of the treasure of the Roman bronze money from the 4th century, which consists of about 2,500 specimens.

• The collection from the Middle Ages ( V-XV century)

  It contains the individual funds and treasures of the Byzantine money, Serbian mediaeval, Hungarian, frizatic, Slavonian, Bulgarian money. The coining in silver was the most usual. The most significant part are the treasures of the Hungarian money from the 12th to 15th century, which contain about 22,000 specimens.

• The collection of money from the European countries (XVI-XVIII)

  Covers the period from the fall of Banat under the Turkish domination, from 1552–1717
  The collection is made up of money from different geographical origin and nominals: Turkey , Austria , Poland , Hungary , Venice , Dubrovnik , Holland and others.

• The collection of Austro-Hungarian money (XIX-beg. of XX century)

  The money from the period of Austro-Hungarian monarchy (1867-1918) is very numerous, and it is understandable, when we take into consideration that our region belonged to the Hungarian part of the monarchy. The coining in metal and bank-notes from the Principality and the Kingdom of Serbia (period of the Obrenovićs and Karađorđevićs) were less represented.

  We can single out the local bank-notes from our region. During the years of revolution (1848-1849), due to the shortage of money in circulation the town of Bela Crkva issued its local bank-notes of 6, 10 and 20 kreutzers.
  
  A pharmacist, Josip Daubner, also issued his owh money in Uljma (1916). Special certificates, with different marks of value and date were also issued in the same town. During the First World War some private grocer's printed their own subsidiary, paper money in Vršac.

• The collection of modern money (1918 till the present-day)

  It contains different kinds of coins and paper money from the period of Kingdom, the securities, the occupational money, the post-war money, money from ex-Yugoslavia, together with the period of hyperinflation (1992-1994), as well as the money from the present state of Serbia and Montenegro , formed in 2003.

  We can emphasize with pride that a citizen of Vršac, a painter Paja Jovanović, shaped artistically the bank-note of 1000 dinars, which bears the date 1.December 1931, and it was put into circulation on 1.January 1933. The portrait of a famous woman was shown on it for the first time in our banking, and it was t he portrait of the queen, Marija Karađorđević.