Numismatic Commission of the States in the Federal Republic of Germany

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The Numismatic Commission of the States in the Federal Republic of Germany is a scientific organization of the federal states , which is committed to the promotion and processing of coin and monetary history and medal research in Germany. It is primarily committed to basic research, national, international and interdisciplinary cooperation and the promotion of young talent.

history

The German Numismatic Commission (NK) was founded in 1950 at the suggestion of the Hamburg cultural authority , following the model of the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Culture of the Länder in the Federal Republic of Germany . Another organizational model was the historical commissions that arose as early organs of self-administration of science since the 19th century . The transnational committee was supposed to initiate the reconstruction of the West German coin collections and research institutions, which were largely inaccessible or closed after the end of the war. The long-term goal was to coordinate fundamental issues such as the recording of coin finds and the connections with foreign countries that were gradually being re-established.

The early years were shaped by the ideas of the Hamburg professor and museum director Walter Hävernick (chairman 1950–1974) about the organization of science . His student Gert Hatz continued to lead the commission in Hävernick's sense until 1993, until the chairmanship was handed over to Bernd Kluge in Berlin (1993–1999). The integration of the new federal states after reunification was one of the concerns of Niklot Klüßendorf (Marburg) as Vice Chairman. Reiner Cunz was chairman from 1999 to 2011, and Dietrich Klose since 2011 .

After 1990, the proportion of commission members who had to be classified as numismatists in terms of training and official duties declined in favor of representatives from the preservation of historical monuments .

Conception

The NK is a "state commission", recently in the form of a legally competent registered association . Members and contributors are the countries whose votes are held by selected specialist representatives. Furthermore, selected representatives of individual numismatic areas have been paying members since 2014. The science ministers nominate experts to represent their interests. The appointment of the state representatives varies according to the possibilities and priorities of the states (e.g. directors of coin cabinets , specialists from the state museums , state archaeologists ). For the numismatic state offices , Peter Berghaus coined the term “state numismatist” in analogy to the state archaeologists , which, however, arouses false expectations due to the different infrastructure and staffing.

The NK has a pronounced federal structure. In addition to the four large, better-staffed coin cabinets ( Münzkabinett der Staatliche Museen zu Berlin , Münzkabinett der Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden , Geldmuseum der Deutsche Bundesbank in Frankfurt / Main and Staatliche Münzsammlung München ), in many countries of the Federal Republic a single person represents all numismatics, mostly in the main office but sometimes also in the secondary office. The traditional German regionality of money in the Middle Ages and modern times favored accents in the history of the country , at least for those after ancient periods . The NK thus reflects the historically grown cultural federalism and the cultural sovereignty of the federal states, which is characteristic of Germany .

Overarching topics and tasks outside of the country representatives are represented by the experts selected by the plenary . When setting priorities, fundamental issues and the role of numismatics as an interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary bridging subject ( Niklot Klüßendorf ) are taken into account. The mere multidisciplinary coexistence is intended to be overcome and replaced by the integration of science. The integration of the numismatic work areas in larger multi-disciplinary museums, universities or research institutions has a positive effect. The Numismatic Societies and the Association of Coin Dealers are represented as further interest groups with an advisory seat in the NK.

The Numismatic Commission of the Länder in the Federal Republic of Germany as a scientific institution differs conceptually from the German Numismatic Society (DNG, Association of German Coin Associations) or the Society for International Monetary History (GIG), which mainly represent the interests of collectors . The same applies to the Association of German Coin Dealers, the national association of coin dealers.

Related scientific organizations and institutions are the International Numismatic Council (INC), the International Committee of Money and Banking Museums (ICOMON) as the international umbrella association of money and banking museums within the framework of the International Museum Council ICOM or the differently structured Numismatic Commission of the Austrian Academy of Sciences .

Focus of work

The NK has no full-time staff. The members coordinate and advise. In precisely defined cases, research projects are undertaken by the commission, usually in close cooperation with institutions in the federal states, sometimes also with those of local authorities, in universities and academies, which also publish the work results themselves. In addition to the coordinating function, which the Commission has assigned the role of representing the interests of scientific numismatics, the central statutory tasks are the promotion of young talent (e.g. support in the printing of academic theses such as master’s theses and dissertations, promotion of trips to collect materials and travel grants for Attending international congresses, promoting university teaching), promoting the printing of scientific publications and organizing specialist conferences, most recently the new conception of the German Numismatics Day in conjunction with the German Numismatic Society . It supports national and international cooperation with scientific interest groups and interdisciplinary cooperation with humanities as well as natural science subjects. The NK acts as a round table, discussion platform and competence network. Her main focus of work is historical basic research and innovative interdisciplinary topics from all areas of the history of coins and money . The NK thus goes well beyond the profile of numismatics that emerged in the 19th century as one of the so-called “small” historical auxiliary sciences or applied museum science that are primarily located outside the university .

Long-term projects

Coin finds and monetary history

The recording and evaluation of intentionally hidden or accidentally lost coins is one of the traditional fields of numismatics. The fund numerism offers u. a. Dating aids for archeology or architectural and art history and allows statements to be made about everyday or economic history .

The central catalog of the German coin finds of the Middle Ages and modern times (coin find catalog Middle Ages / Modern Times), which initially consisted of machine-written files and files, was started in the 1950s from Hamburg with third-party funding and with the help of the countries that recorded the is incumbent on their new discoveries. So far he has had around fifty employees - project-related, part-time and voluntary. Since 2000 it has undergone a fundamental conceptual modernization and has been converted into a database as a joint effort by the states of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Lower Saxony , Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia . It is available as an internal database with information for more than 20,000 finds from approx. 750 AD to the 19th century . For technical reasons, the find catalog includes a selection of finds from neighboring European landscapes, which makes extensive networking useful. Current issues are the numismatic database as an application example of archaeological informatics , the opening up as an online database, the expansion to include photo documentation and networking with other European coin discovery companies. The Braunschweigische Wissenschaftliche Gesellschaft , one of the science academies, is the youngest cooperation partner for the promotion of the catalog of finds.

After a start-up phase supported by the German Research Foundation for several years , the antique coin find catalog that was created at the same time was initially given the name " Fund coins of the Roman era in Germany (FMRD)" in the care of the University of Frankfurt . As a research company " Fundmünzen der Antike (FdA)", it was one of the long-term projects of the Academy of Sciences and Literature in Mainz. It ended in 2010.

Precious metal and money flows

The joint work of the NK with Sweden, which also began in 1950 (German coins of the 10th / 11th centuries in finds from the Baltic Sea region - cooperation with Sweden, Estonia and Poland) is one of the major international projects that have brought German numismatists to Sweden for decades. After this company has largely been completed and handed over to Stockholm University , corresponding projects are pending with the neighboring countries to the east, especially with Estonia (completed) and Poland. The current cooperation partner in a bilateral project on Polish archaeological finds (800–1150) is the Polish Academy of Sciences (Institute for Archeology and Ethnology, Department of Medieval Archeology) in Warsaw .

The gradual processing of German coins in the foreign mass finds of the 10./11. Century in the settlement areas of the Vikings and Slavs around the Baltic Sea serves to research an economic-historical epoch characteristic of the German coin and monetary history. For the so-called "period of the long-distance trading penny " ( Walter Hävernick ) in the Ottonian - Salian period, a strong concentration of mints is typical in Germany. It was about supplying the domestic economy with means of payment when the money economy was still in its infancy. A proportion of coin production, which varied in landscape, was traded with the Vikings and Slavs. The enormous silver outflow to the north and east is part of continental European precious metal and money flows in the Middle Ages and modern times. The finds from the Baltic Sea region are therefore not a peripheral phenomenon. Rather, it must be viewed as the center of any research on the history of coins, money and the economy of the High Middle Ages in northeastern Europe. A closer examination of the German coins found in the countries around the Baltic Sea allows insights into the history of relations with the Scandinavians and Slavs, as well as - because of the lower rainfall in their own country - also about coin production in the German Empire itself.

Medals

After all, the NK is the sponsor of the Gitta Kastner Research Foundation (GKS), founded in 1987 , which focuses on the newer German art medal (since the founding of the Reich in 1871), including the artist's biographies: the life and work of recent German medalists - bibliography on medal studies - modern documentation Medal art. It goes back to a legacy of the Munich lawyer Werner Kanein (1904-1986) in memory of his wife, the coin dealer Gitta Kanein-Kastner (born September 9, 1927 in Dresden; † April 15, 1977 in Munich). The Munich coin dealer and medalist Egon Beckenbauer (1913–1999), as executor of Werner Kanein's will, gave the GKS a well-known donation. The GKS is so far the only numismatic research foundation in Germany. Your work is accompanied by a foundation board of trustees. Synergies are achieved through close cooperation with the German Society for Medal Art (Halle / Saale), whose series of publications ( Die Kunstmedaille in Deutschland ) regularly publishes the results of the GKS. Thanks to the work of Wolfgang Steguweit (Berlin), the GKS has enjoyed a great boom in recent years. The focus of a new conception of the GKS are a. Temporary research grants for young professionals.

What is essential for the work of the GKS is the inclusion of the medal as a special form of small relief (predominant features: round, double-sided, cast or embossed, made of metal) or even more broadly as a handy small sculpture , in the considerations of art history . The starting point for this is the biographical and bibliographical work of the GKS.

Due to its relatively simple and inexpensive reproducibility, the art medal is of particular didactic and museum educational importance, similar to printmaking and artistic photography . The idea of ​​affordable “hands-on art” available in large numbers was propagated around a century ago, primarily by the Hamburg museum director and art teacher Alfred Lichtwark (1852–1914). The term “ fine arts ” can be understood here in two senses of the word as an educational medium. Conversely, with its regular synopsis of the contemporary art medal, GKS provides impulses for contemporary medal creation.

Promotion of young talent

Promoting young talent is a task for everyone interested in the history of coins and money. Therefore, the promotion of young scientists is one of the central goals of the NK's statutes. It is important because of the generational change and the discussion about the filling of scientific positions. In the course of the cultural-political discussion about funding and new forms of organization for universities and museums, the funding of small subjects has often fallen victim to austerity measures in recent times. This leads to serious cuts in the “one-man jobs” typical of the structure of numismatics. Young scientists are badly affected. Attention is paid to promoting numismatic topics in neighboring disciplines.

Youth Fund

The NK has set up a young talent fund for the printing of academic theses (diploma theses, master's theses, dissertations) and research projects. It also awards travel grants to the International Numismatic Congresses that take place every six years, most recently in Berlin , Madrid , Glasgow and Taormina . In 2010, the young talent fund was transformed into the “ Young Talent Foundation of the Numismatic Commission of the States in the Federal Republic of Germany ”.

Walter Hävernick Prize

In order to further develop numismatic research in Germany, the NK has been awarding young scientists the “Walter Hävernick Prize”, endowed with 2,000 euros, for exemplary theses (habilitation, doctorate, master's thesis) or other monographic work from all areas of numismatics in German, English and French language. Previous winners:

  • 2012: Angela Berthold
  • 2013: Philipp Rössner and Johannes Wienand
  • 2014: Alexa Küter
  • 2015: Stefan Roth
  • 2016: Simone Killen
  • 2018: Sebastian Steinbach (habilitation), Torsten Bendschus (dissertation) and Johannes Hartner (master thesis)
  • 2020: Johannes Peter for his master's thesis at the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen on Fulda bracteates

management

literature

  • Annual reports in the Numismatic Bulletin .
  • Reiner Cunz (Ed.): Concordia ditat. 50 years of the Numismatic Commission of the States in the Federal Republic of Germany, 1950–2000 . Hamburg 2000 (= Numismatic Studies 13). ISBN 3-924861-37-4 , ISSN  0469-2144 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Numismatic promotion of young talent . Accessed December 31, 2018.
  2. ↑ Walter Hävernick Prize . Numismatic Commission of the States in the Federal Republic of Germany. Accessed December 31, 2018.
  3. ^ Nicole Kehrer: Walter Hävernick Prize 2016 . German Archaeological Institute . January 8, 2016. Accessed December 31, 2018.
  4. ↑ Alexa Küter: 150 Years of the Münzkabinett: Coins - Medals - People . In: NNB . tape 68 , no. 1 , January 2019, p. 32 .