Paper presents a source research on the coin cabinet of the Himsel Museum – the oldest public coin repository in the Baltics, kept in Riga from 1795 to 1881. Examination of the related documents, held mostly in the Museum of the History of Riga and Navigation, but a small part – also in the Latvian State Historical Archive, has revealed new information on various aspects of the cabinet's operation – completion, attribution, publication and storage.
After the death of medical doctor Nicolaus von Himsel (1729-1764) his collections were left to the city of Riga in 1773 by the will of his mother Christina Himsel. Collections became the basis for the Himsel Museum, the public exhibition and expansion of which was managed by a specially created administration of the Himsel family legate. The coin cabinet was created in 1795 when a 1200-piece collection of Livonian and Russian coins was bought from Liborius von Bergmann, a representative of Himsel family legate. The curators of the coin cabinet were: Liborius von Bergmann (1795-1823), Carl Bergmann (1823-1841), August Buchholtz (1842-1875) and Anton Buchholtz (1875-1881). With the exception of Carl Bergmann, they all were devoted collectors of Baltic coins and numismatists.
The financial provision of the coin cabinet was inconsistent. For the expansion of the collections, the Himsel Museum could use the interest income from the 1000 Albert thalers left by the will of Christina Himsel in 1773. From 1842–1854 an annual dotation of 25 roubles was awarded for completion of the coin cabinet by the Himsel family legate. In the 86 years of its operation by way of presents, purchases, deposits, donations and replicating the coin cabinet was expanded by almost 800 items, reaching the total of 1967 items. When in 1859 the Himsel family legate decided to relinquish the administrative mandate to the Riga city council, the Himsel Museum was slowly dissolved. The coin cabinet ceased to exist in 1881 when it was merged with the Riga city numismatic collection. Examination of the archival documents has made it possible to identify several of the cabinet's items in the current numismatic collection of the Museum of the History of Riga and Navigation.
Images:
Portrait of Nicolaus von Himsel. Artist unknown, 1765. (Photo: Didzis Grodzs)
The front page of the Livonian coin Catalogue of Liborius von Bergmann. 1795.VI.10
(Photo: Astrīda Meirāne)
Complete number of preserved coin copies of the coin cabinet of the Himsel Museum:
a) Riga Archbishop Wilhelm of Brandenburg, 1558, Riga, klippe (VRVM 18348)
b) Polish-Lithuanian king Sigismund III, Riga, 1592, 10 ducats (VRVM 18384)
c) Polish-Lithuanian king Sigismund III, Tallinn, 1598, thaler (VRVM 5311)
Anton Buchholtz’s letter to Riga City Council. Ant. Buchholtz undertakes the direction of Riga city numismatic collection and the former coin cabinet of the Himsel Museum. 1881.IV.15 (Photo: Astrīda Meirāne)