Bible History Museum - Ancient Coins

[Danny S. Jones]

Greetings Forvm members!

It has been much too long since I've posted, and I have missed you all. Since I was last here, I have come aboard a new project where I will be assistant designer and curator of a new multi-million dollar Bible history museum which will feature interactive displays, classes and lectures, several travelling exhibits on loan from museums around the world, ancient artifacts and, of interest to this discussion board, a Biblical coin room.

My question to you as we are in the design stage is this: if you were to go to this museum, what would you like to or hope to see?

I would value your input as collectors, scholars and experts in the field. Research groups have been formed from the general public, however I believe that your input will be much more valuable.

Regards,
Danny

[museumguy]

Danny,

This isn't the Museum of the Bible in Washington, DC is it?  When you ask the "what would you like or hope to see", what exactly are you referring to?  I would like to see an unbiased opinion and not a total creationist approach.  Is this a fair answer?  Good luck in your new position.

Steve S.

[Molinari]

Congratulations!  Sounds like a dream job.

I think the coin room should have a chronological survey of biblical coins, as well as highlight pieces.  Maybe also a section for interesting finds from far away.  It should include something about the various languages on biblical coins, and perhaps some key passages and related numismatic items.  Also, a nice touch would be a few antiquarian numismatic works opened to the plate pages that show biblical coins.

How much space are you talking?  If budget is no issue I say employ a local art student to engrave dies and strike coins, too  

[Danny S. Jones]

This is not the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C. This is a new museum project which will be built in Branson, MO. There will be a full scale model of the Israelite Tabernacle, ancient artifacts relating to Biblical history, and traveling exhibits from other museums. There is already an agreement to host the Dead Sea Scrolls Exhibit, artifacts on loan from the Israel Museum, and one of the world's largest private collections of Biblical artifacts. The museum will host archaeology classes in conjunction with local universities for college credit. There will be a restaurant serving middle eastern cuisine as well as a cafe serving dishes made from recipes found in ancient Roman literature. Exhibits will feature not only ancient artifacts, but interactive stories from the Bible and depictions of life in ancient times. There will be an interactive children's play area as well as a large auditorium and conference center.

My focus (and yes, dream job) for the next few months will be the Coin Room - designing exhibits and populating them. So when I ask, "What would you like to see?" I'm speaking specifically about coin exhibit ideas, such as Molinari's suggestions. (thanks by the way, for your input.)

Some of the planned coin exhibits:
Hasmonean Coinage
Hebrew and Proto-Hebrew Coin Inscriptions
12 Caesars
Roman, Greek and Judaean Coin Denominations of the First Century
Popular ancient coins related to Bible stories (widow's mite / 30 pieces of silver / Tribute penny / etc. )
Ancient Coin hoard exhibit
Roman Procurators of Judaea
Coins of Ancient World Leaders in Bible times

I love the idea of an exhibit showing the making of ancient coins with a live person actually demonstrating the striking process. I'm going to present this idea and see if we can't include it. Any other input would be valued (and possibly used).

Regards,
Danny

[Molinari]

You could also incorporate monthly kid/young adult activities like cleaning ancient coins or identifying ancient coins, in which case they would get to keep the coin they clean/identify (charge a nominal fee).  That too would rely on space but perhaps you could use a different section of the museum for special activities facilitated by the coin department. Will the museum have a library?  Lots of libraries are now incorporating "maker spaces" and this type of activity would be perfect for that.

[museumguy]

Thanks for the additional information Danny.  As someone who works with museums on a regular basis the first things I would consider are your institution's mission, collections plan and the audience you intend to serve.  If you think the museum will regularly attract a local audience (Branson? Missouri?) you might also want to crowdsource locally to see what this particular audience might be interested in seeing.  Absolutely check in with some other top notch collections at the Oriental Institute, Kelsey Museum and Penn Museum to see what they do or are doing or have done.  Remember, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) is huge in museums nowadays and coins and their production would be a natural for STEM related programming.  Also, a conservation component, done in an educational way, would also be interesting and make it personal so visitors can hopefully better care for their own collections.  I also like things in context - how the coin fits into history and what was going on in the world when it was created.  And finally - whew! - make the interpretation a bit more real by (and if possible) taking what is depicted on coins and bringing a representation of the real item into the exhibit like, for example, a menorah or tripod, and explain their importance to the ancients.  Anyway, this does indeed sound like a dream job.  Best of luck to you and if you don't already, get to as many museum conferences as your time and budget will permit to learn what others in the field are doing.

Best,

Steve S.