You are aware that it was normal for Austrian monasteries in the 18th and 19th centuries to collect Roman coins?
There are important collections to this day, for example, in Göttweig und Klosterneuburg, which I have visited myself, in the Schottenstift in Vienna, and in Zwettl. The Schottenstift collection was published in 1910 by Hübl, and the other three collections mentioned were published more recently by the Institut für Numismatik of the University of Vienna.
Sure, I know about the large
collection at Goettweig, also Schottenstift is not
complete new to me, but Zwettl, Klosterneuburg and St.
Florian, I did not know ... it is a pity that these
collections are not public. As far as I know, only numismatists and scientists have the opportunity to see these
collections. But is it only the hoarding of treasures, or have the monasteries also scientific interest in their
collections?
One reason why
Zeno gave
his collection to a monastery, in this case St.
Florian, could be due to the time period. When he sold
his collection it was the time of the beginning of the reign of
Maria Theresia. The court at
Vienna at that time desperately needed
money for the impending war of succession and so perhaps it was very uncertain for
Zeno, that
his collection will stay preserved in the whole if he will give it to the imperial
collections? This is just a thought, but it could have been.
The publications by Huebl (Schottenstift) and for the other
collections by the Institute of Numismatic at the University of
Vienna, are they available antiquaric?
