Skip to main content

Shining Bright: Treasures of the Numismatics Collection at Museums Victoria

Museums Victoria's numismatics collection is the most important of its kind in Australia, and the collection of Australian coins is the most significant in the world. This display of famous Australian coins, brilliant ancient coins, and beautiful French art medals includes some of the stunning treasures in the collection. Now on show at Melbourne Museum.

Shining Bright: Treasures of the Numismatics Collection

Shining Bright: Treasures of the Numismatics Collection Numismatics - the collection and study of coins, tokens and medals - was amongst the earliest public collections in Victoria and part of the 1861 Victorian Exhibition on William Street, Melbourne. The numismatics collection was ...

Power & Wealth - Treasures of the Ancient Coin Collection

Power & Wealth - Treasures of the Ancient Coin Collection The ancient Greek and Roman empires stretched far across the Mediterranean and beyond. Borrowing the idea of coins from Asia Minor, they used coins to promote their rulers, achievements, and the gods that protected them. The coins ...

Famous Australian Coins - Treasures of the Australian Coin Collection

Famous Australian Coins - Treasures of the Australian Coin Collection Being on an island far away from their known world of Europe, Australia's early European colonists had to make do with the coins they brought with them. Occasionally they imported foreign coins to expand the circulation. Later, ...

Medals As Art - Treasures of the French Art Medals Collection

Medals As Art - Treasures of the French Art Medals Collection Bronze medals and plaques minted in France and Belgium in the late 19th and early 20th centuries show artistic expression while not necessarily commemorating military or sporting achievements. More than shiny discs of metal, they ...

Explore our collection

Explore a wealth of collections and research about natural sciences, history, technology and First Peoples from Museums Victoria in Australia.

Closeup of old typewritter keys

Articles 2,393 Read about people, places, events, and our collections

Brass pocket compass sundial

Items 114,655 Things made and used by people

Closeup shot of a butterfly

Specimens 1,306,194 Animals, fossils, and rocks in our collections

Closeup of blue coloured bird

Species 1,540 Read about some animals you might see in the wild

Explore the collection on display

Closeup of a taxidermied owl

Melbourne Museum

Closeup of a robot

Illustrated impression of a ship on water

Immigration Museum

Moving sculpture lit up by stage lights

Bunjilaka Aboriginal Cultural Centre

Recently modified

<em>Atoichus tasmanicus</em> Carter, 1915

T 10325 Atoichus tasmanicus Carter, 1915

Entomology and Arachnology

Type statusSyntypeHigher taxonomyArthropoda, Insecta, ColeopteraCollectedAustralia, Tasmania

Exhibition Label - Orca Gladiator (now Orcinus orca), National Museum of Victoria, Parkville, circa 1880

HT 58397 Exhibition Label - Orca Gladiator (now Orcinus orca), National Museum of Victoria, Parkville, circa 1880

Museum History, Information & Communication, Public Life & Institutions

Early hand-painted, double-sided exhibition label for the National Museum of Victoria, circa 1880. It is covered in glass and designed to be a hanging ...

Dress - Jenny Bannister, Medieval, Grey Leather & Studs, 1982

HT 51581 Dress - Jenny Bannister, Medieval, Grey Leather & Studs, 1982

Clothing & Textiles

'Medieval' style pewter grey leather and metal stud dress with detachable long sleeves designed and made in Melbourne by Jenny Bannister in the early 1980s. Dress is from Jenny's Queen of Hearts ...

Tea Towel - `A Tribute to Phar Lap', 1986

SH 860265 Tea Towel - `A Tribute to Phar Lap', 1986

Home & Community, Leisure, Public Life & Institutions

This printed linen souvenir tea towel is an example of the Phar Lap related merchandise sold in the Museum of Victoria shop in the 1980s. Originally sold for $3.95.

Suitcase - Tommy Woodcock, Phar Lap, 1930s

HT 6256 Suitcase - Tommy Woodcock, Phar Lap, 1930s

Leisure, Sustainable Futures, Transport, Working Life & Trades

Suitcase was donated to the Museum on July 26th 1979 by Tommy Woodcock, the former strapper of the racehorse Phar Lap. Inside were a number of pieces of equipment used ...

Negative - Solar Energy Exhibition, Science Museum, Melbourne, 1975

MM 65127 Negative - Solar Energy Exhibition, Science Museum, Melbourne, 1975

Public Life & Institutions, Museum History

Photographic negative depicting part of the temporary Solar Energy exhibition, which opened to the public on 11 December 1975 at the Science Museum.

Motion Film - 'Flight Memory: An Australian Contribution to Air Safety', Aeronautical Research Laboratories, Melbourne, Victoria, 1963

ST 35718 Motion Film - 'Flight Memory: An Australian Contribution to Air Safety', Aeronautical Research Laboratories, Melbourne, Victoria, 1963

Transport

Motion picture film titled 'Flight Memory: An Australian Contribution to Air Safety', by Aeronautical Research Laboratories, Melbourne, release print with sound issued in 1963. The film describes the development and ...

Girth Strap - Alex Morrison, Phar Lap

SH 860326 Girth Strap - Alex Morrison, Phar Lap

Leisure, Sustainable Futures

This blue woven girth strap was part of a collection of Phar Lap's equipment which had been keep in a suitcase by his strapper Tommy Woodcock as a memorial to his beloved friend. He brought the ...

Girth - Alex Morrison, Phar Lap, Pre 1932

SH 860330 Girth - Alex Morrison, Phar Lap, Pre 1932

Leisure, Sustainable Futures

Blue woven girth that was part of a collection of Phar Lap's equipment which had been keep in a suitcase by his strapper Tommy Woodcock as a memorial to his beloved friend. He brought the suitcase to ...

Surcingle - Alex Morrison, Phar Lap

SH 860327 Surcingle - Alex Morrison, Phar Lap

Leisure, Sustainable Futures

Blue woven surcingle that was part of a collection of Phar Lap's equipment which had been keep in a suitcase by his strapper Tommy Woodcock as a memorial to his beloved friend. He brought the suitcase ...

Badge - Red Cross, World War II, 1943-1947

ST 40342 Badge - Red Cross, World War II, 1943-1947

Public Life & Institutions

Alternative Name(s): Red Cross Patch Badge worn on the uniform, issued to Cpl. Laura A. Lawson, VFX 126851. The badge dates from World War II, 1939-1945. Born in St Kilda in 1915, Laura Lawson enlisted ...

Butterfly - Pressed, Papua New Guinea, 1944

ST 40327 Butterfly - Pressed, Papua New Guinea, 1944

Public Life & Institutions

Pressed butterfly souvenir from New Guinea, 1944. It was collected by Corporal Laura Lawson, who served in World War II with the Australian Army Women's Medical Service. Born in St Kilda in 1915, Laura ...