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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 114,656 Things made and used by people

Closeup shot of a butterfly

Specimens 1,306,192 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

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Badge - Issued To Setsutaro Hasegawa, 'Te', Imperial School, Tokyo, Japan, circa 1880s

NU 49836 Badge - Issued To Setsutaro Hasegawa, 'Te', Imperial School, Tokyo, Japan, circa 1880s

Migration & Cultural Diversity, Numismatics & Philately, Social Spaces & Youth

Badge, 'Te', gold metal with cardboard box (no lid), worn by Setsutaro Hasegawa, at the Imperial school he attended, probably in Tokyo, Japan, circa ...

Medal - Shizoku (Samurai Class), Issued To Setsutaro Hasegawa, Japan, circa 1882

NU 49837 Medal - Shizoku (Samurai Class), Issued To Setsutaro Hasegawa, Japan, circa 1882

Migration & Cultural Diversity, Numismatics & Philately

Medal with wooden box, Shizoku, presented to Setsutaro Hasegawa, representing the Hasegawa family's identification as part of the Samurai class in Japan, circa 1882. ...

Medal - Issued To Setsutaro Hasegawa, Red Cross, Japan, 15 Dec 1926

NU 49835 Medal - Issued To Setsutaro Hasegawa, Red Cross, Japan, 15 Dec 1926

Migration & Cultural Diversity, Medicine & Health, Numismatics & Philately

Medal, along with lapel pin in a cardboard box, presented to Setsutaro Hasegawa, by the Japanese Red Cross in recognition of Setsutaro becoming a full time ...

Photograph - HV McKay, McKay Smithy Site, Drummartin, circa 1950

MM 128173 Photograph - HV McKay, McKay Smithy Site, Drummartin, circa 1950

Sustainable Futures, Working Life & Trades

Photograph of the H.V.McKay farm. The tin shed is on the site where the original farm blacksmithing workshop, 'smithy', was located. The photograph is part of the extensive H.V. McKay ...

Photograph - HV McKay Massey Harris, Visitors in front of Smithy, Sunshine, Victoria, 1956

MM 128166 Photograph - HV McKay Massey Harris, Visitors in front of Smithy, Sunshine, Victoria, 1956

Sustainable Futures, Working Life & Trades

Photograph of overseas visitors in front of HV McKay's smithy which was located at the front of the Sunshine factory. Standing third from left is Abby Betts and 5th from left Bert Ustick. ...

Photograph - Massey Ferguson, McKay Smithy Interior, Victoria, circa 1928

MM 128164 Photograph - Massey Ferguson, McKay Smithy Interior, Victoria, circa 1928

Sustainable Futures, Working Life & Trades

Photograph of the inside of the smithy where reportedly the first Sunshine harvester was manufactured in 1884 at Drummartin by Hugh Victor McKay. The smithy was erected at the front of the ...

Photograph - Massey Ferguson, Plaque of HV McKay's Original Smithy, Sunshine, Victoria, circa 1928

MM 128165 Photograph - Massey Ferguson, Plaque of HV McKay's Original Smithy, Sunshine, Victoria, circa 1928

Sustainable Futures, Working Life & Trades

Photograph of the plaque that was attached to the relocated HV McKay "Smithy" at Sunshine. Part of a collection of photographs, negatives, moving film, artefacts, documents and trade ...

Photograph - Letter, Robert Anderson to HV McKay Pty Ltd, Sunshine, May 1951

MM 128167 Photograph - Letter, Robert Anderson to HV McKay Pty Ltd, Sunshine, May 1951

Sustainable Futures, Working Life & Trades

Photograph of letter written in 1928 donating a harvester claimed to have been built in the McKay smithy. The photograph is part of the extensive H.V. McKay Sunshine Collection, which ...

Medal - The Battle of Waterloo, Great Britain, 1815

NU 36397 Medal - The Battle of Waterloo, Great Britain, 1815

Numismatics & Philately, Public Life & Institutions

Obverse electrotype medal featuring Battle of Waterloo, Great Britain 1815. Artist: B. Pistrucci. The dies for this medal were never hardened. Medals exist only uniface and in ...

Medal - New South Wales Rowing Association, 4th Men's Intercolonial Eight Oar Race, Awarded to William H Tuckett, New South Wales, Australia, 9 April 1881

NU 49838 Medal - New South Wales Rowing Association, 4th Men's Intercolonial Eight Oar Race, Awarded to William H Tuckett, New South Wales, Australia, 9 April 1881

Leisure, Public Life & Institutions

Australia New South Wales Sydney 1881 (AD) Mint: Sydney Awarded to: 6th: William Henry Tuckett Silver medal for the 1881 Interstate Rowing Championships hosted by the New South Wales Rowing ...

Medal - National Emergency Medal Awarded Posthumously to Peter Auty, CFA volunteer, Flowerdale, Jan 2014

NU 49451 Medal - National Emergency Medal Awarded Posthumously to Peter Auty, CFA volunteer, Flowerdale, Jan 2014

Sustainable Futures

Medal awarded to Peter posthumously in January 2014 for his role during Black Saturday, 7 February 2009. Part of a collection that documents the life of Peter Auty, illustrating his colourful and interesting ...

Medal Die - The Kodak Festival Award, Obverse Die, Kodak (Australasia) Pty Ltd, Australia, 1958

NU 49480 Medal Die - The Kodak Festival Award, Obverse Die, Kodak (Australasia) Pty Ltd, Australia, 1958

Numismatics & Philately, Public Life & Institutions, Migration & Cultural Diversity

Medal die for the obverse of The Kodak Festival Award medal, designed by Andor Meszaros and minted by Pinches, London, in 1958. A die is a piece ...