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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;DonnaML, post: 6319828, member: 110350&quot;]It occurred to me that I got my first small book -- really, a booklet -- that referred to ancient coins even earlier than the ones I mentioned above. Does anyone remember the Chase Manhattan Bank Money Museum in Rockefeller Center, which operated from about 1928-1977? Here&#039;s an old postcard showing one of the display cases:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1250430[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>In 1962, Chase published a little book about the Money Museum, and my father took me there that year (I was 7) because he thought I&#039;d enjoy it and to get a copy of the booklet for me.&nbsp; I was fascinated by the place, which I recall looking pretty much like that postcard -- display cases all around the walls. I took a long time to look at everything.&nbsp; At least, to about halfway up the wall!</p><p><br /></p><p>Anyway, here are the covers and title page of the booklet, which I found this evening, inside the pages of an actual book about the history of money published by the British Museum, that I bought&nbsp; a couple of decades later:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1250433[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1250438[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Note the Athenian owl and the Lysimachos:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1250435[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>And here&#039;s one of their crown jewels, pictured on the inside of the back cover, a decadrachm in fantastic condition:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1250436[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>According to Wikipedia, when the Money Museum closed in 1977 -- which was a shame -- &quot;most of the collection (approx. 26,000 objects) [<i>I don&#039;t know how to reconcile that number with the 75,000 stated on my booklet&#039;s title page</i>] was donated to the National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian Institution on 16 January 1978. Some of the collection went to the American Numismatic Society, including an 1804 U.S. dollar.&quot; So I&#039;m not sure where the decadrachm and other ancient coins in the collection are now. Hopefully they&#039;re being well cared-for.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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