monnaies et médailles alsaciennes
Alsatian Heritage

Alsatian coins & medals

Of the 10,000 coins and medals from our collections, 4,300 of them have been digitised on both faces (unless they are single-sided). All currencies in our possession have been digitised, with the exception of duplicates from treasuries and archaeological finds, which often contain many of the same specimen. This collection, spanning over the rich and multifaceted history of currency in Alsace, serves as a good introduction to the fields of Alsatian numistmatics.

The National & Academic Library (BNU) has been striving to collect all Alsatian coins and medals since its beginnings in 1873, with an aim of exhaustivity. Before we can reach this goal, the BNU's collection, in addition to these of the City of Strasbourg, offers the largest overview of Alsatian mintage, spanning over millennia.

Indeed, coins have been minted in Alsace since the Merovingian dynasty in the 5th century. Throughout the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and to the end of the Thirty Years' War, most cities, abbeys, principalities, and places of power had their own mint, with varying degrees of productivity and importance. This gave rise to an important and diverse production of coins. This production only stopped in 1870 for Strasbourg, but kept going occasionally throughout the 20th century (for scrip) and is still active in the present day (Alsatian euro coins and complementary currency).

As for medals, their production spreads from the 16th centiry to nowadays.

To complete your exploration, we also invite you to browse through the collection of antique currencies from the University of Strasbourg.

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