Copies of Ancient Coins and Inventions all’antica in the Work of Jacopo Strada

Abstract

In his work Epitome Thesauri antiquitatum (Lyon 1553), Strada emphasised the importance of thorough numismatic knowledge to distinguish original coins from modern imitations (i.e. “Paduans”). Nonetheless, he was often mistaken and his corpus of over 8000 coins, the Magnum ac Novum Opus (MaNO), includes numerous sixteenth-century imitations of ancient coins.

 These imitations were also depicted in the works of his contemporaries, e.g. the antiquarians Enea Vico, Pirro Ligorio and Hubertus Goltzius. Strada also created “new” coins illustrated in the MaNO and seemingly authenticated by descriptions in the Diaskeué.

 My contribution presents a number of “new” coins and Paduans together with essential source material and their reception by Strada’s contemporaries. Thereby, in-depth insight into methodology and approach of Renaissance antiquarians is provided.