May 24, 2012 – The new coin exhibition “White Gold: Revealing the World’s Earliest Coins” will formally open on June 26, 2012 at the renewed exhibition space of the Israel Museum, Jerusalem.
This exhibition is the first public display of an outstanding group of five hundred miniature masterpieces from two important collections of electrum coins.
The exhibition provides an intimate glimpse into the dawn of coinage, shedding light on the story of one of the most important innovations in human history. Electrum coins are not only historically significant, but also astonishingly beautiful. Reflecting a rich diversity of subjects, they trace the evolution of Greek art from the seventh through the fourth century BCE and draw us magnetically into a vibrant and fascinating iconographic world.
To celebrate this unique presentation a two-day international congress will be held. Nineteen of the world’s leading scholars in the field have been invited to speak on electrum coinage and related topics ranging from “Preliminary Analysis of Electrum Coins and Natural Gold from Sardis” (Nick Cahill, Jill Hari, Bülent Önay, and Esra Documacı) to “Art, finance and politics: the remarkable case of the Cyzicene electrum coinage” (François de Callataÿ) and “Electrum in inscriptions and literary sources” (Selene Psoma). The congress will include two days of lecture sessions and a guided tour of the new exhibition. The lectures will be held at the Israel Museum, Dorot Auditorium (near the Shrine of the Book).
A complete list of the lecturer’s and all helpful information on this event are available on the website of the Israel Numismatic Society.
The Israel Museum, Jerusalem presents itself here.