Collection of non-European numismatics

A specialized department, to which parts of the non-European fonds of the National Museum and parts of its reference library were transferred, was set up only in 1962. In 1963 the museum managed to purchase the collection of Ing. Bedřich Augst (1889–1972), the first significant collector of non-European coinage in the Czech lands, whose lifelong collecting work resulted in a systematic collection reaching from Antiquity to the present, including all areas from the Near to the Far East. The material acquired from Ing. Augst laid the foundation for a large systematic collection from the Orient and the colonies, and concurrently the collecting programme was expanded to other non-European areas. The collection’s typological system, elaborated using the historical-geographic principle, stands out for its clarity and detailed processing. The numismatic collection of the Náprstek museum is a comprehensive, chronologically and geographically representative set of coinage and other numismatic material, which in itself documents the historical, economic, cultural and political development of civilizations outside Europe. Although numismatic material is an irreplaceable comparative historical source, it also documents aesthetic norms, advancements in the techniques of metalworking and also contemporary artistic standards.