Walery Cyryl Amrogowicz (1863-1931) was a Polish numismatist, nationalist, philanthropist and collector of cultural artifacts.
Walery Cyryl Amrogowicz (1863-1931) was a Polish numismatist, nationalist, philanthropist and collector of cultural artifacts.
He came from a rural Pomeranian family, and was born in Nowogród on 8 April 1863. [1] During his studies at a Secondary School in Toruń he developed a liking for history and geography which was to contribute to his passion for numismatics. [1] Following his studies, he became a court clerk. [1] He worked in Toruń, Puck, and Kościerzyna. Amrogowicz was known for his patriotism. Throughout his whole life he worked with various Polish social organisations and provided material aid to many students from poor families (among them Dr Aleksander Majkowski, a future expert on Kaszuby). He was a major benefactor of the Scientific Help Society for the Youth of the Grand Duchy of Poznań. [1] In Sopot Amrogowicz established the People's Bank, designed to assist small business, and became the president of the Bank for several years.
During the First World War he purchased a house in Sopot (next to the present day Museum of Sopot) in which he lived following his retirement in 1919. From this time Amrogowicz dedicated his life to developing his collection of money and Kaszubian art. He established a numismatic society in Gdańsk (Danzig), the Guldenrunde, where he gave lectures. [1] In 1911 he published a treaty on old Slavic coins. [1] His collection, primarily consisting of coins and medals, contained approximately 2000 items. His art collection also consisted of several paintings (including, among others, prints by Rembrandt, Dürer and Chodowiecki), paintings ordered from Marian Mokwa, pictures documenting Kaszubian art and architecture, and various other items such as cuneiform tablets. Among his pastimes during this period were walks along the beach towards Jelitkowo, short bicycle rides and swimming in the sea - regardless of the weather.
In 1928 Walery Cyryl Amrogowicz completed the creation of five and two zloty coins (and possibly of the ten zloty coin) according to his own design. Polish Ministry of Treasury rejected his design, but he nonetheless ordered some sets for himself and friends. The (casts) for these were created by the German Karl Goetz, the coins being minted in Munich (some sources claim Nuremberg). The coins were minted in gold, bronze and silver. Examples minted in gold and platinum which have appeared at auctions and been catalogued, by (Parchimowicza) for example, are suspected to have been later productions. [2]
Walery Amrogowicz died in 1931 in Krynica where he had gone to convalesce. In his will, he left the majority of his collection to the Toruń Society of Science, and books, to a gymnasium in Gdańsk. [1] Following World War II it was transferred to the Toruń Regional Museum which held an exhibition in 2004 to mark the 140th anniversary of Amrogowicz's birth.
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Sopot is a seaside resort city in Pomerelia on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea in northern Poland, with a population of approximately 40,000. It is located in Pomeranian Voivodeship, and has the status of the county, being the smallest city in Poland to do so. It lies between the larger cities of Gdańsk to the southeast and Gdynia to the northwest. The three cities together form the metropolitan area of Tricity.
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Jacek Krenz, born in 1948 in Poznań, Poland, is an academic architect and painter. He is a professor at Gdańsk University of Technology, Faculty of Architecture, taught also at University of Fine Arts in Poznań – both in Poland – and at Universidade da Beira Interior in Covilhã, Portugal. Charter member of The Polish Watercolour Society. Instructor of Urban Sketchers
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Joseph Farran Zerbe was an American coin collector and dealer who was the president of the American Numismatic Association (ANA) in 1908 and 1909. He served as chief numismatist at the World's Fairs in St. Louis (1904), Portland (1905), and San Francisco (1915).
Tadeusz Stanisław Wróblewski was a Polish noble, politician, lawyer, bibliophile and cultural activist. He supported the democratic wing of the Krajowcy movement and founded the Wróblewski Library in Vilnius.
Donald Nelson Everhart II is an American coin and medal engraver-medalist, and sculptor who has worked for the private Franklin Mint, as a freelance designer, and since 2004 has worked for the United States Mint in Philadelphia. With over 1,000 models for coins and medals attributed to him as of 2008, he is still at the prime of his career creating the bas-relief models for these and similar sculptural objects. His coin designs are in the pockets of American citizens, and despite his late arrival to the series of the popular U.S. Statehood Quarters, he has designed and modeled three State's unique reverse designs, modeled three others, and six U.S. commemorative coins. His portrait of President William Clinton was chosen for Clinton's second term Inaugural Medal. Among his other medal creations are six Congressional Gold Medals for the U.S. Mint, seven Society of Medalists issues, twelve calendar medals, and other models for private medal makers, as well as cast art medals.
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Stanisław Horno-Popławski (1902-1997) was a Russian-Polish painter, sculptor and pedagogue.
