The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

When the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston opened the doors of its first building on July 4, 1876, ancient coins were already among the 5,600 items in the collection. The MFA has remained committed to numismatic art ever since, with about 19,000 coins and medals counted among the nearly 450,000 works in all media, spanning world history from antiquity to the present, that make up the collection today. The MFA’s collection of Greek and Roman coins, accounting for slightly less than half of the Museum’s numismatic holdings, is one of the finest in the United States and is distinctive for its emphasis on coins as works of art. The collection is particularly strong in the Greek coinages of southern Italy and Sicily, Roman Provincial issues from the eastern Mediterranean, and Roman Imperial medallions and multiples, and it includes many great rarities and unique pieces.