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Coin Study Room

The Barber Institute is home to one of the finest collections of Roman, Byzantine, Sasanian, medieval Islamic, and medieval and modern Hungarian coins in the world, numbering around 16,000 items.

While selections from this are regularly on display in themed exhibitions in the Coin Gallery, the majority are housed in state-of-the-art storage facilities in the Coin Study Room.

This room also provides access to the collection’s historic electronic catalogue, historic provenancing records, a specialist library containing more than 2,000 volumes and facilities for private study and seminars.

The study room is open to researchers and the general public by appointment only.

Due to essential building improvement works, the Coin Study Room is currently closed to the public until summer 2024.

For research enquires please email: coins@barber.org.uk

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Images inside the coin and print study room at The Barber Institute of Fine Arts, University of Birmingham.

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Learn more about the coin collection:

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Byzantine Coins

Byzantine Coins The single largest section of the Barber Institute’s coin collection comprises its Byzantine coins. The most important collection of Byzantine coins in Europe, the Barber Institute houses examples of all periods of Byzantine monetary history and a number of rare specimens. Around 8,000 of the Barber’s 16,000 coins are Byzantine.   The Byzantine … Read more

Sasanian Coins

Sasanian Coins Who were the Sasanians? Prior to the rise of Islam in the seventh century, the power which most effectively matched the Byzantine Empire in the east was the Sasanian Persian Empire, based around the areas of modern Iran and Iraq, and centred on its capital city of Ktesiphon, near modern Baghdad. In 224 … Read more

Roman Coins

Roman Coins The Barber Institute has a significant collection of Roman coins, including both republican and imperial issues, as well as a substantial number of Roman Egyptian tetradrachms. The Barber’s Roman coins total just over 5,000, out of the 16,000-strong collection. Roman coins are considered to continue until the reforms of Anastasius I (491-517) in 498, … Read more