A new database with information on approximately 90,000 coins in German and Austrian public collections is due to go live at 6pm central European time today, the fruit of seven years of planning and preparation by 29 institutions.
The portal ikmk.net will offer free access to the biggest coin database in the German-speaking world, comprising parts of the collections of the Münzkabinett in Berlin and its counterpart at Vienna’s Kunsthistorisches Museum as well as thousands of coins in smaller museums and university collections.
The searchable database offers high-resolution images and detailed descriptions of the coins, including provenance information and research. Images and text are free to use for academic and private purposes, according to a press release from the Berlin State Museums.
The 90,000 items listed on the new database represent “in many ways just the beginning of a sustainable and methodical publication of the collections,” the statement said. The institutions involved hold 1.4 million objects in total, and will add to the database. Collections digitised on other platforms will be added to ikmk.net, the release said. “The digital transformation of our numismatic cultural heritage is a task for generations,” it added.
The listings on the database will also be added to other international platforms such as OCRE (Online Coins of the Roman Empire), CRRO (Coinage of the Roman Republic Online) and PELLA, which lists the coins of the Macedonian kings of the Argead dynasty.
A digital event to present the new database is scheduled to take place at 6 pm on 20 May and is open to the public here