The McMaster Museum of Art has received a gift of twenty-two
coins, dating back to Alexander the Great—significant for both
their value to McMaster’s teaching collection and their
provenance. The Vishniac coin collection has been gifted to
McMaster University by McMaster astronomy professor Ethan
Vishniac and his wife, McMaster Provost, Ilene Busch-Vishniac.
Ethan Vishniac inherited the collection from his grandfather,
renowned photographer Roman Vishniac. “We are honoured to be the
custodians of this significant material heritage,” says McMaster
Museum of Art Director and Chief Curator Carol Podedworny.
McMaster Classics Professor Spencer Pope, the Honorary Curator
of McMaster’s coin collection, has mounted an exhibition of the
Vishniac collection this summer. While most of the Vishniac
coins date from the Roman Republic, the breadth of the
collection from the 4th century BC to an 1857 Bank of Upper
Canada penny allows a keen look into the traditions developed in
classical antiquity that continue today. As P