Christian Sigismund Liebe in Gotha

‘For the reputation of Our Princely House, and for the good of the public’.

Frederick II (1676-1732), Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg.[1]

Christian Sigismund Liebe, Gotha numaria, sistens thesauri Fridericiani numismata antiqua aurea, argentea, aerea, ea ratione descripta, ut generali eorum notitiae exempla singularia subiungantur, auctore Christiano Sigismundo Liebe. Accedunt ex Andreae Morellii Specimine uniuersae rei numariae antiquae excerpta, & Epistolae tres Ez. Spanhemii, quibus rariores eiusdem thesauri numi illustrantur (Amsterdam, 1730), p. i, detail: interior of Frederick II’s cabinet of curiosities.

The interior of the Gotha coin collection has changed very little since this engraving was made of it in 1730. Worth’s copy of the Gotha numaria, sistens thesauri Fridericiani numismata antiqua aurea, argentea, aerea, ea ratione descripta, ut generali eorum notitiae exempla singularia subiungantur, auctore Christiano Sigismundo Liebe. Accedunt ex Andreae Morellii Specimine uniuersae rei numariae antiquae excerpta, & Epistolae tres Ez. Spanhemii, quibus rariores eiusdem thesauri numi illustrantur (Amsterdam, 1730), by Christian Sigismund Liebe (1687–1736), proved to be one of the final numismatic items he purchased – and it indicates his continuing interest in this subject.

Pieter Schenk, after painting by Samuel Blättner: Portrait of Anton Günther, Duke of Schwarzberg. Source: Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. https://id.rijksmuseum.nl/200133746

Liebe fits into the model of many of the commentators on numismatic collections in the early modern period: after gaining his MA in 1714 he was initially employed as a librarian at Leipzig before moving to Gotha in 1721. Like Hubert Goltzius (1526–83), he undertook what one might call a numismatic Grand Tour in 1722, travelling to see collections in the Netherlands, England and France.[2] He published a number of works on numismatics but is best known for his description of the Gotha collections. The collection which he was describing had primarily been purchased in 1712 by Frederick II from Anton Günther II (1653–1716), Count of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen-Arnstadt. Anton Günther II’s coin collections had been enormous – numbering over 18,800 coins in all – and it was a major addition to the Gotha collection.[3] Since 1694 the development of Anton Günther II’s numismatic collections had been guided by no less a figure than Andreas Morell (1646–1703), a Swiss numismatist who was viewed as an authority in seventeenth-century Europe.[4] It thus substantially augmented Frederick II’s own collection, which in 1692 had been put in the charge of Wilhelm Ernst Tentzel (1658–1707).[5]

Christian Sigismund Liebe, Gotha numaria, sistens thesauri Fridericiani numismata antiqua aurea, argentea, aerea, ea ratione descripta, ut generali eorum notitiae exempla singularia subiungantur, auctore Christiano Sigismundo Liebe. Accedunt ex Andreae Morellii Specimine uniuersae rei numariae antiquae excerpta, & Epistolae tres Ez. Spanhemii, quibus rariores eiusdem thesauri numi illustrantur (Amsterdam, 1730), Sig. [dagger] 1v: portrait of Frederick II (1676–1732), Duke of Saxe–Gotha–Altenburg.

The purchase of Anton Günther’s coin and medal collections certainly significantly added to Frederick II’s numismatic collection at Gotha but the dukes of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg had already acquired another treasure which was, in effect, a paper museum of coins and medals, for during the reign of Frederick II’s grandfather, Ernst I (1601–75), Duke of Saxe-Gotha, the family had purchased Jacopo Strada’s Magnum ac Novum Opus. This multi-volume magnum opus, originally made for Strada’s patron Johann Jakob Fugger (1516–75), sold to Albrecht V (1528–79), Duke of Bavaria, to pay Fugger’s debts, and ‘acquired’ during the Thirty Years War by Ernst I’s brother William (1598–1662), Duke of Saxe-Weimar, was eventually purchased by the far-seeing Ernst I. As Kampmann notes, Ernst I had a keen interest in numismatics and had amassed a collection of 516 coins and medals, a collection which he continued to develop.[6] He passed on his delight in his numismatic collection to both his son, Frederick I (1646–91), and grandson, Frederick II.

Christian Sigismund Liebe, Gotha numaria, sistens thesauri Fridericiani numismata antiqua aurea, argentea, aerea, ea ratione descripta, ut generali eorum notitiae exempla singularia subiungantur, auctore Christiano Sigismundo Liebe. Accedunt ex Andreae Morellii Specimine uniuersae rei numariae antiquae excerpta, & Epistolae tres Ez. Spanhemii, quibus rariores eiusdem thesauri numi illustrantur (Amsterdam, 1730), p. 131, detail: coins of Tiridates II (1^st century B.C.), King of Parthia?

In his Gotha numaria, Liebe also included a short discussion on Seleucid coinage – a topic which had been fully developed in Jean Foy-Vaillant’s celebrated work Seleucidarum imperium, sive Historia regum Syriae ad fidem numismatum accommodate … (Paris, 1681), which Worth owned. As De Callatay notes, while Liebe added little to Foy-Vaillant’s masterly analysis of the reigns of Seleucid kings by their coinage, he did provide an interesting commentary on the relationship of some obverses and reverses, as well as clarifying some descriptions – although admittedly he sometimes made mistakes.[7]

Frederick II had declared that the numismatic collection should be ‘for the good of the public’ and during the reign of his son of the same name (1699–1772), the following instructions were given to the curator of the collection, outlining their responsibilities:

The curator is supposed to show the collections in a courteous manner, without asking for any remunerations, to all strangers who can view them profitably; he should also entertain them with helpful lectures and bring forward everything which he knows is in Our intention and what he might consider of interest to the public.[8]

Today, the Forschungszentrum Gotha der Universität Erfurt provide wonderful online exhibitions on both their Strada volumes and the numismatic collections of Frederick II.

Text: Dr Elizabethanne Boran, Librarian of the Edward Worth Library, Dublin.

Sources

Anon., Historic rooms of the Gotha Research Library, Universität Erfurt, Forschungsbibliothek Gotha [accessed 30 July 2026].

Callatay, François de, ‘Vaillant, Frölich and the others (Spanheim, Beger, Haym, Liebe, Pellerin, Eckhel, Duane, etc): The remarkable interest in Seleucid coinages in the 18^th century’, in Winter, Heinz, and Bernhard Woytek (eds), Numismatik und Geldgeschichte in Zeitalter der Aufklärung: Beiträge zum Symposium in Residenszschloss Dresden, 4–9. Mai 2009 (Vienna, 2015), pp 43–77.

Callatay, François de, ‘Sir Andrew Fountaine (1676–1753) and his early numismatic correspondence with Andreas Morell (1646–1703)’, in Bland, Roger, and Dario Calomino (eds), Studies in Ancient Coinage in Honour of Andrew Burnett (London, 2015), pp 293–316.

Clain-Stefanelli, Elvira Eliza, ‘Numismatics – An Ancient Science’, in Contributions from the Museum of History and Technology, Papers 31–33, On Numismatics (Washington, D.C., 1970), pp 1–102.

Hoefer, Ferdinand, Nouvelle Biographie Générale depuis les temps les plus reculés jusqu’à 1850–60 (Copenhagen, 1964), vol. xxxi.

Kampmann, Ursula, ‘Numismatics in Gotha’, CoinsWeekly [accessed 30 July 2026].

[1] Quoted in Clain-Stefanelli, Elvira Eliza, ‘Numismatics – An Ancient Science’, in Contributions from the Museum of History and Technology, Papers 31–33, On Numismatics (Washington, D.C., 1970), p. 31.

[2] Hoefer, Ferdinand, Nouvelle Biographie Générale depuis les temps les plus reculés jusqu’à 1850–60 (Copenhagen, 1964), vol. xxxi, p. 173.

[3] Anon., Historic rooms of the Gotha Research Library, Universität Erfurt, Forschungsbibliothek Gotha [accessed 30 July 2026].

[4] Callatay, François de, ‘Sir Andrew Fountaine (1676–1753) and his early numismatic correspondence with Andreas Morell (1646–1703)’, in Bland, Roger, and Dario Calomino (eds), Studies in Ancient Coinage in Honour of Andrew Burnett (London, 2015), p. 297.

[5] Kampmann, Ursula, ‘Numismatics in Gotha’, CoinsWeekly [accessed 30 July 2026].

[6] Ibid.

[7] Callatay, François de, ‘Vaillant, Frölich and the others (Spanheim, Beger, Haym, Liebe, Pellerin, Eckhel, Duane, etc): The remarkable interest in Seleucid coinages in the 18^th century’, in Winter, Heinz, and Bernhard Woytek (eds), Numismatik und Geldgeschichte in Zeitalter der Aufklärung: Beiträge zum Symposium in Residenszschloss Dresden, 4–9. Mai 2009 (Vienna, 2015), p. 49.

[8] Quoted in Clain-Stefanelli, ‘Numismatics – An Ancient Science’, p. 32.