Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-10-06
RARE COIN COLLECTION
IN PATH OF GERMANS
Merchant of Pskof Has One That Is
Known the World
Over.

one of the finest coin collections in
fhe world is housed in the home of a
private collector in Pskof. city MD
wav between Dvinsk and Petrograd
upon the Warsaw Petrograd railroad
along which the Germans are endeaVor-
ing to advance, and the collection is one
of the most valuable things to be found
in the country around this city-gateway
70 the immemorial lands of the SlaV-
according to a bulletin issued today by
the National Geographic Society NJ
PIushkin. the proprietor of Pskof's prih-
cipal dry goods store. is the owner ana
satherer of the collection which has maze
him known in many foreign lands, ana
which is easily the most interesting
thing in the hoary city, once repub-
lie. and the rival of Novgorod the Great.
Lives With His Curios.
M Plushkin lives above his store
surrounded by his wonderful collection
of coins and many other curlos ana an
,iquities which he has gathered during
twenty years. The other treasures OF
this strange collector are of a chaotic
variety and fill several of the rooms of
his home The coin collection is the
only part of his museum, which con-
tains a wide assortment of valuable
articles, that NJ. Plushkin has attempt
ed to order and classify. Numismatolo-
gists everywhere know this collection,
and consider il one of the best and most
complete in the world, better than a
similar collection to De founu III tue
Hermitage.
There are any number of Russian
coins in the cabinet Among these are
examples of the earliest coins or Rus
STA, the oldest of which do not date
further back than $50. There are bars
and half bars of silver, valued at two
rubles and one ruble. There are an
cient coins of Pskof, NoVsorod the
Great. Kief, kazan, Tver and other
towns each with its distinctive stamp.
one of the old rubles is a coin eight
inches square. formidable piece OF
wealth. There is another ruble in the
collection. made of bronze. Whlch
weighs seven pounds. In this old money,
forty rubles. worth today about $50,
would weigh their happy possessor
down like a sack of potatoes. Papai,
Momammedan and Jewish CONS tne
latter bearing the stamp of Solomons
temple are represented, together with
concave coins of old Byzantium, square
Swedish coins of brass. remarkable
coins used by the republic OF Pskot ana
some Chinese coins OF the year ZoVu
BE. Rare specimens of the coinage OF
almost every nation of. Europe are
found in the collection. one of the Old
est was started upon its career in the
year 1900 BE. and has seen more than
1000 years of existence, or has become
quite old as most things 60
Rare Paper Money.
The collection also contains numer-
Gus specimens of the paper money of
various nations. The examples of Rus
sian paper money are particularly COM
plete, some of the early specimens
being unusually interesting. Among the
early bills are a few as large the
ordinary diploma or legal document.
Upon them are preserved the sigma
lures of all the emperoors and en-
presses who have ruled in Russia.
Collectors and curious visitors from
many lands have journeyed to the for
saken. decayed little town of Pskof
and braved the inadequacies of its
hotels in order to inspect NJ. Plush
kin's renowned cabinet of coins