2 Oreshnikov 1891, pp. 138-43, nos. 1159-1190. 3 Oreshnikov 1891, pp. 180-82, nos. 1459-1478. PRELIMINARY NOTES ON PHOENICIAN AND PUNIC COINS KEPT IN THE PUSHKIN MUSEUM S. KOVALENKO & L.I. MANFREDI History of the collection of Phoenician and Punic coins in the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts (S. Kovalenko) History of the numismatic collection of the State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts is closely con- nected with the history of Moscow University. The latter was founded by the empress Elizabeth in 1755 thanks to the initiative of two prominent figures of Russian science and culture of the eight- eenth century, Michael Lomonosov and Ivan Shuvalov, and from the very beginning had a small collection of coins and medals. This collection was actively used during the educational process and was eventually augmented mainly through private donations. It was stored in the University library, and it was librarians who became the first curators of the collection. Some of the most interesting pieces of the numismatic collection were put on display in the 1790s in the University Natural History Cabinet, which in 1805 was turned into the Museum. It was opened to the general public in the new University building. (Pl. I, A) During the Patriotic War of 1812 the University numismatic collection was evacuated from Moscow and thus avoided destruction in the famous Moscow Fire. According to some evidence, in 1814 the collection comprised 4336 gold and silver coins as well as gems and some other objects. In the ‘General List of Medals and Coins of the Münzkabinett’, prepared from 1816 to 1820, circa 170 Greek and Roman silver and bronze coins along with gold staters of Philip II and Alexander III were mentioned. In 1848 the historian Pavel Leont’ev (1822-1874) suggested the foundation of a Museum of Fine Arts and Antiquities, which he also called a ‘Cabinet’. He proposed the merger of the Museum of Antiquities with the University’s collections of Greek and Roman coins and plaster casts, which had been stored in the University library. The Museum was founded in 1851 and incorporated the Münzkabinett. Leont’ev became its first curator. Karl Goerz (1820-1883), who replaced Leont’ev, prepared the first catalogue of the ancient Greek coins in the Münzkabinett of Moscow University, which unfortunately was left unpublished. All in all, by 1869 there were 1057 coins of ancient Greece and the Northern Black Sea Littoral in the collection. Along with private donations and sporadic acquisitions, archaeological excavations became an important source of the increasing University numismatic collection in the second half of the nineteenth century. Prominent Russian numismatist Alexei Oreshnikov (1855-1933) in 1891 published the first catalogue of the Greek coins in the collection. It described 2796 pieces. In the ‘Preface’ Oreshnikov wrote, ‘There are no special rarities or specimens giving new information on the ancient chronology, geography or his- tory in the collection, but it has examples of almost all mints and all époques of antiquity from the oldest Aeginetic coins to the latest coins of the Graeco-Roman period’. 1 By that time Oreshnikov had registered 32 Phoenician coins stored in the collection. 2 Silver and bronze issues of Aradus, Berytus, Sidon, Tripolis and Tyrus were among them. Nineteen coins belonged to the Imperial period, the others dated from Classical and Hellenistic times. Punic coins were represented mainly