The Hermitage possesses considerable selections of coins from the countries of both Americas and Australia dating from the 15th – 20th centuries. As a result of the Great Geographical Discoveries of the 15th and 16th centuries, seven countries of the Old World formed overseas colonies or trading outposts – Spain, Portugal, England, France, Holland, Denmark and Sweden. The first mint to commence operating in Spanish America in 1535 was in Mexico. By the mid-17th century the minting of real and peso coins had started in Lima and Potosi. The enormous deposits of silver in Mexico and Peru made it possible for them to increase the overall production of coinage. From 1572 onwards, large silver coins (real and its fractions) came into circulation; they were of an irregular, angular shape with a distinct image in the centre and illegible legends along the edges. They are known as macuquinas from the Arabic macuq (irregular). Their import into Europe was huge, but the majority of them were melted down. The Hermitage collection includes macuquinas from the Sebastopol hoard, as well as coins from Argentina, Columbia, Cuba, Mexico, Panama, Peru and Chile.
The Hermitage collection also possesses a large group of gold and silver coins from some independent states of North America – in particular the silver “trading dollar” of the 1780s, the first issues of dollar fractions dating back to California Gold Rush. Well represented are the coinages of Australia and Oceania, Canada and Newfoundland. In the 1980s – 2000s, owing to the Museum’s connections through Vnesheconombank with the Australian Mint, the Hermitage collection was further enriched with valuable jubilee coins in gold, silver and platinum dedicated to various historic events.
