The Yale University Art Gallery is proud to welcome visitors to the new Bela Lyon Pratt Gallery of Numismatics. The first-floor gallery has been specially designed to exhibit the depth and breadth of the numismatics collection, featuring over 260 of the museum’s smallest objects in 16 newly designed display cases. On view is numismatic artwork dating from the second millennium B.C. to the modern era.

The installation offers a beautifully rich introduction to an often-overlooked area of the arts, including iconic pieces and rarities. Among the objects on display is a remarkable and highly sought-after silver medal of Sir William Parkhurst (1644) by Thomas Rawlins, one of the greatest medalists. The solemn portrait of Parkhurst as Warden of the Exchange and Mint of England for Kings James I, Charles I, and Charles II demonstrates Rawlins’s extraordinary hand. In the intimate new gallery, visitors can quietly study this and other breathtaking numismatic masterpieces.

Benjamin Dieter R. Hellings
The Jackson-Tomasko Associate Curator of Numismatics