In the collection of the National Museum in Warsaw there are four small sets, originating from the eastern lands of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. They had belonged to the collection of Józef Choynowski and, as a deposit of the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts, in 1923 became a part of the Museum’s collection. They represent quite a wide time horizon, dated from the beginning of the 16th century to the half of the 17th century. Their compositions are similar to deposits from the same period, and size allow to determine them as content of purses. The older hoards are homogeneous in nature, while the later ones are more varied, including, among others, many counterfeit coins. The circumstances of their deposition are unknown.

Gottfried Schwartz (1716–1777), a Mayor of Gdansk, was a wealthy manufacturer of silver wire, interested in art and science. He gathered precious collections of paintings and scientific instruments. He also collected objects made from porcelain, ivory and bronze and owned one of the most substantial collections of numismatic items in the city. In his testament drawn up in 1776, Schwartz bequeathed to Academic Gymnasium of Gdansk and the Library of the City Council of Gdansk both his numismatic collection, consisting of 3000 coins and medals, and his numismatic book collection including 110 items. The catalogue of this book collection, which is currently kept by Gdansk Library, is reconstructed in this paper. Schwartz’s numismatic books were thematically connected with the contents of the owner’s numismatic collection – the interrelation between the book items and the coin and medal holdings is clearly noticeable. On the basis of information on the contents of the lost collection we may presume that each type of numismatic items corresponded to some studies from the book collection.