This paper aims at shedding light on Simone Assemani’s approach to Islamic
numismatics, and therefore we examine a group of letters (2 by Assemani and
2 by Gaetano Cattaneo written in 1811 & 5 by Assemani and 10 by Stefano de
Majnoni written between 1818 and 1820 after the publication of Assemani’s
pamphlet entitled Spiegazione di due rarissime medaglie cufiche della famiglia degli Ommiadi appartenenti al Museo Majnoni in Milano, Milan 1818).
After this publication, he asked Assemani’s assistance to identify at first 40
coins from the collection of Leopold Welzl de Wellenheim and 40 coins from his
own personal collection, and some time later 22 more coins.
