Numismatic Activity of F. O. Kolodiy from the late 1890s to the early 1910s

Afanasiev, Illia (2025) Numismatic Activity of F. O. Kolodiy from the late 1890s to the early 1910s The Ukrainian Numismatic Annual (9). pp. 323-347. ISSN 2617-9822

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Abstract

The aim of the article is to characterise the numismatic activity of Fedir Oleksandrovych Kolodii, primarily the manifestations of advertising and information communication in it, based on documents of Fund 1196 of the Central State Historical Archives of Ukraine in Kyiv, as well as a number of other sources. Methodology: historical-genetic, historical-comparative methods, content analysis, use of a psychological approach to activity as a factor in the development of an individual, his motivation, values, general and special abilities, political views. The scientific novelty is the introduction of several dozen archival documents into academic circulation, the establishment of hundreds of facts regarding numismatic activity of F. O. Kolodii, the putting forward of several hypotheses on the history of monetary circulation of the 17th–18th centuries. and the advertising and information activities of numismatists of the Russian Empire in the 1870s–1910s. Conclusions. Lieutenant General Fedor Oleksandrovych Kolodii, head of the defense of Kamianets-Podilskyi in 1919, made a very successful career in the Russian Imperial Army. Between1918 and 1920, while holding positions worthy of the rank of general, he played a major role in the actions of the Army of the Ukrainian People's Republic. However, his numismatic activity has not yet been the subject of scientific research, and has hardly been mentioned by scientists. It has been proved that F. O. Kolodiy was not just respected among numismatists of the Russian Empire in the late 1890s – the early1910s as an expert, a deep connoisseur of his subject of collection, i. e. coins of specific Eastern Slavic appanage principalities, but also an active subject of trade in collectible coins. He invested a lot of time, effort, and financial resources in this activity, conducting it inventively, using many advertising and informational means. Until the 1903, he conducted this activity in conditions of almost complete absence of advertising information about fellow numismatists, and therefore was forced to make great efforts to analyse the information environment in order to find counterparties for trade and exchange of collector coins. The documents of Fund 1196 of the Central State Historical Archives of Ukraine in Kyiv which concern the activities of F. O. Kolodii, contain numerous vivid examples of networking, which he carried out to improve his numismatic activities. In parallel with the activity of a collector, numismatist-expert, F. O. Kolodii quickly made a career in the military service. The fact that F. O. Kolodii managed to graduate from the General Staff Academy at the end of the 19th century testifies to the high level of his working capacity,purposefulness, cognitive abilities, and inclination to analytics. The subsequent successful long term combination of a military career with numismatics, that is, two labor-intensive, energy- and time-consuming, substantively different areas of activity, contributed to the strengthening of F. O. Kolodii's work capacity, self-organization, developed his analytical abilities, the ability to combine attention to small details with the coverage of a wide range of issues, thus the skills of orientation in non-standard situations, little-studied topics, in conditions of uncertainty. Unlike the collection of coins minted by Russian emperors, i. e. the most common numismatic topic in the Russian Empire, F. O. Kolodii`s main numismatic topic was rare, little-studied at that time, therefore it required more complicated analytical work, as well as and social and communication actions, intellectual courage, and a wide range of contacts in many remote regions. This topic taught him, a subject of the Russian Empire, to the idea that the long-term existence of many states without the Russian Empire was possible in the East Slavic lands. Collecting was the reason for F. O. Kolodii's new contacts. These were, in particular, friendly, close relations with K. V. Bolsunovskij, an enthusiastic seeker of historical features of Ukrainian identity, non Russianness, as well as with M. V. Bilozerskij, whose family was very closely connected with the Ukrainian national and cultural movement, as well as communication with other representatives of Ukrainian Cossack-starshin families. Obviously, the peculiarities of numismatic activity described in the study looked to be a significant factor in the personal and political transformation of F. O. Kolodii in 1918, when he proved, more than most of his colleagues in the military service in the Russian empire, to be psychologically ready to accept the new political reality, the Ukrainian People's Republic, and active responsible service to this republic in extremely difficult conditions. Some features of the advertising and information activities of Kyiv numismatists and their colleagues from some other cities during the last quarter of the 19th century and the early 1910s, which were conducted to replenish collections or sell coins, have also been analysed and described. The study revealed a number of such messages by numismatists of the late 19th and the early 20th centuries, which provide grounds for a new view of the features of the circulation of copper coins of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich in the 1650s and the 1660s and the classification of poltynyks of the period during 1704 and 1710. Signs of the numismatic activity of a number of individuals, including prominent personalities, whose affiliation with the trade in collector coins was unknown or little known to their biographers, have been discovered. The time of compilation and some features of the target audience of the list of persons found in the 1196 Fund of the Central State Historical Archives of Ukraine in Kyiv, who, in the opinion of the author of the list, were directly related to the trade in collectible coins in the Russian Empire, have been identified.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Fedir Oleksandrovych Kolodii (Kolodiy); numismatics in the Russian Empire; advertising and information communication; K. V. Bolsunovskij (Bolsunovsky); M. V. Bilozerskij (Belozersky)
Subjects:	Статті у базах даних > Scopus > У виданнях Q1 Scopus
Divisions:	Факультет журналістики > Кафедра реклами та зв’язків з громадськістю
Depositing User:	Ілля Юрійович Афанасьєв
Date Deposited:	06 Feb 2026 14:02
Last Modified:	06 Feb 2026 14:02
URI:	https://elibrary.kubg.edu.ua/id/eprint/56303

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