#Exhibit of the Month

Manufactured in 1902 by AG vorm Siedel & Nauman in Dresden, Germany.

Dimensions: Length - 38 cm, Width - 35 cm, Height - 20 cm. Weight - 16 kg. It entered the museum collection in 1984, transferred from the National Museum of Ethnography and Natural History.

The typewriter features a standard carriage mounted on ball bearings and rollers, along with a keyboard equipped with 42 keys. These contain two complete sets of Latin and Cyrillic alphabets, punctuation marks, numbers, and mathematical symbols, enabling the typing of 126 characters. Beneath the metal casing, the type bars are arranged in a fan-like pattern, holding embossed characters and ink ribbon rollers. When the keys are pressed, the type bars strike the inked ribbon, imprinting characters onto the paper tensioned in the machine's roller system.

The side panels are elegantly decorated with refined cast-iron elements in the Art Nouveau style, displaying the brand name - "Ideal." The Polyglott model, featuring a bilingual keyboard patented in the United Kingdom by Max Klaczko from Riga, Latvia, was produced between 1902 and 1913, marking the first typewriter capable of writing in two languages. The "Ideal Polyglott" typewriter was actively sold in the Russian Empire and gained significant popularity in Poland, Bulgaria, and Serbia.
The typewriter - a mechanical device used for printing text directly onto paper - ranks among the most important inventions of the modern era, as it revolutionized communication. From the late 19th century to the early 21st century, it became an indispensable tool, widely used by writers, in offices, for business correspondence, and in private homes. The peak of typewriter sales occurred in the 1950s when the average annual sales in the United States reached 12 million units. In November 2012, the British Brother factory produced what it claimed to be the last typewriter, which was donated to the Science Museum in London.
The advent of computers, word processing software, printers, and the decreasing cost of these technologies led to the typewriter's disappearance from the mainstream market, turning it into a museum exhibit.
June 23 marks Typewriter Day, commemorating the date when American journalist and inventor Christopher Latham Sholes patented his typewriter. This day celebrates the simple yet revolutionary device that has become history, as well as the remarkable literary achievements it has enabled since 1868.

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Publications

Library „Tyragetia"

Ana Boldureanu

Ottoman Coins in Moldova from 1512 to 1603

Series Biblioteca “Tyragetia” XXIV, Chișinău, 2013. 191 p. ISBN 978-9975-80-773-9.

The monograph is dedicated to the peculiarities of penetration and circulation of Ottoman coins in historical Moldova during 1512-1603. The study covers the period of strengthening the country's dependence on the Ottoman Porte (1512) and the establishment of Ottoman suzerainty (1538) and lasted until the early years of the 17^th century when after massive devaluation of Ottoman akches the quantity of Ottoman coins in the market of Romanian principalities has significantly reduced.

The source basis of the work includes the Ottoman coins of 1512-1603 discovered in the area of medieval Moldavia as well as those from regions, which were under direct Ottoman jurisdiction, like Akkerman or Bender. There is used Ottoman numismatic material found by researchers until 2007, including a number of older findings reviewed in the light of modern science and personal research on some unpublished hoards and isolated finds. Most of the materials analyzed and included in the study are from collections of the Chisinau museums: the National Museum of History of Moldova, the Museum of Archaeology of the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Moldova and the National Museum of Ethnography and Natural History. There were also included Ottoman hoards and coins from Romanian collections, which have been explored by the author due to the kindness and goodwill of heads of institutions and curators. There were used original materials from the collection of the Numismatic Cabinet of the „Vasile Parvan" Institute of Archaeology, was revised the structure of the Arsura hoard (Vaslui County) owned by the National Museum of History of Romania in Bucharest, were identified some objects from the collections of the National Museum of History of Moldova in Iasi, Barlad and from the Museum of Vaslui County.

The work is divided into six chapters, some of which are divided into subchapters. Issues of coins are presented in a classical order: the gold coins, than the silver ones and, finally, made of a simple metal.

Chapter I contains the history of research; there are highlighted the main stages and studies dedicated to Ottoman coins that circulated in medieval Moldavia. Chapter II presents the development of the Ottoman monetary system from early mangirs emitted during the rule of the founder of the Ottoman Empire - Osman to the early 16^th century. Chapter III examines gold coins (altyns); there are presented typology and chronology of these issues as well as the analysis of stages of penetration and circulation of altyns in historical Moldova and the list of findings. The next chapter describes Ottoman silver coins (akches and dirhams). There are given types of akches and their chronology, already known or proposed by the author, presented separately for each sultan: Selim I, Süleyman I, Selim II, Murad III and Mehmed III. There were highlighted several distinct stages of penetration of akches into Moldavia based on political and military events in the region. The list of silver issues includes isolated akches and dirhams as well as hoards of these coins. Chapter V presents Ottoman copper coins and silver counterfeits and imitations. The study showed the existence of local production of fakes and imitations of Ottoman akches. There is presented the catalogue of such findings in Moldova.

The last chapter includes an analysis of the role of the Ottoman coins in Moldavian economy in the 16^th century.