Frédéric Soret (12 May 1795 in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

– 18 December 1865 at

Plainpalais Plainpalais is a neighbourhood in Geneva, Switzerland, and a former municipality of the Canton of Geneva. It is mentioned in Mary Shelley's ''Frankenstein'' in chapter 6, volume 1. Argentine author Jorge Luis Borges' ashes are buried in the cem ...

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

) was a Swiss private scholar in

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

and Oriental

numismatics Numismatics is the study or collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money, medals and related objects. Specialists, known as numismatists, are often characterized as students or collectors of coins, but the discipline also includ ...

Biography

The Soret family originates from

. Frédéric Soret was born in

, where his father served as artist at the imperial court. In his youth the family returned to Geneva. There he studied physics. Between 1822 and 1836 Frédéric Soret served as princely tutor in the Grand Dukedome of

Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (german: Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach) was a historical German state, created as a duchy in 1809 by the merger of the Ernestine duchies of Saxe-Weimar and Saxe-Eisenach, which had been in personal union since 1741. It was ra ...

. He took care for the education of the later Grand Duke

Carl Alexander , image = Held Carl Alexander Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach@Weimar Schlossmuseum.jpg , image_size = , caption = , succession = Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach , reign = 8 July 1853 – 5 January 1901 , predecessor = ...

, a son of the Maria Pavlovna and heir apparent. During his time in Weimar, he was a close acquaintance to

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as t ...

. Soret translated several of Goethe's books about natural sciences into French. After Soret's return to Geneva in 1836, he turned his attention to Islamic numismatics. The initial interest might have aroused by a coin hoard of the 9th century containing North-African dirhams of the

caliphate A caliphate or khilāfah ( ar, خِلَافَة, ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (; ar, خَلِيفَة , ), a person considered a political-religious successor to th ...

. This hoard was found near the close by town of Steckborn in the

Thurgau Thurgau (; french: Thurgovie; it, Turgovia), anglicized as Thurgovia, more formally the Canton of Thurgau, is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of five districts and its capital is Frauenfeld. Thurgau is par ...

. He built up the greatest private collection of Oriental coins of his time, comprising about 5,000 coins. He became one of the most prolific and outstanding private scholars of Islamic numismatics. Due to his old ties to Saxe-Weimar and Eisenach he became a close friend to

Johann Gustav Stickel Johann Gustav Stickel (7 July 1805 – 21 January 1896) was a German theologian, orientalist and numismatist at Jena University. Biography Stickel was born in Eisenach in 1805. He went to school in Buttelstedt and in Weimar. In his youth he ...

, another founding father of Islamic numismatics. After the death of F. Soret 1865

arranged the acquisition of the famous Soret collection by the Grand Ducal house. It entered then the

Oriental Coin Cabinet Jena Oriental Coin Cabinet Jena (german: Orientalisches Münzkabinett Jena) is a collection of oriental coins at Jena University, in Jena, Germany, founded in 1840. History In 1840, Johann Gustav Stickel, Professor for Oriental languages at Jena Univ ...

References

* Favre, Édouard: Les Études Orientales à la Société d'Histoire et d'Archéologie de Genève 1838-1894, Geneve 1894 (Bibliography of F.S.). * Gosse, Louis André: bituary In: Rapport sur les travaux de la Société de Physique et d'Histoire Naturelle de Genève depuis Juillet 1865 a Juin 1866, Geneve 1866, pp. 21-26. * K ehne Bernhard von : Die Soret'sche Sammlung. In: Berliner Blätter für Münz-, Siegel- und Wappenkunde 4 (1868), pp. 88-91. * Heidemann, Stefan: Bibliothek des Großherzoglichen Orientalischen Münzkabinetts. In: Friedhilde Krause (general ed..) - Felicitas Marwinski (ed.): Handbuch der Historischen Buchbestände in Deutschland 20, Thüringen H-R, Hildesheim, Zürich, New York, pp. 162-163. (about his numismatic library). * Heidemann, Stefan: Maria Pawlowna und der Umbruch in der Orientalistik - Die Gründung des Großherzoglichen Orientalischen Münzkabinetts. In: Joachim Berger - Joachim von Puttkamer (edd.): Von Petersburg nach Weimar. Kulturelle Transfers von 1800 bis 1860 (Jenaer Beiträge zur Geschichte 9), Frankfurt a/M 2006, S. 221-259. * Wahl, Julius: Soret, Friedrich Jacob. In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie 34, Leipzig, pp. 692f.

References to his relation to Goethe and the court in Weimar

* Burkhardt, Carl August Hugo (ed.): Goethes Unterhaltungen mit Fr. Soret, Weimar 1905. * Hazard, Paul (ed.): Frédéric Soret, Un Genevois a la cour de Weimar. Journal inédit de Frédéric Soret (1795–1865), Paris 1932. * Houben, Hans Heinrich (tr. and ed.): Frédéric Soret, Zehn Jahre bei Goethe. Erinnerungen an Weimars klassische Zeit. Aus Sorets handschriftlichem Nachlaß, seinen Tage-büchern und seinem Briefwechsel, Leipzig 1929. * Uhde, Hermann (ed.): Goethe's Briefe an Soret, Stuttgart 1877.

External links

About the collection of F.S. (German)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Soret, Frederic 1795 births 1865 deaths Swiss numismatists Scientists from Saint Petersburg Swiss orientalists Swiss Protestants