Johan Frans Podolyn Explained

Johan Frans Podolyn or Johann Franz Podolyn (Lisbon 29 May 1739 - Gothenburg 29 May 1784)^{[1] [2]} was a Swedish numismatist who published on Punic currency in his possession which had been found on the island of Corvo in the Azores. He wrote about the discovery in 1778 in a Swedish academic publication now known as the Publications of the Royal Society of Sciences and Letters in Gothenburg, presumably indicating that he was a member of the society.^{[3] [4]}

Podolyn was the son of a Swedish merchant and Vice-Consul. He had a gift for languages and worked for the Alströmer family, accompanying them on voyages^[5] in addition to working as a bookkeeper in Gothenburg and Alingsås.^[2] He amassed a considerable coin collection.^[6] He was married to Anna Norberg;^[6] he had been engaged to marry Jeanette Ölander, but she died before the marriage could take place.^[7]

Notes and References

1. Bulletin de l'Institut fondamental de l'Afrique noire: Sciences naturelles Volume 35 (1973) p. 549
2. "Johan Frans Podolijn", Emil Hildebrand, Minnespenningar öfver enskilda svenska män och qvinnor, Stockholm : Kongl. Witterhets Historie och Antiqvitets Akademiens Förlag, 1860, OCLC 457966652, p. 207
3. "Några Anmärkingnar om de Gamles Sjöfart, i anledning af några Carthaginensiska och Cyrenaiska Mynt, fundne år 1749, på en af de Azoriska Öarne", af Johan Podolyn, Det Götheborgska Wetenskaps och Witterhets Samhallets Handlinger Wetenskaps Afdelningen, Först Stycket, 1778. Facsimile of first page at Richard Hennig, Terrae Incognitae: Eine Zusammenstellung und kritische Bewertung der wichtigsten vorkolumbischen Entdeckungsreisen an Hand der darüber vorliegenden Originalberichte, 4 vols., repr. Leiden: Brill, 1944, OCLC 459874588, p. 140 (Book in German)
4. John Murray, Selections from Report on the Scientific Results of the Voyage of H.M.S. Challenger During the Years 1872-76, New York: Arno, 1977,, p. 2, note 3 slightly misspells the title of the report.
5. Stig Rydén, The Banks Collection: An Episode in 18th-Century Anglo-Swedish Relations, Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell, 1963, OCLC 3268710, p. 52, note 1.
6. Wilhelm Berg, Anteckningar om Göteborgs äldre teatrar Volume 1 1690 - 1794, Göteborg Boktryckeri, 1896, OCLC 218053709, p. 123
7. "Jeanette Ölander", Hildebrand, p. 206.