According to the finds, Polish and Western European coins reached western Ukraine in two stages: in the 10th / 11th century and in the first half of the 12th century. Some of these coins (but usually without Polish ones) were transported further east, to the vicinity of Kiev. On the other hand, Western European coins flowed into the territories of Northern Rus’ from the north. This text is based on data contained both in the literature (including recent one) and information not yet published, kindly provided by researchers from Ukraine (A. Kryzhanivskiy) and from the Czech Republic (J. Videman).

Our aim is to show that numismatics can provide important information about early history of a settlement in the face of a shortage of other types of evidence. We will study the case of Gdańsk. There is a record on the existence of the town (urbs) of Gdańsk from 997, but no sufficiently considerable archaeological traces of this town were found. Therefore, we do not know where the oldest Gdańsk was located. Most likely, the settlement relics from that time were destroyed as a result of fortification works at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries. However, the destruction of stratigraphic structures does not mean the destruction of certainly dated historical artefacts, and above all, coins. Registration of early medieval coin finds from the area of Gdańsk provides knowledge of the extent of settlement and functional changes of individual parts of the town complex.

The article is concerned with the finds of four bronze coins of Bithynia unearthed in the territory of the present-day state of Belarus: a coin of Hadrian from Rehispolle (Minsk Voblasts), which belongs to the so-called coins of the Koinon of Bithynia, and coins with the images of Julia Domna (Kopcevichy, Vitebsk Voblasts), Macrinus (Yuzafovа, Vitebsk Voblasts), and Gordian III (Pruzhany, Brest Voblasts), all issued by the mint at Nicaea. The authors argue that the coins may have reached Belarus from the Danubian provinces as well as directly from Nicaea (present-day İznik in Turkey), i.e., from those locations or territories where their participation in monetary circulation was the greatest. It is most likely that those coins may have been seized by the Barbarians during their incursions into the Roman provinces in the course of the Gothic Wars (3rd century CE).

This article focuses on two early medieval imitative coins found in Bohemia (one in the vicinity of Hradec Králové / Königgrätz in 1931; the other in Prague–Klánovice in 2016). The coins were probably struck in 1010–1015, and on the obverse imitate the Saxon denarii of the Otto-Adelheid type with the letters O-D-D-O in the arms of the cross. On the reverse, there is a church with the letters •VIDV, imitating Bavarian or Bohemian denarii from the second half of the 10th century. The location of most of the finds of these denarii in central Europe, including both coins found in Bohemia, indicates their Polish origin. Nevertheless, their issuer remains uncertain.

Two whole and four halved Brandenburg deniers were found near Międzyrzecz. They were probably a part of a hoard discovered earlier, perhaps at the turn of the 19th and 20th century. The circumstances of the discovery did not allow for obtaining metrological data, but the authenticity of the find should not raise any doubts. The coins of Margraviate origin (undoubtedly there are at least four of them: Nos 1–4), were indicatively minted in the 1275–1295 period. The last two deniers (Nos 5 and 6) are also undoubtedly Ascanian, although their Brandenburg origin is not certain (they may belong to the Anhalt or Saxon-Wittenberg issue). All identified Brandenburg deniers from the vicinity of Międzyrzecz have analogies in finds registered in Poland within present borders. This small hoard, according to the newest systematics, was hidden around the year 1300.

ABSTRACT:

The article is an attempt at an analysis of the information contained in Ludwig von Baczko’s article, titled Von einigen in Preussen gefundenen römischen Münzen. The text was published in 1780, in the periodical “Das preussische Tempe” in Königsberg. The information from the publication was used only by Sture Bolin in his catalogue of the finds of Roman coins (Bolin 1926). The “Das preussische Tempe” was practically lost and its only copy remained in the National Library in Moscow.

SUMMARY:

In the article Von einigen in Preussen gefundenen römischen Münzen authored by Ludwig Franz Adolf Josef von Baczko, published in the “Das preussische Tempe” in 1780 some information on the finds of antique coins was published. The author mentioned two Roman coins of Augustus and Tiberius for Livia found in the Elbląg area. The information does not allow any conclusion on whether the find was authentic and the Elbląg area was indeed the place of the discovery of two “bronze” Roman coins, one of which had the image of Justitia or Pietas on its obverse. The subsequent finds, mentioned by von Baczko, came from the areas of Klaipėda (German: Memel), Zheleznodorozhny (German: Gerdaunen), Kaliningrad Oblast (Russia), Krylowo (German: Nordenburg), Kaliningrad Oblast (Russia) and Tilsit, today Sovetsk, Kaliningrad Oblast (Russia). He identified Philip the Arab as the issuer. Von Baczko provided some more questionable information concerning 83 silver coins which “had been brought from those areas to Königsberg by a Polish Jew in 1774”. The Polish Jew suggested that the coins could be easily found in Samogitia, not far from the Prussian border, in remains of an old building. Von Baczko decided that the information was incomplete as it pointed only to the existence of the foundations of an old, stone building. All the information about the 83 coins presented above bring to mind the typical accounts of coin traders of the time.

Von Baczko informed also that “he was shown a few more coins” which had been discovered, as he was said “zu Höle bei Danzig”, so in today’s Gdańsk Ujeścisko. They were silver Vespasian’s coins with images of “various Judean sacrificial vessels” on reverses, there was also a coin with the representation of a “veiled woman” and the legend IVDEA CAPTA. The information about the find appeared in all catalogues of the Roman coins found on the Polish territory. The discovery was described as a hoard consisting of an unknown number of pennies from the period between Vespasian and Septimius Severus or Caracalla (the coin struck for Julia Domna). Sture Bolin repeated the information faithfully after von Baczko, so the discovery of the 1780 “Das preussische Tempe” does not contribute much to the matter in question. The only novelty is that von Baczko questioned the find’s authenticity, supporting his opinion with a vague remark about “das zu wenig erhobene Gepräge”, which implied that he considered the coins to be contemporary products.

Further in his article, von Baczko deliberates on how the coins had got to Prussia. He refers to some unspecified writers (“verschiedene Schriftsteller”) who suspected the presence of Romans by the Baltic Sea but emphasises that he does not know any written record by a Roman historian which would confirm the Roman presence so far away from the Empire’s borders. Von Baczko then suggests that the coins may have come as loot. He observed that Old Prussians had had the custom of leaving spoils taken from their enemies in the urns of their heroes. He argued that after the urns were destroyed by time, the coins that remained came to the surface as a result of land cultivation.

Having been long searched for, when eventually found von Baczko’s article turned out not to be particularly useful in interpreting the records concerning the coins. The lack of results is, however, also a result. There are a lot of laconic and arbitrary descriptions of coins which did not help to identify particular specimens. Based on the article, we may assume that he saw the coins and identified and described them himself. The legends he quotes are usually incorrect, but they did appear on Roman coins, so he did not invent them completely. He knew what could be found on Roman coins. It is also evident that he had a considerable knowledge of ancient Rome for his times.

While comparing von Baczko’s article with similar contemporary texts one may arrive at the conclusion that it is a typical product of Prussian scholars of the time, such as A. Grübnau, M. Praetorius, C.B. Lengnich. The coins were described selectively, only those specimens that for some reason attracted the attention of the authors mentioned above. The descriptions are incomplete, what is more, the described obverses do not match the reverses. Based on von Baczko’s article, one may conclude that he wrote about what he could discern on the coin. There is much to make us believe that having read the obverse legend on one coin, he coupled it with the reverse of another coin, while a third one provided the image. Such an approach was certainly adopted in the case of the solidi from the Mrzezin hoard. The author, who signed himself with an “X” described the obverse of Anastasius I’s solidus and the reverse of the Ostrogoth imitation of the same type of coin.

In the first centuries after Christ, the Indian subcontinent entered the orbit of the Roman state’s trade interests. The subject of the exchange was a number of goods, including Roman coins. Their influx is documented by numerous finds as well as by ancient authors. One of the territories where we register quite a large number of Roman coin finds is the area of early historical Andhra. The specimens discovered here are found in various contexts, indicating their various applications. The hoards of silver and gold coins allow the observation of successive waves of the influx of Roman money, which is also confirmed by the finds of other categories – stray and settlement. The internal differentiation of the latter also allowed to define their mutual relations and tendencies in circulation. Observations of numismatic material and analysis of sources indicate that Roman coins could have had the function of a medium of exchange or payment in Andhra or, more broadly, India, but also played a bullion and prestigious role. The time of the influx of Roman money indicates that it was associated primarily with the period of the Satavahana Empire in Andhra. The essentially small number of registered Roman coins in relation to the territory and its role in trade indicates that the coins were only one, perhaps not a key element of Indo-Roman trade.

In the areas occupied by the Cherniakhiv and Wielbark archaeological cultures during the Roman period, including the areas of eastern and northern Poland, there are relatively numerous finds of Roman aurei of Trajan Decius (249–251) and his direct predecessors on the imperial throne. These coins are interpreted as part of the imperial treasury looted by the barbarians (Goths) after they won the Battle of Abritus in 251. In the same areas one can distinguish a horizon of finds of silver Roman coins, denarii and antoniniani, which cannot be directly linked to the Battle of Abritus, but more broadly, with the Goth raids on the Roman provinces in the early 250s, the spectacular culmination of which was the Battle of Abritus. This horizon is not clear in finds from southern, central and western Poland, occupied in the Roman period by the Przeworsk and Luboszyce cultures, not related to the Goths.

In the collection of the National Museum in Warsaw there are four small sets, originating from the eastern lands of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. They had belonged to the collection of Józef Choynowski and, as a deposit of the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts, in 1923 became a part of the Museum’s collection. They represent quite a wide time horizon, dated from the beginning of the 16th century to the half of the 17th century. Their compositions are similar to deposits from the same period, and size allow to determine them as content of purses. The older hoards are homogeneous in nature, while the later ones are more varied, including, among others, many counterfeit coins. The circumstances of their deposition are unknown.

This article discusses finds of Roman coins made during excavations in Novae (Bulgaria), by the University of Warsaw’s Research Center on the Antiquity of Southeastern Europe. Novae is a Roman legionary camp in the province of Moesia, associated mainly with the Legion I Italica. However, the camp was built by the Legion VIII Augusta. The article analyzes the coin finds from 60 years of excavations at this archaeological site, coming from the area of the so-called sector IV and sector XII. Sector IV is mainly the Legion I military hospital ( valetudinarium), while Sector XII is referred to as the Legion VIII cohort barracks area. The aim of the article is to present a model of the circulation of Roman coins in the areas of legionary camps on the lower Danube.

The aim of this paper is to make us aware of the limits of the numismatic documentation of Northern and Eastern Europe during the Early Middle Ages/the Viking Age. The sheer mass of material – almost 900,000 coins are recorded from finds along with numerous non-monetary silver artefacts – may induce us to think that everything is documented already, but at a closer scrutiny, this turns out to be wrong. Some regions and periods and some find categories are well covered by the material, others not. The paper presents a series of cases where a new find, a new technology (e.g. metal detector), a new methodological approach (e.g. die studies) or simply a more detailed study of the material brought new and unexpected insights. Some of the cases concern the coin production, others the coin circulation. Going beyond numismatics seen in isolation, the results inform us about the economic, political and social structures of the past society and thus highlight the contribution of numismatics to the study of history. In turn, these knowledge break-throughs open new paths of research and, significantly, make us aware of potential similar parallel cases of not yet recognized insights. This will help us to guide future research. In some cases, it would even be safe to extrapolate from the specific innovative case study to more general assumptions. In particular, the paper highlights danger of drawing conclusions from absence of evidence. Several examples are presented where the supposed lack of finds or of coin production turned out to be the result of inadequate research methods or technologies for finding the material in the ground. In other cases, the hazard of the discovery of a hoard changed the situation from absence or scarcity to abundance overnight. If conclusions are to be draw from absence of evidence, a minimum requirement would be to check that adequate research methods have been applied in order to ascertain that the absence is real and not the result of present day factors.

The article presents the interpretation of a coin found in the Kuyavian region, Central Poland a few years ago. According to the most plausible hypothesis, it is a cast barbarian copy of a barbarian imitation of a Roman denarius. In other words, the barbarians most likely made (by casting) a copy of an imitation previously made (presumably struck) by other barbarians using a Roman original as a model. Numerous barbarian copies and barbarian imitations of Roman denarii have been recorded in recent years. However, the author of the presented article is not aware of any cast copies of imitations, therefore, taking into account the current state of research, the artefact described in the article should be considered unique.