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Number of results: 13
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Abstract

This article presents discoveries of new types of coins that can be assigned to the oldest Polish coinage. In case of the PRINCES POLONIE die-chain, it was possible to identify one new die, in an extremely barbaric style, which once again shows that there is no uniform style to the oldest Polish coins and that there was chaos in Bolesław I the Brave’s coinage. In the case of the second – .VIDV die-chain as many as seven new dies have been revealed. Detailed analysis shows that the coins produced with these dies were not necessarily produced at the same time, and that production could have lasted up to several years. The newly revealed dies do not solve the problem of the attribution of denarii with the .VIDV inscription, but their ascription to the coinage of Bolesław I the Brave or Mieszko II is very likely.
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Authors and Affiliations

Mateusz Bogucki
1
ORCID: ORCID

  1. Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Al. Solidarności 105, PL 00–140 Warsaw, Poland
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Abstract

The starting point for this text was the publication of a coin, assigned to Bolesław I the Brave (992–1025), Prince of Poland, with the name BOLEZLAV and a two-side representation of a chapel (Grossmanová, Matejko-Peterka, Kašparová 2018; Fig. 4). It is currently stored in the Moravian Museum in Brno. This coin has been known in the literature since the mid-19th century (Cappe 1850). Former researchers assigned it either to Boleslav III in the Bohemia (Cappe 1850; Hanka 1856) or to Bolesław I the Brave in Poland (Stronczyński 1884; Fiala 1895; Gumowski 1939). Newer researchers ignored it completely, suspecting that it was some kind of imitation or contemporary falsification. However, its authenticity is supported by the fact that it was originally in the collection of H. Dannenberg. Finally, the matter was decided by the publication in the auction catalogue (Warszawskie Centrum Numizmatyczne, Auction no. 67, item 132) of a coin minted on one side with the same die as the coin from Brno (Fig. 5). This allows us to postulate the existence of a new fourth die-chain in the coinage of Bolesław I the Brave (Fig. 6).
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Authors and Affiliations

Stanisław Suchodolski
1

  1. em., Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Al. Solidarności 105, PL 00–140 Warsaw, Poland
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Abstract

Leaf-thin bracteate coins were minted for several hundred years during the Middle Ages. The existence of hundreds of small independent currency areas with their own mints in central, eastern and northern Europe and the strong link between bracteates and periodic recoinage explain the large number of bracteate types. A special minting technology linked to goldsmithing technology was required to produce the bracteates. A soft material was placed under a flan, and the motif was created by bending the flan rather than pressing the motif into the flan. This study analyzes how bracteate technology could save costs in the minting procedure compared to traditional coinage technology. The bending characteristic of the bracteates together with the flat hammering of old bracteates imply that the size of the flan remained almost unchanged after recurrent overstrikes. Thus, the bracteate technology saved one of the costliest steps in the minting procedure: the time-consuming production of the flan. In contrast, overstriking of biface coins using the traditional coin technology could only be performed a few times, since it caused a stepwise thinner and larger flan. The latter phenomenon explains the existence of biface half-bracteates.
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Authors and Affiliations

Roger Svensson
1
ORCID: ORCID

  1. The Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN), P.O. Box 55665, SE–10215 Stockholm, Sweden
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Abstract

This article concerns the discovery of traces on coins that demonstrate the recycling of dies used to strike Bolesław III Wrymouth’s bracteates. They are the oldest Polish coins made using this technique. These allow us to establish the relative chronology of coins of both types and to provide evidence of a common mint origin, contributing to the wider discussion over the nature of the issue of bracteates. Thanks to this, it can be shown that as long as a coin with traces of an older design remains unique, it is equally possible to interpret it as either an overstrike or a secondary use of a die with newly engraved content.
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Authors and Affiliations

Grzegorz Śnieżko
1
ORCID: ORCID

  1. Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Al. Solidarności 105, PL 00–140 Warsaw, Poland
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Abstract

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.
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Authors and Affiliations

Jens Christian Moesgaard
1
ORCID: ORCID

  1. Department of Archaeology and Classical Studies, Stockholm University, SE 106 91 Stockholm, Sweden
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Abstract

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.
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Authors and Affiliations

Renata Ciołek
1
ORCID: ORCID

  1. Faculty of Archaeology, University of Warsaw, Krakowskie Przedmieście 26/28, PL 00–927 Warsaw, Poland
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Abstract

The reign of Bolesław I the Brave has for many years been very popular among historians and numismatists. The political history of his rule is at the centre of the research of the first one, and the history of his coinage of the latter. On the other hand, much less attention is paid to the fiscal and prestigious-symbolic contexts of the circulation of bullion, which at the turn of the 10th and 11th centuries consisted almost exclusively of imported coins and silver in a non-monetary form, mainly jewellery. This raises many questions: how did access to luxury goods affected the exercise of power? What equivalents and under what circumstances were foreign coins purchased? How did the desire to take control of the silver distribution networks between Meissen, Prague and Kiev in the first decades of the 11th century directed Bolesław’s expansion? Methodologically, the article combines the analysis of the hoards with the interpretation of written sources.
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Authors and Affiliations

Dariusz Adamczyk
1
ORCID: ORCID

  1. Deutsches Historisches Institut Warschau, Pałac Karnickich, Aleje Ujazdowskie 39, PL 00–540 Warsaw, Poland
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Abstract

Modern archaeological research uses physico-chemical methods to answer questions beyond the scope of the conventional historian’s workshop. This applies to research on the borderline of fields, including material research into the elemental and isotopic composition of artefacts. The results of such analyses make it possible to address issues relating to the distribution of raw materials and the technology of artefact production. The paper discusses the SEM-EDS and LA-ICP-QMS micro-analysis methodology, addressing the limitations that result from the specification of techniques and the state of preservation of archaeological artefacts due to corrosion processes and conservation treatment. We present the preliminary results of technological research and provenance study of early medieval objects made of silver alloys, considered by typological group, i.e. coins, cake, and jewellery. Two hundred objects were analysed, revealing clear evidence for the use of remelted dirhams as the main source of raw material. The results of the research allowed for a material description of the phenomenon of the existence of cores in cross denarii, distinguishing two types of cores: based on copper and brass. In the case of jewellery, the research provided evidence for technological distinction, indicating the use of copper-based solders, as well as tin- and lead-based dolders, which have analogies in goldsmithing material from the Czech Republic. Recipes based on the marked composition are described in ancient sources. Silver cakes, on the other hand, can be divided into three extraction groups related to the degree of purification of the raw material. The preliminary results indicate that these objects were made of Asian dirhams and native lead, perhaps as an additive in the cupellation process.
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Authors and Affiliations

Ewelina Miśta-Jakubowska
1
ORCID: ORCID

  1. National Centre for Nuclear Research, Andrzeja Sołtana 7, PL 05–400 Otwock, Poland
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Abstract

This article deals with the issue of King John Casimir’s copper shillings struck in 1659–1666, emerging from the analysis of the structure of large shilling hoards in relation to the contents of mint reports. It was conducted on the basis of representative, newly-described finds from Idźki-Wykno and Rokitno, as well as previously published deposits, encompassing more than 59,000 coins. On this basis, the global production volume of shillings was estimated along with the share of individual mints. These values prompt a response to the accusations of mintage abuse levelled against Tytus Livius Boratini. However, another premise emerged from the initial analysis of false shillings that helps to date hoards of copper shillings.
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Authors and Affiliations

Tomasz Markiewicz
1
ORCID: ORCID

  1. National Museum in Lublin, Zamkowa 9, PL 20–117 Lublin, Poland
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Abstract

In the 14th century, copper coins of Galician Ruthenia were minted at the Lviv mint, most of which can be easily attributed to dated issuers. However, among them there are coins of two types that arouse controversy. These are variants with a crown on both sides of the coin ( crown/crown type) and a coin with two initials ( K/crowned L type). Almost all researchers, with the exception of perhaps only Borys Paszkiewicz, date the coins of the crown/crown type to the period before 1370, when the Polish King Casimir III the Great ruled in Galician Ruthenia. The analysis of the dies and die-chains presented in the present article allow us to attribute the coins to Louis of Hungary and refer their issue to the years 1378–1382, as suggested by B. Paszkiewicz. So far, coins of the K/crowned L type were dated to the years of the reign of Louis of Hungary. However, the analysis of the material from hoards and the shape of the punch with letter L indicate that they were minted during the interregnum in Lviv, i.e. between the end of 1370 (the date of King Casimir’s death) and October 1372 (when Władysław Opolczyk, who was appointed the governor of the Hungarian king, Louis in Galician Ruthenia, arrived in Lviv).
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Authors and Affiliations

Andriĭ Kryzhanivs’kyĭ
1
Oleg Bazar
2
Vasyl’ Pavliv
1

  1. independent researcher, Lviv, Ukraine
  2. independent researcher, Kyiv, Ukraine
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Abstract

The author summarizes the origin and development of the thaler since its emergence in Central Europe in the 1520s to the general spread of the term “thaler” for large silver coins in the 1540s as well as the attempts to replace the thaler with another type of coin in the Roman-German Empire under the Second and Third Imperial Coin Order. The year 1566 was a major turning point. The “imperial thaler” was redefined in metrological terms and the collection of custom duties in the North Sea straits was regulated, which (instead of gold coins) continued to be collected in silver thalers. This move spurred the expansion of the thaler coins in those countries of continental Europe that used the North Sea trade route. At that time, the thaler also became the equivalent for mutual conversions of the most important monetary systems. This is evidenced by the exchange rates from the end of the 16th century from Hamburg. In them, the ”imperial thaler” serves as a tool for the mutual conversion the seven major currencies used in the North Sea and Baltic trade areas (the Lübeck mark, the Hamburg pound, the Antwerp pound, the Amsterdam pound, the imperial Rhine gulden, the Lisbon milreis and the Polish gulden).
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Authors and Affiliations

Petr Vorel
1
ORCID: ORCID

  1. Faculty of Arts and Philosophy, University of Pardubice, Studentská 95, CZ 532 10 Pardubice, Czech Republic
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Abstract

The paper examines how Roman emperors used coins and medallions during the 3rd-century crisis to promote the dynastic ideologies and succession policies of the ruling house. Roman numismatics expands our knowledge of the nuances of dynastic politics. The keystone was the emperor; it also concerned the figures of empresses, heirs and ancestors. The analysis of numismatic evidence shows the mechanisms of constructing an image of dynastic unity, harmony in the imperial family, and succession stability in the Roman Empire.
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Authors and Affiliations

Agata A. Kluczek
1
ORCID: ORCID

  1. Faculty of Humanities, Institute of History, University of Silesia in Katowice, Bankowa 11, PL 40–007 Katowice, Poland
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Abstract

The present article is a short and very preliminary report about the Hellenistic coins found during excavations conducted by the team of the Institute of Archaeology, Jagiellonian University at the agora of the ancient Nea Paphos in 2011–2019. The first archaeological research at the agora had been conducted in the late 1960s and 1970s by Kyriakos Nicolaou. The Jagiellonian University team, led by Ewdoksia Papuci-Władyka started to explore the agora area in 2011. There were at least 480 coins and coin flans found during the Polish excavations. Great part of them are minted in the Hellenistic Period. The group consists mainly of Ptolemaic coins (over 67%), but includes also Cypriot bronzes of the Zeus/Zeus type (20.5%), coins of Syro-Palestinian region (Seleucid, Hasmonean rulers – over 6%), Macedonian-Antigonid issues (3.8%), the coins from south-eastern Aegean and Asia Minor (1.6%) as well as others. Some preliminary observations concerning chronology and structure of the finds are presented.
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Authors and Affiliations

Jarosław Bodzek
1
ORCID: ORCID

  1. Institute of ArchaeologyJagiellonian, University in Kraków, Gołębia 11, PL 31–007 Kraków, Poland

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