Minting technology

ABSTRACT: With the new find of eight gold aurei in Kalkriese, the total number of gold coins found on the site has increased substantially. The new discovery demonstrates that gold played a significant role within the coin circulation of the early imperial era. The gold and silver coins minted by Augustus for his adoptive sons Caius and Lucius Caesar can be subdivided into several die groups according to the obverse legends, the size of the portrait and the reverse images. The coins themselves display additional indications as to how the images were engraved in the coin dies (translated by Claire Franklin).

ZUSAMMENFASSUNG: Die Prägungen des Augustus für seine Adoptivsöhne Caius und Lucius Caesares, die in Gold und Silber ausgeprägt wurden, können anhand der Anordnung der Vorderseitenlegende, der Porträtgröße und der rückseitigen Darstellung in mehrere Stempelgruppen unterteilt werden. Ebenso finden sich auf den Geprägen selbst Hinweise auf die einzelnen Arbeitsschritte in denen die Münzbilder in die Münzstempel eingeschnitten wurden.

RÉSUMÉ: Avec la nouvelle découverte de huit aurei en or à Kalkriese, le nombre total de pièces d'or trouvées sur le site a considérablement augmenté. Cette nouvelle découverte démontre que l'or jouait un rôle important dans la circulation des pièces au début de l'ère impériale. Les pièces d'or et d'argent frappées par Auguste pour ses fils adoptifs Caius et Lucius Caesar peuvent être subdivisées en plusieurs groupes de matrices en fonction des légendes de l'avers, de la taille du portrait et des images du revers. Les pièces elles-mêmes présentent des indications supplémentaires sur la manière dont les images ont été gravées dans les matrices (traduit avec www.DeepL.com).

SOMMARIO: Con il nuovo ritrovamento di otto aurei a Kalkriese, il numero totale di monete d'oro rinvenute nel sito è aumentato in modo sostanziale. La nuova scoperta dimostra che l'oro svolgeva un ruolo significativo nella circolazione monetaria della prima età imperiale. Le monete d'oro e d'argento coniate da Augusto per i suoi figli adottivi Caio e Lucio Cesare possono essere suddivise in diversi gruppi di conii in base alle legende del dritto, alle dimensioni del ritratto e alle immagini del rovescio. Le monete stesse presentano ulteriori indicazioni su come le immagini sono state incise nelle matrici (tradotto con www.DeepL.com).

The earliest tetradrachms (Group 1) from the mint of Alexander the Great at Babylon show a rapid progression in the development of iconographic detail, accompanied by a pattern of die use, which taken together indicate that the mint most probably commenced production in 326/5 BC. Group 1 consists of a small, short duration emission bearing the hallmarks of a rapid evolution of iconographic elements and style that laid the foundation for the expansive mint operation responsible for the subsequent Group 2 coinage. The latter was the most prolific of any from the mint. Initially the mint appears to have utilized two die engravers from the earlier Babylonian mint of the satrap Mazaios, supplemented shortly thereafter by die engravers from farther afield, possibly from one of the northern Phoenician, Syrian or Kilikian mints. Group 1 has the characteristics of a brief commissioning stage, lasting four to six months. It represents a modest estimated coined volume of c. 159 Attic talents.

This study investigates the technology of coin production in Hellenistic Bactria. It discusses the mechanics of die striking, notes the different life expectancy of upper and lower dies, and examines how this can be detected by die count analysis. It then explores a case study in probability statistics based on Greco-Bactrian coins, undertaken at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. 
Note: The layout of this attachment is not precisely as published.

After Ptolemy Soter took possession of Egypt, he soon installed a closed currency system, at that scalę, a novelty in ancient coinage. With regard to the three metals Struck in the mint of Alexandria-the only mint in the entire country for almost 300 years-innovations in the manner of minting occurred when the kings were faced with specific needs. Millions of coins were struck. These coins appeared in a succession of series, sometimes struck continuously but not always. The different metals that were used filled different demands and needs. The Greek rulers adapted themselves to the country and to the economic and politic Situation, always showing a great sense of resilience with regard to the problems they faced. We can understand these issues in a new manner and refresh our view of this peculiar coinage by way of recent research on these coins' metallic content but also by way of archaeological experiments conducted on the minting process itself. How can the minting methods help us to understand the distinction between each series, and how can they help us to understand how the workers at the mints struggled with new challenges brought by the head of the mint? How can Egypt help us understand from a broader perspective the minting of coins in the Greek world? KEY WORDS: Egypt, Ptolemies, metallurgy, bronze coinage, experimental archaeology ABSTRAKT: Techniki bicia monet w ptolemejskim Egipcie. Obserwacja, analiza, nowe spojrzenie Wkrótce po objęciu w posiadanie Egiptu Ptolemeusz I Soter wprowadził zam-knięty system monetarny, co w takiej skali stanowiło novum w historii pieniądza starożytnego. Na skutek szczególnych wyzwań, z jakimi musieli się zmierzyć pto-lemej scy władcy, w Aleksandrii-jedynej mennicy działającej w kraju przez prawie 300 lat-wprowadzano innowacje w zakresie sposobu produkcji monet bitych li

Miroslav LACKO / Erika MAYEROVÁ, Der Thurzo-Kodex – eine einzigartige Quelle zum europäischen Bergrecht und Münzwesen um 1500, Innsbruck / Wien 2022, 546 S. ISBN 978-3-7065-6224-9.

https://www.studienverlag.at/produkt/6224/der-thurzo-kodex-eine-einzigartige-quelle-zum-europaeischen-bergrecht-und-muenzwesen-um-1500/

This essay summarizes the chronology of the dated Alexander tetradrachms of Sidon and Tyre (Ake of Newell and Price), including the implications of recent analysis of the Achaemenid dating era applicable to Tyre. It details a newly identified die link between the first issue of each mint, one that sheds light on the approach of the Macedonians to the establishment of a mint at Tyre following the successful siege of the city. In recent years there has been a growing acceptance of the reattribution to Tyre 1 of Alexander the Great's coinage attributed to Ake by Newell and Price, 2 and the reattribution from Sidon to Tarsos of a group of gold staters (Price 3456-3466) that were formerly placed ahead of the dated tetradrachm sequence at Sidon. 3 These reattributions have implications for our understanding of the operation of the mints and Sidon and Tyre, and the relative chronology of the two dated series from these mints. The early Alexander coinage of Sidon and Tyre is dated according to an era that is specific to each city. That of Sidon is dated initially with Phoenician and then Greek letters. It commenced with year 1 in 333/2 BC, 4 the date of transfer of the city to Macedonian rule 5 after which Alexander the Great appointed Abdalonymos the king of Sidon. 6 After a few undated issues, that of Tyre was dated in Phoenician numerals according to an Achaemenid regnal era that commenced in 349 BC, associated with the reign of the vassal king Ozmilk (Azemilkos in Greek). 7 The Phoenician lunar calendar underpinning this dating era is incompletely understood. It is not known whether the regnal year began in Spring (March/April), or in Autumn (September/ October), 8 nor is it known whether the era of Ozmilk was defined on the accession-year system, or dated from the first full year of the reign. These unknowns in the dating system of Tyre give rise to an irreducible uncertainty of at least ± six months in any attempt to calibrate it to the Gregorian solar calendar, a point that must be borne in mind when seeking to reconcile the dated issues of Tyre with those of Sidon. Additionally, within this uncertainty and dependent on the variable timing of mintage of any issue within a single era year at Tyre, the dated issues of the latter could fall across different Macedonian years, although within a single Tyrian era year. This has been acknowledged incompletely by previous scholars who have sought a precise calibration between the dated eras of Tyre and Sidon, something which is impossible to achieve with the current state of knowledge.

One very basic difference between Chinese and Western ways of minting has persisted with only very few exceptions until the end of the 19th century: While coins in Europe and West Asia were hammer-struck, Chinese coins were cast. This technological difference was far from being marginal and being only limited to the look of the coins: It brought about completely different working processes, requirements of labour, and other aspects of mint organisation. A relatively low productivity, high costs, and an inferior protection against forgery were among the most important problems associated with the use of cast coins. Consequently, many of the monetary crises in Chinese history were caused or at least exacerbated by these problems. As a consequence of one very severe crisis in the late 19th century, western machinery began to be employed to produce Chinese coins and the difference was eventually abolished. This paper provides a detailed introduction into the development of Chinese minting technology as well as into relevant aspects of mint organisation. Against this background, decisive problems of late imperial China’s monetary system such as counterfeiting by commoners and mint personnel and the resulting cash depreciation are explained and discussed.

In this study, the structure and activities of The Imperial Mint in the second half of the eighteenth century and its being qualified as the treasury as a result of the transformation it experienced are examined. The Imperial Mint is the institution conducting the operation of coining money in Ottoman financial system. It underwent a transformation in the second half of the eighteenth century and acquired new functions beside coining money. It gained the
quality of a reserve treasury with the assignment of some income resources to the mint. A sum of money amounting to around 88.000.000 gurush was transferred to the mint between the years 1766-1704. The mint, adding some money to this amount from seniorage revenues, financed an expenditure around 94.000.000 gurush. These costs funded by the mint are military expenses and war expenditures.
In this period, there was a great increase in the emition size of the mint and in seniorage revenues. The mint coined 345.957.757 gurush between the years 1766-1802. In the same period, seniorage revenue gained was over 50.000.000 gurush. One of the causes of this great incease in emition size and in seniorage revenues is the wellorganized institutional structure of the mint. The mint was seperated into three parts as administrative and supervisory board, merchant class and labourer class. Administrative and supervisory board consisted of Muslim Turks and the other two classes consisted of professional non-muslim craftsmen.

After a brief commissioning period involving the contemporaneous serial striking of coins in each of two series, the newly established Macedonian Imperial mint at Damaskos then produced the bulk of its coinage in a complexly interwoven manner, with a tight interlinking of obverse dies. This was the result of a shared inventory of obverse dies used by up to six striking teams. Inconspicuous patterns of one to six small dots, used as secondary mint controls, may have served to identify the coins struck on each anvil. This would have facilitated the mint’s internal control processes, involving the daily accounting for and reconciliation of silver input to each anvil, with the coinage output from each, in a production operation consisting of a large number of striking teams/anvils within a single secure facility. The coinage has the characteristics of a high volume, short duration mintage commencing around 326/5 BC with an estimated duration of about one year. The total coined volume from the mint is estimated to have been 1.22 million tetradrachms, equivalent to c. 807 Attic talents of silver, struck from an estimated 61 obverse dies.

The production of Anglo-Saxon cut halfpennies and farthings has been a hitherto neglected area of research. Metcalf (1978) proposed that cut fractions were produced in the mints where chisels were used to cut pennies into smaller denominations. The mints were therefore responsible for officially issuing the currency and for controlling its circulation. His theory was upheld with little more than anecdotal evidence. Using a previously unstudied collection of eighty cut fractions Metcalf’s theory was tested for the first time. Having created a reference collection of the characteristics of cuts made by different types of tool each coin was microscopically examined to determine how it had been cut. It was found that Anglo-Saxon cut fractions were manufactured in a systematic manner using a chisel to make the cut. This finding offers the first independent evidence to support Metcalf’s explanation of cut coin production.

This contribution represents a brief probe into the history of Kremnica Mint during the second half of the 17th century when the coin production technology shifted from manual minting to a machine operated minting and the Mint was adjusted to a water-powered mechanism. There was a steep increase in coin production as evidenced by a large supply of silver. The archival sources for this era have been derived from the Slovak Mining Archives in Banská Štiavnica and they not only give us information on coin minting portraying the emperor Leopold I., they also tell us about the members of staff, alterations of the controllers of the Mint, forgers, operating costs as well as Mint's profits throughout the difficult period of Ottoman expansion and anti-Habsburg uprisings. The main source of silver came from the chamber of Štiavnica and the copper was derived from the chamber of Bystrica. Rich noble families, such as the Palatine Francis Wesselenyi, had their jewels occasionally minted here. Besides the regular coin minting there were also gold thalers portraying Saint George minted during this era that served as medals and small coins made of metals of lesser value used in the mining towns in the middle of Slovakia were also minted here. Count Georg Illesházyi showed interest in memorial minting for Sophia Báthory, the grandmother of a well known leader of anti-Habsburg uprisings Francis II. Rákóczi and the stamps for the mint in Transylvania (Baia Mare) were produced here as well.

Provincial mints were founded following currency and mint reform made at the end of the 17th century in order to meet some needs in various regions. Gold, silver and copper coins were minted in those mints with the mechanical method. The total emission volume of the mints reached to a sum exceeding 1.860.000 kuruş. While coining money, the mints met their needs of gold and silver from the market, mines and state treasury. Provincial mints which were established to meet some needs were closed in a short time for various reasons.The mints have been analyzed in the light of numismatic data, archival documents, sources of the period and modern literature. In this article, the inventory of provincial mints has been taken; the processes of its establishment and dissolution, its activities and performances have been emphasized. Charts regarding the employees of the provincial mints, its technical infrastructure and emission volume have been attached to the appendix of the article.

The short note discusses a Roman provincial series of Skepsis in the Troad, minted under Trajan, which appears to re-use an older die from the Hellenistic period. It is further argued that the bronze coinage of Skepsis continues to be minted until the peace of Apameia.

Between the second half of the XVIth century and 1645, an important transformation occurs in minting process leading from handcraft by hammering to a mechanization using roll-mill and screw press. In the French kingdom, this change took one century. This process enables a better-standardized production. Whatever the minting process, the blanching, the last step before striking, remains the same. Nowadays, the definition of the process used for some coinage is still difficult. Both modern and ancient counterfeits of coinage make difficult the numismatic assessment. Coinage, as museum items and valuable object, needs a non-destructive method to be analyzed. A dual approach has been performed involving experimental archaeology and X-ray diffraction texture analysis. First, Cu-25wt%Ag sheets (70x20x4 mm) were cast in a steel mould. Then, they have been hammered or cold rolled and annealed (at 700°C-30 min) to a total thickness reduction of 88%, namely 0.5 mm thickness. The texture measured on the (222) reflection of the silver rich -phase after the last hardening cycle, is found to be a compression type texture in the case of hammering and exhibits a “brass” type texture after cold rolling. Three historical coins, made of bullion (Cu25wt%Ag), were analyzed and compared with the texture of the experimental coins. A very good agreement is obtained between the two approaches.

Ein Beitrag über zwei Inventare der Wiener Münzstätte aus der Regierungszeit Maria Theresias (reg. 1740–1780). Anhand der darin aufgelisteten Medaillenprägestempeln für Karl VI. (reg. 1711–1740) wird aufgezeigt, dass in der früheren Forschung (Fiala 1901) die Kombination einzelner Avers- und Reversstempel falsche angenommen wurde.

Essay about two inventories of the Viennese mint from the years 1767 and 1768 that additionally examines die stamps of medals for Charles VI and their combination in medal production.

LACKO, Miroslav: Ján Thurzo a Banská Bystrica okolo roku 1500 vo svetle najnovších výskumov [Johann Thurzo und Neusohl um 1500 im Licht neuester Forschungen]. Prednáška v Stredoslovenskom múzeu v Banskej Bystrici 26.08.2020 o 17:00 v Thurzovom dome [Vortrag im Mittelslowakischen Museum in Neusohl/Banská Bystrica am 26.08.2020, 17:00 Uhr, im Thurzo-Haus].

A great deal of information about the Barcelona mint is conserved in old documents. We also know
what coins were produced and in what quantities. This article presents the material preserved in
the ground when the mint finally ceased production. The remains of architectural structures, the
manufacturing elements and, of course, numismatic material: coins, planchets, clippings and so on,
discovered during archaeological excavations in the building at Carrer Flassaders, 40.

Sobre la Casa de la Moneda de Barcelona resta una gran quantitat d’informació conservada en
la documentació antiga. També sabem quines monedes es van fabricar i en quina quantitat. En
aquest article es presenta el material preservat en el subsòl quan la Casa de la Moneda va deixar de
funcionar. Les restes d’estructures arquitectòniques, els elements de fabricació i, per descomptat, el
material numismàtic: monedes, cospells, retalls... descoberts durant les excavacions arqueològiques
a l’edifici del carrer Flassaders 40.

The count of Caylus (1692-1765) never collected coins and has rarely dealt with them in his monumental Recueil d'antiquités. The central figure of his time for all what concerns antiquarianism, he was well connected with Claude Gros de Boze, Jean-Jacques Barthélemy, Joseph Pellerin  However, he proved to be very innovative and the others. With numismatics as well, Caylus proves to have been very innovative (far more than Winckelmann at the same time), paying little interest for coins but a great and pioneering one for all what is surrounding: coin dies, coins as jewellery, ancient moulds to produce blanks, metal composition (he is among the first to require scientific analyses), lead weights, tesserae, parallels between coins and gems, etc.). Always interested by the history of techniques, Caylus appears here again as a tutelary figure for scientific archaeology.

Coins and Medals under Charles VI between Tradition and Innovation

When Charles VI ascended the throne, he adopted the monetary system of his predecessors, which dated back to the year 1693. Although, he did not undertake a currency reform during his reign, he had a strong influence on coin production in Vienna. His measures particularly aimed to technical and administrative matters, such as the launch of screw presses for minting, for instance. Because of these efforts, the Imperial Mint in Vienna ranked among the most modern mints in 18th-century Europe. This advantageously conditions will have benefitted the successful coinage of his successor Maria Theresa later on.
As far as medals are concerned, Charles strived to follow the example of Louis XIV of France, who's "histoire métallique" has won fame all over Europe. Hence, Charles authorized Carl Gustav Heraeus, his court antiquarian, to create a similar series of medals commemorating the most important achievements of his own reign. Besides, Charles furthered the training of coin engravers and medallists in order to improve the design of his coins and medals.
In the first point, this contribution aims to display the history of coin and medal production under Charles VI from a technological and administrative point of view. In addition to that, it will demonstrate the discrepancy of tradition and innovation in its development until the reign of Maria Theresa.

Conference: Habsburg rule and representation/Herrschaft und Repräsentation in der Habsburgermonarchie (1700–1740), Institut für Österreichische Geschichtsforschung, Universität Wien, 28.-29. März 2019

Les techniques de fabrication des monnaies antiques nous sont mal connues. L’absence de coins authentiques ainsi que le petit nombre de sources sur lesquelles s’appuyer, qu’elles soient archéologiques ou littéraires, ne permettent que difficilement de reconstituer la chaîne opératoire qui conduit à la production des monnaies. L’approche expérimentale est une voie nouvelle pour tester, et ainsi infirmer ou confirmer les différentes hypothèses émises par les spécialistes de la monnaie, qu’elles concernent l’or, l’argent ou le bronze.