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The essay "A Gold Coin from Jastrzębniki, Kalisz District (PL). On Late Celtic Coinage in Central Europe" examines the continuation of gold coinage in Central Europe after the collapse of the Bohemian-Moravian oppida. The study focuses on three minting centers that imitated late Boii gold coins. These mints recycled popular shell staters with sun and moon motifs and also issued various small coins made of electrum alloys. The coins were circulated in the Oder and Vistula basins and likely had a regional prestige value. One reason for the disappearance of local coin traditions among the northern barbarian elites may have been the massive influx of Roman coins in the second century AD. [Extracted from the article]

It is argued that the Greek monogram on the reverse of the Standing Caliph fulūs struck at Ḥarrān resolves to read the name Elias, that this Elias is probably identifiable as the bishop of Ḥarrān of that name who died in 700, and that the identification of the person responsible for striking these coins as a Christian bishop explains why the fulūs struck at Ḥarrān are the only coins of this series that fail to identify the prophet Muhammad as the "messenger of God". The primary purpose of this note is to offer a new explanation of the significance of the Greek monogram that appears on the reverse of the Standing Caliph fals struck in the town of Ḥarrān (ancient Carrhae), in jund al-Jazīra (Fig. 1). None of the 19 mints throughout the greater Syrian region that struck Standing Caliph fulūs seem to have dated these coins. However, the Standing Caliph dīnār was dated and was struck only during the brief period AH 74-77 (693/4-696/7 CE) before it was replaced in AH 77 by the purely epigraphic dīnār. Largely on the basis of this gold coinage, it has recently been argued that the "probable outside date range" for Standing Caliph fulūs is c. AH 73-80 (692/3-699/700) (Goodwin 2018:84), after which they were replaced by purely epigraphic fulūs, most of which were undated. The Standing Caliph series of coins has been so described because the obverse depicts a standing figure who seems to represent the caliph.1 Of the 19 mints that struck Standing Caliph fulūs, 15, including Ḥarrān, paired this obverse with a reverse depicting a pole on steps crossed by a circle, another three mints (all in jund Filasṭīn) depicted a large cursive m on the reverse instead, [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Reti Medievali is the property of Firenze University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

During the AD 68/9 Civil Wars, Galba, Otho, Vitellius and then Vespasian fought for — and gained — control of the Roman Empire. Our textual sources suggest that this was a period of serious and sustained disruption. However, existing analyses of gold coinages produced in AD 68/9 show only a minor reduction in the purity of the gold coinage. Using X-ray fluorescence, we identify a number of heavily debased gold coins issued during the AD 68/9 Civil Wars, and many slightly debased coins issued in their immediate aftermath. We then confirm the interior composition of these coins totally non-destructively using muonic X-ray emission spectroscopy, thus eliminating hypothetical problems of 'surface enrichment' or compositional differences between 'surface' and 'core'. Here we show that heavily debased Civil War gold coinages were indeed produced; that copper was used to debase Roman gold coins during this time, c. 185 years earlier than first shown; and that slightly debased gold coins were regularly issued in the years immediately after the Civil Wars. The metallurgical evidence from the gold coinage now allows us to show that the AD 68/9 Civil Wars caused significant and sustained disruption to the Roman economic system. More broadly, we have shown that muonic X-ray emission spectroscopy is a powerful tool for generating important archaeological conclusions from high-value cultural heritage objects that simply cannot be destructively analysed, but need to have their interior compositions sampled. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Perceived as a material and a colour, gold has assumed major societal roles. It has been used as a medium of exchange and in the production of objects with cultural, social, and religious meanings. Being a finite resource, gold has often been subjected to recycling processes. Over time, some objects were reused to make new objects and others were melted down to use the resulting gold as raw material. These operations can be approached using an appropriate analytical protocol. Analytical challenges raised by studies on the reuse and recycling of gold are discussed in the given examples, some of them focusing on coins and others on jewellery and ritual objects. To illustrate the different levels of analytical difficulty, some of these objects were made during times of gold scarcity and others in periods of gold influx. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metal coins have played the role of supporting currency with gold and silver, and have been disagreed over among the jurists in terms of legal status. Some jurists opined that the metal coins are just like gold and silver, while some were of the view that it has a special character other than that of gold and silver. This disagreement simultaneously reflects in paper currency as well, as most of the contemporary scholars conceived it similar to gold and silver, and thus it attracts all the rules regarding of homogeneous and heterogeneous exchange of gold and silver, while some other held that it is like metal coins. This work traces the history of metal coins and then discusses its legal status. It also would highlight similarities and differences between metal coins and paper currency that might be useful in grasping their nature and legal status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Al-Bahith Journal is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Around 1840, a gold coin was discovered near Radoboj (northwestern Croatia), a Celtic imitation of a gold stater of Alexander III of type Athena/Nike. In 2019, during archaeological excavation of the Roman temple at Frauenberg, near Leibnitz (Austria), two imitations of staters of the same type were excavated. Of these, one coin was minted with the same dies for obverse and reverse as the coin from Radoboj, which undoubtedly testifies to minting in the same mint. In the area of north-western Croatia and eastern Slovenia, four other Athena/Nike staters can be documented at four other sites. To date, 83 Athena/Nike imitations have been discovered in Central Europe, of which 32 coins originate from 26 sites. Seven coins from six sites in the area south of the middle course of the Mura and Drava rivers therefore significantly complement the current record of finds of these earliest Celtic coin finds in Central Europe. At the same time, it proves that the minting of this group of imitations can be attributed to the local Celtic tribes sometime in the middle of the 3rd century BC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Stratum Plus Journal is the property of P.P. Stratum plus and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Archeologia Medievale: Cultura Materiale, Insediamenti, Territorio is the property of All'Insegna del Giglio s.a.s. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Revista Numismática Hécate is the property of Revista Numismatica Hecate and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Stratum Plus Journal is the property of P.P. Stratum plus and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Revista Numismática Hécate is the property of Revista Numismatica Hecate and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

A great deal of theoretical and quantitative research into speculative markets has been concerned with the relationship between risk and return. It is generally accepted that it is possible, on the average, to obtain an above-normal return by taking extra risks. One of the basic concepts of this work has been that of a riskless asset. The most obvious riskless asset is cash, which has complete liquidity and zero return. In most situations superior "riskless" assets are available; assets which also have complete or near complete liquidity and also give a positive return. One example is a callable loan at a fixed rate of interest, such as a deposit in a Post Office or Government savings bonds. However, if there has been a period in the recent past when public confidence in cash has completely collapsed, as would occur during a period of hyper-inflation, cash may no longer be viewed as riskless and the public may need to look elsewhere for low-risk investments. Further, if one has retained any capital after a period of currency collapse, one may well become extremely risk averse. The kinds of investments that might be considered would include property or land but of course the traditional ones are silver and gold. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

My wife, Marguerite, and I recently visited Banska Stiavnica, in South-Central Slovakia. This 'Silver Town' is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in an ancient volcanic crater atop formerly rich silver [...]