Medieval Coin Making

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Medieval Coin MakingLord William de Kari, Barony ofUnser Hafen, Kingdom of the [email protected]

History

Prior to the introduction of coins, materials were traded based on their perceived intrinsic value. Even small

lumps of metal which resembled the first coins, were traded, but they were not coins in the sense that they did

not have any markings to identify them and fix their value.

The Earliest Coins

Coins were first introduced by the Lydians (located in what is now

urkey!. "ing #yges ($%&'$) *.C.! created a mint in +ardis, the

capital of Lydia, that produced coins in electrum, a naturally

occurring alloy of gold and silver consisting of roughly - to

parts silver to part gold. Lumps of electrum were softened with

heat, then hammered with a punch to create an imprint.

uring the reign of "ing /lyattes ($-'$ *.C.!, coin weight was standardi0ed at $% grains for a Stater, andthe idea of creating coins that were a fraction of a +tater was developed. 1n addition, using a die for both the

obverse (front! and the reverse (back! of the coin was introduced. heir method of production, using a trussel

(lower! die held in an anvil and a pile (upper! die that was held on top of the flan (blank coin! and struck with a

hammer is the same basic process that was used through the end of the 2iddle /ges.

he first official coins, which were issued by a state authority

and guaranteed by the crown, were created by "ing Croesus

($'3$ *.C.! hey featured a lion4s and a bull4s head, facing

each other. he 5uality of the dies was 5uite good considering

the period. Coinage was standardi0ed to pure metals, with a

$%'grain gold +tater being worth ten ))-'grain silver +taters.

6hen Persia con5uered Lydia in 3$ *.C., the Persians began striking their own coins, the

Daric, which showed the king running with a bow. his coins saw the introduction of 78

copper to the gold to make the coins more durable, and were the standard of trade during the

Persian4s control of the region.

6hen /lexander the #reat captured arius 111 in 77- *.C., he introduced the Parthian system of coinage, based

on the silver Drachmand the Tetradrachm. 9otice the high relief, and the clear, high 5uality portrait. /ncient

greek coinage was a very high mark in the level of 5uality and workmanship applied to coins. :uality levels

would decline substantially over the centuries to follow.

/n entire book could be devoted to following the divergent and interesting production of coins throughout the

period leading up to modern times, but that is beyond the scope of this work.


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English oins

Anglo-Saxon Pennies

he earliest Pennieswere introduced in England around &% by "ing ;ffa of 2ercia. hey were between )-

and )7 grains (.7'. g! in weight, and the Penny would remain in circulation, without a change in value, until

, and is related to the #erman =pfennig>. hey were nearly

e5uivalent to the Denierin use in Europe at the time, and this is the source of the d.abbreviation used for the

penny. 2odern'day carpenters still use the abbreviation, as in =-d> for a -'penny nail.

/ vast number of /nglo'+axon pennies were used to pay off ?ikings to prevent raids on English lands (the

@anegeld@!, and so many of these coins have been found in enmark rather than England. uring the reign of

Ethelred the Anready ( might appear around the edge of the reverse face.

uring the reign of "ing Benry 1, coin 5uality declined, and moneyers

were commonly creating underweight or low'5uality coins and keeping

the profit. 1n )3 "ing Benry summoned - moneyers to

6inchester, and tried them for issuing substandard coins.


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9oble (Edward 111!

%- pence value

)- mm diameter

7- grains

Balfnoble (Edward 111!

3- pence value

< mm diameter

)3 grains

:uarternoble (Edward 111!

)- pence value

& mm diameter

) grains

Balfgroat (Edward 111!

) pence value

) mm diameter

$ grains

1n the 3&-s, there was a revlauation of coins, reducing the penny to ) grains weight, and revaluing the 9oble

to -- pence. / new coin, the /ngel was introduced at %- pence value, since the %- pence value was familiar.

+hortly thereafter, the 9obleIhalfnobleI5uarternoble were discontinued, leaving the /ngel and Balfangel at %-and 3- pence, respectively.

he sixteenth century saw great upheaval in the coinage of England. Benry ?11 added the estoon () pence or

shilling!, the yal ()- pence! and the +overign ()3- pence, or pound!. 1n )$, Benry ?111 then revaluedthe /ngel, Balfangel and +overign to %%, 33, and )$3 pence, respectively, then a few months later, revalued

them again to


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!he "oneyer#s raft

2oneying was restricted to guilds or authori0ed mints authori0ed by the monarchy to produce coins. hey took

raw metal (typically silver! and produced coins of particular weights and si0es, and with markings that generally

identified both the reigning sovereign, and the moneyer that produced the coin. he value of the coin was not

stamped on the coin itself F its weight in silver defined its value. 1n fact, people sometimes cut coins into pieces

to make change.

Tools

o mint coins in the manner of English moneyers around the 7thto thcentury, some basic tools are necessary.

Bammers

+hears

acilities for melting silver

+cales

Punches for engraving

iles for shaping dies and punches

a! "aterials

1n addition to the silver used to create the actual coins, moneyers re5uire steel to create punches and engraving

tools and iron for dies.

Engra#ing Tools

1f you examine English coins closely (like the example below!, you can see that the patterns and words on the

coin are made up of a relatively small number of simple shapes, like lines, arcs, triangles, dots, lo0enges, and so

on. hese shapes are made by punches that create dents in the face of the die used to stamp the coin. *efore

creating coins, a moneyer has to create a set of punches that can create all the shapes and letters needed to make

coin faces.

/ basic punch set might include these shapesJ

6e make our punches from H@ steel rod, filed to a point then shaped to get the punch we4re going for. he tip

should wind up flat in the desired shape. he steel should be a type that allows hardening (not mild steel!. ;

harden the punch, grip it by the unshaped end with some pliers, heat the tip end to a cherry red glow in a flame(a propane torch works well!, then 5uench it in oil (water 5uenching would result in a more brittle tip!. or

portable demos, we use a can of Crisco for 5uenching, stirring the punch around as it melts the fat to keep

cooling it.

1f you have hardened a punch and want to rework it, soften it by heating it again to cherry, then setting it aside to

cool slowly rather than 5uenching it. ;nce it cools, you can reshape and re'harden it.


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Dies

Coins are stamped between two dies, one with the obverse (front! image, and one with the reverse (back! image.

hese dies were made from iron, and were rarely hardened. he diameter of the die matches the si0e of the coin

to be made. / typical lower die might be able to produce 7$,--- coins, while an upper die could produce

)-,---.

or a 'penny coin, the die is K@ diameter, while for a )'penny coin, use a @ diameter rod. /ny sort of steel

will work, but don4t get some really hard steel that you won4t be able to engrave. he steel is much harder thanthe coin material, so the dies will last, even though they aren4t hardened. 1n period, dies were around 3@ long, to

give a person enough room to get a gloved hand around the top and bottom dies while the coin was struck. 6e

use a treadle hammer and don4t hold the dies during striking, so we use much shorter dies (about G@ or )@ tall!.

o prepare dies for engraving, you want to get the face of the die as flat and s5uare as you can (by s5uare, 1mean at right angles to the axis of the die!. he period way to do this is to run the die face along a file for a long

time, checking and tuning the face as you go, until it4s flat and s5uare. hen you want to polish the die face so

you get smooth and shiny coins F we do this by placing fine sandpaper face'up on a flat surface and rubing the

die face on the paper until it4s polished.

Engra#ing the Dies

he first and most important thing to remember when engraving a die is that you4re working in reverseM/nything you create on the die will appear in mirror'image on the coin (the term for this is that the die is

engraved @in intaglio@, meaning reversed!. 1t is not uncommon in medieval coins to see mistakes made in this

process F a letter reversed, for example. rom personal experience, 1 know the letter @+@ is very easy to get

wrongM

/ coin die generally starts with a line of pellets (dots! around the outer perimeter of the die. hese were

imprinted on period coins to prevent people from trimming the outer edges off and reducing the value of the

coin. he obverse face typically had a rendering of the king, and the king4s name or some slogan, while the

reverse identified the moneyer or mint that produced the coin. 6e follow this convention in most of our coins,

unless we4re producing a site token or pri0e medalion where both faces have meaning.

o engrave a die, we use a piece of steel several pounds in weight with a hole drilled in the center Nust largeenough to hold a die upright. his gives us a very stable base and keeps the die from moving as we4re working

on it, while still allowing us to rotate the die easily as we work our way around the coin face. Place a punch on

the die face, align it carefully, then tap it sharply with a lightweight hammer to get a good clean imprint.

9ow, one of the measures of your skill as a moneyer is how well you deal with an error in engravingM 1t4s

inevitable that at some point you will strike your punch then reali0e that you Nust put a line, dot or arc in the

wrong place, or you got a letter backwards (forwards, on the die, that is!. Oou have two choices in this case F

you can leave the mistake (mistakes were period!, and move on, or you can come up with a creative way to make

it look like you @meant to do that@.

/fter some time, you will have two dies made F one for each face of the coins, and you4re ready to begin the coin

making process itself.

"a$ing Flans

/ flan is a blank disk of metal that will be struck to make a coin. 1n period, silver was melted down, poured out

into molds and hammered into sheets of a measured thickness, then cut into circles (flans! with shears. he flans

were weighed, and any that were under'weight were melted down again and the process was repeated until asupply of accurately weighted flans had been produced.

6hen we make coins, we use pewter rather than silver, because of cost and ease of working the cooler'melting

metal.


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or high'value coins (like those made from gold!, the flans would be made intentionally too heavy, then after the

coins were struck, they would be filed or trimmed to the exact weight, which allowed the final appearance of the

coin to be adNusted before it left the mint.

6hen you4re hammering out the sheets of metal, use a light sledge hammer with a polished face so the metal

keeps a smooth surface (you can polish the hammer face with a sander!.

o cut out the flans, 1 use a circle template and a scribe to scratch a circle outline the si0e 1 want on the metal,

then cut out the flan with shears, and clean up the sharp edges left by the shears with a few light taps with a

small hammer.

Str$ing Coins

Oou4re finally ready to strikeM 6hen striking by hand, we use the same steel anvil that we used to engrave the

dies, placing one of th dies in the anvil, face'up (it doesn4t matter which one you use, but be consistent, because

the top die will get hammered on and over time it will mushroom out enough that it won4t fit down into the anvil

anymore.

Place a flan on the bottom die, and place the top die face'down on the flan. 9ow, with a leather glove on, wrap

one hand around the dies so you hold the top die vertical and keep the dies centered on the flan (or for the fainterof heart, find a pair of tongs built for gripping round stock, and hold the dies together with those.

inally, have a trusted associate strike the top die sharply with a sledgehammer, and you have a coinM

inse. epeat. )- of these makes a pound (if you4re doing )'penny coins!, or )3- if you4re doing penny

coins.

Exche%uer Counting Cloth

/ handy thing to have is a counting cloth, which is essentially a checkerboard pattern that4s ) by )- s5uares.

hen two pence per s5uare makes a pound. his eliminates the need to count as you go. Oou can also check

each coin as it gets stamped as you move it to the cloth to see it it was struck well enough.

Su&&liers

Pewter F Ballmark 2etals Corporation (

Documents

Medieval Coin Making