DOI Artikel:
Suchodolski, Stanisław: Beware, the fraud!: On alleged finds of deniers with the legend GNEZDVN CIVITAS and other coins from the reign of Bolesław the brave
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21230#0311
original, there is a visible bend on the inner linear circle of the obverse
where it meets the letter S. Two emendations have also been made: the
initial letter in the name Bolesław, which in the original has the form of
the letter R, corrected to B. Likewise the illegible character between the
arms of the cross on the reverse has been replaced with a fourth pellet.
It would appear most likely that the imitation was done in situ, in Lvov.
This assertion is supported by the information obtained from Prof. N. F.
Kotlar of Kiev, that there was also an offer sent from Lvov to sell a coun-
terfeit Ruthenian silver coin from the lOth/llth centuries to the Her-
mitage in St. Petersburg. This may be an indication of the commercial
genesis of the recently published specimen. This does not resolve the
question as to who made the coin - everything indicates that the Lvov
archeologists fell victim to their own naivete and lack of competence in
the field of numismatics.
Revelations about the discovery of another, unknown specimen of
the Gnezdun civitas denier had already appeared in the Polish press, in
the early 1970s. The coin was supposed to have been in the private col-
lection of engineer Stanisław Pijanowski, preserved in the forest warden's
residence in Głucha Puszcza near Strzelno (voivodeship of Bydgoszcz).11
I had the opportunity to see this specimen in 1973, thanks to the kind-
ness of Prof. Zdzisław Rajewski, then Director of the State Archeological
Museum in Warsaw, and was even able to have it photographed (Fig. 4).
Even at first glance it can be seen that this is an imitation, made on the
basis of a none-too-faithful drawing in the work of Kazimierz Stronczyński,
Dawne monety polskie, subseąuently accepted in Gumowski's handbook.1:'
The diameter is greater than the original, coming to 20-21 mm; neither
the weight, nor the metal, nor the manufacturing techniąue are known.
Nor do we know how the coin made its way to Głucha Puszcza, who de-
signed it, or why. At any event its does not look like a forgery, but rather
a copy to replace an irrecoverable original.
A yet more sensational discovery of a Gnezdun civitas denier is said to
have taken place in Ciechanów, at Parish Church, in the first ąuarter of
the 20th century. Information about this is to be found in the copy of
14 S. Lorenz, Przewodnik po muzeach i zbiorach w Polsce, 2nd edition (Warsaw 1982), p. 106.
15 Parts I-III, Atlas (Piotrków Trybunalski 1883-1885), Platę 11.79 (a different and more
faithful version is to be found in Part II, p. 24); M. Gumowski, Podręcznik numizmatyki polskiej
(Cracow 1914), p. 22, Fig. 10, Platę I, no. 5.
311
where it meets the letter S. Two emendations have also been made: the
initial letter in the name Bolesław, which in the original has the form of
the letter R, corrected to B. Likewise the illegible character between the
arms of the cross on the reverse has been replaced with a fourth pellet.
It would appear most likely that the imitation was done in situ, in Lvov.
This assertion is supported by the information obtained from Prof. N. F.
Kotlar of Kiev, that there was also an offer sent from Lvov to sell a coun-
terfeit Ruthenian silver coin from the lOth/llth centuries to the Her-
mitage in St. Petersburg. This may be an indication of the commercial
genesis of the recently published specimen. This does not resolve the
question as to who made the coin - everything indicates that the Lvov
archeologists fell victim to their own naivete and lack of competence in
the field of numismatics.
Revelations about the discovery of another, unknown specimen of
the Gnezdun civitas denier had already appeared in the Polish press, in
the early 1970s. The coin was supposed to have been in the private col-
lection of engineer Stanisław Pijanowski, preserved in the forest warden's
residence in Głucha Puszcza near Strzelno (voivodeship of Bydgoszcz).11
I had the opportunity to see this specimen in 1973, thanks to the kind-
ness of Prof. Zdzisław Rajewski, then Director of the State Archeological
Museum in Warsaw, and was even able to have it photographed (Fig. 4).
Even at first glance it can be seen that this is an imitation, made on the
basis of a none-too-faithful drawing in the work of Kazimierz Stronczyński,
Dawne monety polskie, subseąuently accepted in Gumowski's handbook.1:'
The diameter is greater than the original, coming to 20-21 mm; neither
the weight, nor the metal, nor the manufacturing techniąue are known.
Nor do we know how the coin made its way to Głucha Puszcza, who de-
signed it, or why. At any event its does not look like a forgery, but rather
a copy to replace an irrecoverable original.
A yet more sensational discovery of a Gnezdun civitas denier is said to
have taken place in Ciechanów, at Parish Church, in the first ąuarter of
the 20th century. Information about this is to be found in the copy of
14 S. Lorenz, Przewodnik po muzeach i zbiorach w Polsce, 2nd edition (Warsaw 1982), p. 106.
15 Parts I-III, Atlas (Piotrków Trybunalski 1883-1885), Platę 11.79 (a different and more
faithful version is to be found in Part II, p. 24); M. Gumowski, Podręcznik numizmatyki polskiej
(Cracow 1914), p. 22, Fig. 10, Platę I, no. 5.
311