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DOI Artikel:Haczewska, Bogumiła: Deer or Buffalo
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.22228#0080
Bogumiła Haczewska
and four loose pellets2." Four specimens of this coin are known weighing:
0.093, 0.124, (tab. 1,1, la) 0.135, 0.146 g and measuring 15.5,15.8 (2 pcs.), 16.1
mm in diameter.
The difference in the above descriptions boils down to an identification
of the repeated animal figurę which constitutes an integral part of the com-
position which centers on a clearly marked ring surrounded by four pellets.
Ordering the design are the four arches accentuated by as many apex tabs
and pellets. The tabs are not eąually well visible in each specimen, nor are
the twin strokes connecting the bottom sections of the arches.
Repetitive in the design is the number four. According to Manfred
Lurker7 "The number four expresses the notion of a cosmic entirety. [...]
In the Bibie the number four refers primarily to the world as created by
God.... According to [...] the Apocalypse, God's throne is guarded by 'four
beasts' (Apoc. 4, 6) - symbolizing the whole world that God created. While
heaven is shown as a circle - the most perfect geometrie figurę - earth
often has the shape of a sąuare.... Also the pun on the name Adam is
often treated as an allusion to the four ąuarters of the world. According
to Durand, the world's four elements were madę profane in sinful man,
but all will be restored by the cross radiating out in four ąuarters. The refe-
rence literaturę of the advanced Middle Ages built a system of ąuaternary
analogies in which the world's four elements, four winds, four seasons,
four streams in the garden of Eden were compared with four great Old-
Testament prophets, four Evengelists, four great Fathers of the Church,
and also four Cardinal virtues and four temperaments."
Let us then have a closer look at the animals in the arches.
The beast with its arched neck and long horns brings to mind a deer as
seen on coins of Stolberg8, Sigmaringen9, the beautiful bracteate of Giin-
2 B. PASZKIEWICZ, Pieniądz górnośląski w średniowieczu, Lublin 2000, p. 133.
3 Warszawskie Centrum Numizmatyczne (hereafter WCN), No. 20, item 86.
4 Coin Room, National Museum in Cracow VII-P-30.314.
5 WCN, No. 21, item 108.
6 WCN, No. 24, item 54.
7 M. LURKER, Słownik obrazów i symboli bibilijnych, Poznań 1989, p. 40.
8 BUSSO PEUS NACHF., Sammlung Dr. med. Friedrich Bonhoff, Hamburg, 1243 ff; F. BERGER,
Die mittelalterlichen Brakteaten im Kestner -Museum Hannaoer, Hannover 1993,1249, 2800-2802.
q BERGER, Die mittelalterlichen..., 2514 and 2515.
76
and four loose pellets2." Four specimens of this coin are known weighing:
0.093, 0.124, (tab. 1,1, la) 0.135, 0.146 g and measuring 15.5,15.8 (2 pcs.), 16.1
mm in diameter.
The difference in the above descriptions boils down to an identification
of the repeated animal figurę which constitutes an integral part of the com-
position which centers on a clearly marked ring surrounded by four pellets.
Ordering the design are the four arches accentuated by as many apex tabs
and pellets. The tabs are not eąually well visible in each specimen, nor are
the twin strokes connecting the bottom sections of the arches.
Repetitive in the design is the number four. According to Manfred
Lurker7 "The number four expresses the notion of a cosmic entirety. [...]
In the Bibie the number four refers primarily to the world as created by
God.... According to [...] the Apocalypse, God's throne is guarded by 'four
beasts' (Apoc. 4, 6) - symbolizing the whole world that God created. While
heaven is shown as a circle - the most perfect geometrie figurę - earth
often has the shape of a sąuare.... Also the pun on the name Adam is
often treated as an allusion to the four ąuarters of the world. According
to Durand, the world's four elements were madę profane in sinful man,
but all will be restored by the cross radiating out in four ąuarters. The refe-
rence literaturę of the advanced Middle Ages built a system of ąuaternary
analogies in which the world's four elements, four winds, four seasons,
four streams in the garden of Eden were compared with four great Old-
Testament prophets, four Evengelists, four great Fathers of the Church,
and also four Cardinal virtues and four temperaments."
Let us then have a closer look at the animals in the arches.
The beast with its arched neck and long horns brings to mind a deer as
seen on coins of Stolberg8, Sigmaringen9, the beautiful bracteate of Giin-
2 B. PASZKIEWICZ, Pieniądz górnośląski w średniowieczu, Lublin 2000, p. 133.
3 Warszawskie Centrum Numizmatyczne (hereafter WCN), No. 20, item 86.
4 Coin Room, National Museum in Cracow VII-P-30.314.
5 WCN, No. 21, item 108.
6 WCN, No. 24, item 54.
7 M. LURKER, Słownik obrazów i symboli bibilijnych, Poznań 1989, p. 40.
8 BUSSO PEUS NACHF., Sammlung Dr. med. Friedrich Bonhoff, Hamburg, 1243 ff; F. BERGER,
Die mittelalterlichen Brakteaten im Kestner -Museum Hannaoer, Hannover 1993,1249, 2800-2802.
q BERGER, Die mittelalterlichen..., 2514 and 2515.
76