DOI issue:
Artikuły / Articles
DOI article:Faucher, Thomas: Coin minting techniques in Ptolemaic Egypt: observe, analyze, recreate
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.43282#0074
THOMAS FAUCHER
are different. As a result, these two types of coinage should be studied separately.
This will help us understand how their external (or visible) features can be used to
show how they were produced.
1. Gold and silver
Not much is known about the process used to manufacture blanks for precious
metal coins in the ancient Greek world. These lumps of metal, which were used
to make coins and which were usually round in shape, do not usually betray how
they were produced. One thing that we need to understand is how this piece of
metal was modeled. A certain amount of metal, of regulär weight or volume, was
melted down from a solid state (from a chunk, a ball, or from some other form
of small size) into a flat and round shape. One would expect this transformation
to leave some traces on the outside of the coin (traces of a mold of some sort or
that of a funnel, depending on the technique used) but for most of these coins, no
traces appear and it seems that the vast majority of the blanks were not modified
after they were melted. Some scholars have seen traces of flattened metal either on
the flan or, morę often, on the edge of some silver coins (Fig. I).11 These traces have
led them to propose a two-piece mold that would have produced a piece of metal in
the form of a bali. The junction between the two parts of the mold would have had
a linear excrescence that would have been flattened in the minting process. However,
because it would have been a difficult and time-consuming process to Hatten these
balls - not to mention the fact that there are no traces that this Operation was actually
used - it is unlikely that this technique was used in the past. These excrescences
also appear on some late Ptolemaic silver coins. To the best of my knowledge, no
reasonable explanation for this phenomenon has yet been proposed. Unfortunately,
the present paper does not provide any new information in this respect, but morę
attention needs to be paid to these traces in the futurę, because, in my opinion, they
provide the key to understand the manner in which a large group of precious metal
coins were manufactured in ancient Greece.
2. Copper alloys
Things are easier when it comes to copper alloys. Different discoveries, in
different parts of the Greek world (but mostly in the East), of molds, in stone or
in clay, but also of rods of metal, provide us with an important source of information
for understanding the manner in which blanks were created. With regard to this
matter, the Ptolemaic kingdom is a good source of information. Besides the molds
11 NASTER 1958. For earlier sources of information about this phenomenon, see: HILL 1922: 6-7;
VILLENOISY 1900: 60.
are different. As a result, these two types of coinage should be studied separately.
This will help us understand how their external (or visible) features can be used to
show how they were produced.
1. Gold and silver
Not much is known about the process used to manufacture blanks for precious
metal coins in the ancient Greek world. These lumps of metal, which were used
to make coins and which were usually round in shape, do not usually betray how
they were produced. One thing that we need to understand is how this piece of
metal was modeled. A certain amount of metal, of regulär weight or volume, was
melted down from a solid state (from a chunk, a ball, or from some other form
of small size) into a flat and round shape. One would expect this transformation
to leave some traces on the outside of the coin (traces of a mold of some sort or
that of a funnel, depending on the technique used) but for most of these coins, no
traces appear and it seems that the vast majority of the blanks were not modified
after they were melted. Some scholars have seen traces of flattened metal either on
the flan or, morę often, on the edge of some silver coins (Fig. I).11 These traces have
led them to propose a two-piece mold that would have produced a piece of metal in
the form of a bali. The junction between the two parts of the mold would have had
a linear excrescence that would have been flattened in the minting process. However,
because it would have been a difficult and time-consuming process to Hatten these
balls - not to mention the fact that there are no traces that this Operation was actually
used - it is unlikely that this technique was used in the past. These excrescences
also appear on some late Ptolemaic silver coins. To the best of my knowledge, no
reasonable explanation for this phenomenon has yet been proposed. Unfortunately,
the present paper does not provide any new information in this respect, but morę
attention needs to be paid to these traces in the futurę, because, in my opinion, they
provide the key to understand the manner in which a large group of precious metal
coins were manufactured in ancient Greece.
2. Copper alloys
Things are easier when it comes to copper alloys. Different discoveries, in
different parts of the Greek world (but mostly in the East), of molds, in stone or
in clay, but also of rods of metal, provide us with an important source of information
for understanding the manner in which blanks were created. With regard to this
matter, the Ptolemaic kingdom is a good source of information. Besides the molds
11 NASTER 1958. For earlier sources of information about this phenomenon, see: HILL 1922: 6-7;
VILLENOISY 1900: 60.