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#0079
COIN MINTING TECHNIQUES...
to the alloy. The addition of lead to the alloy during the Hellenistic period is not only
visible in Egypt but all around the Mediterranean Sea.26 At this time, despite the fact
that large quantities of molded forgeries were produced, there is no visible evolution
in the technique used by the official mint of Alexandria. Several explanations have
been offered for this phenomenon. Some of them are of a technical naturę. We saw
earlier that the addition of lead lowers the melting point, thus saving fuel during the
process. Other explanations are economic in naturę. The use of large quantities of
lead, five to ten times cheaper than tin, reduced the mint’s operating costs. While
an explanation based on economics is possible, the money that would have been
saved as a result of conducting these operations would have been insignificant at
the state level.27 In Ptolemaic Egypt, changes in the metallic content of the bronze
coins occurred either after changes in the technique had already been implemented
(when the blanks were no longer made from bars but in casting molds) or after
a recall of the coinage (after the recall of series 5, series 6, and series 9). At this
point, it is quite likely that the mints were receiving a greater quantity of material
that they needed to melt. If this was indeed the case, then it would have been easier
to use both recycled material - to facilitate melting - and lead, which was cheap
and easily available. Here, the bronze coins struck by Cleopatra are a good example:
this is the only issue in which the coins have a high content of both lead and tin.
The mint of Alexandria was certainly unable to get rid of all the lead included in
the alloy of the recalled coins (or eise they did not want to cover the costs) and
in order to improve the quality of the coins (at least in the eyes of the users), they
simply added large quantities of tin to the freshly minted coins.
METALLOGRAPHY
The study of the structure of metals and alloys provides another source of
information on the minting process. Its limitation lies in the fact that coins have to
be cut or abraded in order to look at their structure.28
It is therefore impossible to obtain any information on gold coins, considering
their high value. Metallographie studies on silver coins are rare, though some have
been conducted for the Ptolemaic period. My study of silver coins exclusively
dealt with the issues of the last two Ptolemies, Ptolemy XII and Cleopatra VII.
The silver content in the coins during this period dropped dramatically. Some of
the coins struck with this debased content also show an important drop in weight,
26 BLET-LEMARQUAND 2013: 49-54.
27 If the minting of coins is considered as a whole, the value of the bronze struck is unlikely to have been
as high as 2% of the total value of the metals minted even if as many silver coins as bronze coins were struck.
28 For an overall presentation of the method, see: LANIECE 1988.
to the alloy. The addition of lead to the alloy during the Hellenistic period is not only
visible in Egypt but all around the Mediterranean Sea.26 At this time, despite the fact
that large quantities of molded forgeries were produced, there is no visible evolution
in the technique used by the official mint of Alexandria. Several explanations have
been offered for this phenomenon. Some of them are of a technical naturę. We saw
earlier that the addition of lead lowers the melting point, thus saving fuel during the
process. Other explanations are economic in naturę. The use of large quantities of
lead, five to ten times cheaper than tin, reduced the mint’s operating costs. While
an explanation based on economics is possible, the money that would have been
saved as a result of conducting these operations would have been insignificant at
the state level.27 In Ptolemaic Egypt, changes in the metallic content of the bronze
coins occurred either after changes in the technique had already been implemented
(when the blanks were no longer made from bars but in casting molds) or after
a recall of the coinage (after the recall of series 5, series 6, and series 9). At this
point, it is quite likely that the mints were receiving a greater quantity of material
that they needed to melt. If this was indeed the case, then it would have been easier
to use both recycled material - to facilitate melting - and lead, which was cheap
and easily available. Here, the bronze coins struck by Cleopatra are a good example:
this is the only issue in which the coins have a high content of both lead and tin.
The mint of Alexandria was certainly unable to get rid of all the lead included in
the alloy of the recalled coins (or eise they did not want to cover the costs) and
in order to improve the quality of the coins (at least in the eyes of the users), they
simply added large quantities of tin to the freshly minted coins.
METALLOGRAPHY
The study of the structure of metals and alloys provides another source of
information on the minting process. Its limitation lies in the fact that coins have to
be cut or abraded in order to look at their structure.28
It is therefore impossible to obtain any information on gold coins, considering
their high value. Metallographie studies on silver coins are rare, though some have
been conducted for the Ptolemaic period. My study of silver coins exclusively
dealt with the issues of the last two Ptolemies, Ptolemy XII and Cleopatra VII.
The silver content in the coins during this period dropped dramatically. Some of
the coins struck with this debased content also show an important drop in weight,
26 BLET-LEMARQUAND 2013: 49-54.
27 If the minting of coins is considered as a whole, the value of the bronze struck is unlikely to have been
as high as 2% of the total value of the metals minted even if as many silver coins as bronze coins were struck.
28 For an overall presentation of the method, see: LANIECE 1988.