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Artikuły / Articles
DOI Artikel:Książyńska, Agnieszka; Łyczak, Monika: “Pecunia non olet?”: an analysis of the remnants of 16th-century silver coins from a cesspit on the property at 28 Floriańska St. / 18 Saint Mark St. in Krakow
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.43282#0208
AGNIESZKA KSIĄZYNSKA, MONIKA ŁYCZAK
in the coins into the nitrates, Chlorides, sulphides, and other salts that constitute
the entire conglomerate.
The standard Conservation procedurę in such cases provides for the stabilization
and preservation of the corrosion products in order to retain the state of the coins.
However, this type of procedurę does notyield any additional research information,
except that certain unspecified and undateable old coins would be shown to be
present. For this reason, the investigators took the difficult and risky decision to
apply a destructive research method in the hopes that in this way they would obtain
extra information on the remnants of the coins found.
After photographs were taken of the original state of the artefact, the proper
maintenance measures were implemented.6 The artefact was first immersed
in a benzotriazole solution, which, to a certain extent, passivized and stabilized
the corrosion products. The next step involved the mechanical Separation of
the individual coin remnants. This resulted in the attainment of 13 metallic-mineral
coin-shaped circles or their fragments. By means of a precise Operation, it was possible
to delaminate the fragile coating, which in many cases carried a morę or less exact
imprint, in the fixed Sediment, of the already non-existent coin. In one case, it was
possible to obtain near-complete negatives of both the obverse and reverse. Only
one form contained inside the sediment a fragment of the coin’s surround which it
was possible to fix, but without completely removing the corrosion products which,
in this particular case, would form a sort of “scaffolding” for the very fragile metal
material. In the case of another coin, part of the field depicting the eagle has survived,
but its surround can only be seen as a negative imprint. As for the remaining cases,
we were able to obtain the complete or partial prints of one of the coin sides, with
the choice of the side that was prepared depending only on an assessment of the stability
of the accumulated sediment coatings. Further steps in the maintenance process
entailed the application of another round of passivizing immersion and the rinsing
of the artefacts in distilled water to remove the left-over active Chemical reagents
from their surface. Because of their extremely fragile form, the dried remnants were
reinforced on the side that was not analyzed by means of the Chester Molecular CH-10
cyanoacrylate adhesive, which permitted further examination, from a numismatic
perspective, in order to obtain morę thorough results.
As a result of this analysis, it was determined that the artefacts represent at
least six types of silver coins, predominantly products of Prussian mintage from
the second quarter of the 16* Century. The coins identified are as follows: Schillings
of Royal Prussia issued in the name of King Sigismund I the Old (Terra Prussiae
coins minted at the mint in Toruń as well as city coins from Gdańsk and Elbląg)
6 Cf. KSIĄŻYŃSKA2014.
in the coins into the nitrates, Chlorides, sulphides, and other salts that constitute
the entire conglomerate.
The standard Conservation procedurę in such cases provides for the stabilization
and preservation of the corrosion products in order to retain the state of the coins.
However, this type of procedurę does notyield any additional research information,
except that certain unspecified and undateable old coins would be shown to be
present. For this reason, the investigators took the difficult and risky decision to
apply a destructive research method in the hopes that in this way they would obtain
extra information on the remnants of the coins found.
After photographs were taken of the original state of the artefact, the proper
maintenance measures were implemented.6 The artefact was first immersed
in a benzotriazole solution, which, to a certain extent, passivized and stabilized
the corrosion products. The next step involved the mechanical Separation of
the individual coin remnants. This resulted in the attainment of 13 metallic-mineral
coin-shaped circles or their fragments. By means of a precise Operation, it was possible
to delaminate the fragile coating, which in many cases carried a morę or less exact
imprint, in the fixed Sediment, of the already non-existent coin. In one case, it was
possible to obtain near-complete negatives of both the obverse and reverse. Only
one form contained inside the sediment a fragment of the coin’s surround which it
was possible to fix, but without completely removing the corrosion products which,
in this particular case, would form a sort of “scaffolding” for the very fragile metal
material. In the case of another coin, part of the field depicting the eagle has survived,
but its surround can only be seen as a negative imprint. As for the remaining cases,
we were able to obtain the complete or partial prints of one of the coin sides, with
the choice of the side that was prepared depending only on an assessment of the stability
of the accumulated sediment coatings. Further steps in the maintenance process
entailed the application of another round of passivizing immersion and the rinsing
of the artefacts in distilled water to remove the left-over active Chemical reagents
from their surface. Because of their extremely fragile form, the dried remnants were
reinforced on the side that was not analyzed by means of the Chester Molecular CH-10
cyanoacrylate adhesive, which permitted further examination, from a numismatic
perspective, in order to obtain morę thorough results.
As a result of this analysis, it was determined that the artefacts represent at
least six types of silver coins, predominantly products of Prussian mintage from
the second quarter of the 16* Century. The coins identified are as follows: Schillings
of Royal Prussia issued in the name of King Sigismund I the Old (Terra Prussiae
coins minted at the mint in Toruń as well as city coins from Gdańsk and Elbląg)
6 Cf. KSIĄŻYŃSKA2014.