Discovered in 1992, the Hoxne Treasure is perhaps the richest cache of gold and silver coins, jewellery and tableware from the entire Roman world. The core of this volume is the catalogue of the 15,000 late 4th- and early 5th-century gold and silver coins, together with an in-depth discussion of the production and supply of late Roman coinage. Hoxne's silver coins are particularly interesting, and the book also contains ground-breaking discussions of the silver content of Roman currency as well as of the peculiarly British phenomena of coin clipping and copying. The value of the Hoxne Treasure in shedding light on an otherwise dark period of British history also calls for a broader, non-numismatic perspective, and the volume includes an important chapter dealing with the social significance of precious metals in the later Roman empire, particularly their role in the gift-exchange networks that defined and maintained late Roman imperial society.
In this second installment of the Viking Quest series, Bree finds herself in a physical and spiritual battle for survival. With another young slave, she makes a daring escape from the ship as soon as it reaches harbor. They hide in the woods as Mikkel and his Viking sailors begin a relentless search, certain that Bree is responsible for a missing bag of silver coins. Bree must face her unwillingless to forgive the Vikings, and Mikkel begins to wonder: Is the God of these Irish Christians really more powerful than our own Viking gods?
The 6th edition of this numismatic classic offers much more than previous editions, not only in terms of the number of varieties recorded but also in terms of the way in which the data has been recorded and presented. It has been completely renumbered to do away with the confusing letter suffixes used in previous editions, and is now arranged by monarch rather than denomination; all new numbers are cross-referenced to the previous edition.
"After Spain's colonial American mints poured forth a flood of silver coins, some of that treasure ended up in wrecks off the Florida coast. Alan Craig's captivating study explains how those coins were made and what historians and numismatists can learn from them."--Kendall W. Brown, Brigham Young University "The State of Florida is indeed fortunate that its colonial coin inventory, Florida's shipwreck patrimony, could be studied by Alan Craig. This work enriches us all."--Eugene Lyon, author of The Enterprise of Florida: Pedro Menéndez de Avilés and the Spanish Conquest of 1565-1568 and The Search for the Atocha The State of Florida owns a vast collection, nearly 23,000 specimens, of Spanish treasure coins salvaged from shipwrecks in Florida waters. It is the largest of its kind in existence. Alan Craig explains the circumstances behind their manufacture and describes the transporting of these unique hand-made coins, a complicated business full of intrigue and royal regulations. When freshly minted gold and silver left the Spanish colonial viceroyalties of Peru and Mexico aboard fleets of galleons headed to Spain, a number of ships sank off the coast of Florida. Counterfeiting was rife at the time, and Craig discusses a variety of mint scandals, especially those perpetrated by the notorious Francisco Gomez de la Rocha. Craig also analyzes coins from the mints of Mexico City, Potosi, Lima, and elsewhere. He follows the procedure of making coins, from mining the silver to refining it and ultimately converting it into coins of various sizes, and takes readers on a vivid "virtual" visit to a mint where they watch African slaves pour molten silver from furnaces into special molds and witness the days of constant hammering, annealing, die striking, blanching, weighing, and counting and recounting necessary to produce a sack of coins. Outstanding specimens from the Florida collection are depicted in numerous superb photographs, many enlarged to show elements of the engraving discussed in the text. In a final section Craig discusses the numismatic significance of the thousands of coins in the collection. As both an economic history and a numismatic study, this work will be a fascinating resource for historians, archaeologists, coin collectors, and general readers interested in maritime treasure. Alan K. Craig is professor emeritus of geography and geology at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton and coeditor of In Quest of Mineral Wealth.
The Thirty Pieces of Silver: Coin Relics in Medieval and Modern Europe discusses many interconnected topics relating to the most perfidious monetary transaction in history: the betrayal of Jesus by Judas for thirty pieces of silver. According to medieval legend, these coins had existed since the time of Abraham’s father and had been used in many transactions recorded in the Bible. This book documents fifty specimens of coins which were venerated as holy relics in medieval and modern churches and monasteries of Europe, from Valencia to Uppsala. Most of these relics are ancient Greek silver coins in origin mounted in precious reliquaries or used for the distribution of their wax imprints believed to have healing powers. Drawing from a wide range of historical sources, from hagiography to numismatics, this book will appeal to students and academics researching Late Antique, Medieval, and Early Modern History, Theology, as well as all those interested in the function of relics throughout Christendom. The Thirty Pieces of Silver is a study that invites meditation on the highly symbolic and powerful role of money through coins which were the price, value, and measure of Christ and which, despite being the most abject objects, managed to become relics.
In this collector's guide, retired chief engraver of the Philadelphia Mint and designer of the reverse side of the American silver eagle bullion coin, John M. Mercanti, details the history and development of the American silver eagles program as well as other U.S. bullion coins and medals.
