The forty-fifth ANS Graduate Seminar in Numismatics concluded its nine-week program on August 15, following a week of presentations by the students on their individual research projects conducted over the summer. Thirteen students representing twelve universities participated.
This year's Visiting Scholar was Dr. Michael Alram of the Staatliche Kunstsammlung in Vienna, a specialist in the coinage of pre-Islamic Iran, who presented three lectures to the students, ranging from the coinage of the Achaemenids through a discussion of a late medieval hoard found in Lower Austria.
Also assisting the curatorial and library staff in the conduct of the program, under the general direction of Chief Curator William E. Metcalf, were several outside speakers, whose presentations emphasized various approaches to the study of the numismatic evidence. Included were: T.V. Buttrey (Cambridge, England); Sarah E. Cox (New York); Ben Lee Damsky (Belmont, CA); Eric P. Newman (St. Louis); and Stephen K. Scher (Clifton, NJ).
The ANS Graduate Seminar program is supported by the Eric P. Newman Education Fund, established by gifts from Mr. and Mrs. Newman.
Student Research Topics
This year's students, with their academic affiliations and a synopsis of their seminar research topics, were as follows:
Joel Allen (Department of Classics, Program in Ancient History, Yale University), "Trajan's COS V aurei." For nine years in the middle of Trajan's reign (103-111: COS V), the emperor's numismatic titulature is unchanged, making the chronology of the period's considerable body of coinage very tentative on the surface. Past attempts to put the coins in order have been based on the progression of obverse portrait types, but a close study of the aurei reveals that such a method yields only limited success. A better chronology is achieved when the results of a die study of nearly 300 aurei reveals that some various reverse types can be grouped into distinct series. When these series are considered in light of the progression of their obverse portraits, an important preliminary step is made in establishing the chronology for the other denominations.
M. Shane Butler (Department of Classics, Program in Classical Studies, Columbia University), "Writing and Coins." A study of Roman coinage from its origins through the principate of Augustus has illuminated the relationship between writing on coins and writing in other media. In particular, two phenomena have been scrutinized: 1) the depiction of inscribed objects as coin types; and 2) the imitation of writing in other media in the formal characteristics of numismatic writing. With respect to the latter, the use of epigraphic square capitals on coins has been traced up to their adoption as the exclusive script of the coins of the Roman Empire.
Mary Margaret Fulghum (Department of Fine Arts, Harvard University), "`Through a Glass Darkly': Unresolved Questions about Byzantine Glass Weights." This paper deals largely with the iconography and development of a typology of Byzantine glass weights, arguing that any figural representation on the weights depicts either Christ or the emperor, rather than an eparch, as has been previously argued. Tentative frequency tables are developed, based on the typology, which show that the large glass weights closely correspond to the weight of a solidus. Also based on the typology, the starting point of glass weights is dated to the time of Anastasius I. Besides Byzantine metrology and its iconography, the author is interested in coins perforated to be worn as jewelry or amulets.
John C. Hansen (Department of History, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill), "The Coinage of the Hellenistic Koinon of the Boeotians." In the aftermath of the allied defeat at Chaeroneia (338 BC), the Boeotian cities were reorganized into a new Koinon. During the period from 338 to 171 BC, the Koinon of the Boeotians issued silver and bronze coinage, all recognizable by the legend BOI(T(N. The fundamental study of this coinage remains B.V. Head's On the Chronological Sequence of the Coins of Boeotia, published in 1881. Although scholars have challenged several points of Head's chronology, no one has yet attempted a systematic reexamination of the coinage. During a summer of work at the ANS, I began a die study of the silver coins of the Demeter/Poseidon and Poseidon/Nike types, placing them in a more precise chronological order. In addition, I examined the bronze issues in regard to their type, chronology, and denomination. In the future, I expect to expand the scope of my study.
Martha G. Jenks (Group in Ancient History and Mediterranean Archaeology, University of California, Berkeley), "The Coinage of Theodebert I of Metz (533-548)." After the collapse of the Roman Empire in the West, the barbarian successor states produced gold coinage in the emperor's name and on the Byzantine standard. This "pseudo-imperial" coinage used Byzantine types and legends which quickly became immobilized. However, the coinage of Theodebert I, the Merovingian king of Austrasia from 533/4 to 547/8, recorded the king's name, rather than that of the emperor, on the obverse. Furthermore, this coinage shows greater experimentation with titulatures and reverse types than either contemporary Byzantine coinage or other barbarian coinages. This study analyzes the barbarian and Byzantine prototypes of Theodebert's coinage, and explores the political implications of the use of numismatic spolia on the coinage of a barbarian king.
Brian Klinzing (Department of History, Fordham University), "The Coinage of Aquitaine Under Early Angevin Rule." The Aquitanian coinage of the twelfth century illustrates the political struggles of the Capetians and Angevins over control of Western France. Calling for a rethinking of the standard chronology of the coins of William X to Richard Lion-Heart, as well as questioning the attribution to Eleanor of the Ducisit coins, this study examines the typography, epigraphy, and diffusion of these coins. Furthermore, the hoard evidence and geographical distribution of these coins is used to support the argument that the "Angevin Empire" was hardly an Empire.
Kriszta Kotsis (Division of Art History, University of Washington), "Coinage of Irene (797-802)." A systematic die study and stylistic analysis of the gold solidi minted by the empress Irene in Constantinople during the five years of her independent rule was carried out in order to obtain information about the organization of the Mint of Constantinople at the end of the eighth and the beginning of the ninth century. While the evidence collected thus far does not allow the reconstruction of a firm chronology of Irene's solidi, an analysis of die links and control marks attests to the existence of at least two contemporaneous organizational units in close proximity cooperating in the production of Irene's solidi. In addition, the stylistic evidence suggests a further division in the production which would either be chronological or geographical.
Cindy L. Nimchuk (Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations, University of Toronto), "The Lion and Bull Coinage of Lydia: A Study of the Croesids." The Croesids are thought to have been initiated during the reign of Croesus, ca. 560-547 BC, and possibly continued until Darius coined the daric/siglos series sometime between 520-500 BC. Paul Naster in particular has examined aspects of striking, metrology, and style, but a comprehensive die study has not yet been done. My project this summer has focused on examining the die links and the styles of the Croesids in both the gold and silver issues and in all denominations. The material base of this study has been the collection of the ANS, supplemented by casts and photographs of Croesids housed in other museums and published accounts of hoard finds. The pattern of style distribution and reverse linkages suggests a relative sequence of minting that confirms the continuity of the coinage.
Carlos F. Noreña (Graduate Group in Ancient History, University of Pennsylvania), "Vespasian's Coinage and the Assertion of Dynasty." This paper examines the relative frequency of coin types minted at Rome under Vespasian. Emphasis is placed on the emperor's dynastic issues: 1) coins with reverse types which justify the Flavian claim to the throne (e.g. Pax, Judea Capta), and 2) coins with obverse portraits of Titus or Domitian. The methodology involves tabulation of the specimens known to us -- four hoards, archaeological sites, and stray finds -- and assumes that the survival rate of coins will bear a close relationship to the relative size of the issue in antiquity. Most important, the results allow us to attach statistical data to our interpretation of imperial coin types.
Cleopatra Papaevangelou (Dept. of Arch., Aristoteleion, Thessaloniki), "The Coinage of Tragilos in Macedonia." Tragilos, a small ancient city in Macedonia, was numismatically active in two periods (ca. 460-400 BC) issuing in silver and (ca. 400-360 BC) in bronze. The aim of this project is completion of the "corpus" of the silver and bronze Tragilos coinage, consisting of 461 published and unpublished coins collected from museums and private collections of Europe and the U.S. as well as from sales catalogues. A die study was undertaken combined with a stylistic and metrological analysis and a comparative examination with other Macedonian and Thracian coinages and Macedonian regnal coinage.
Sara E. Phang (Department of History, Columbia University), "The Silver Coinage of Carthage in the Reign of Justinian." A partial catalogue of the siliquae of Justinian minted at Carthage, with discussion of types, attribution, and a hypothetical sequence; calculations of average and theoretical weights and denominations, with a reconsideration of the evidence of AV-AR and AV-AE relationships in the Late Roman and early Byzantine empire, with use of data for the numismatic finds at Carthage as well as textual sources.
Joshua D. Sosin (Department of Classical Studies, Duke University), "The Silver Staters of Mazaeus of Tarsus." This paper presents preliminary results of an historical analysis and die study of Mazaeus' silver stater issues from Tarsus. Special emphasis is laid on deriving the system of mint production from the combinations of control marks.
Kevin Uhalde (Department of History/Program in the Ancient World, Princeton University), "The Quasi-Imperial Coinage of Merovingian Provence." A new corpus of 134 solidi and tremisses is presented. Both Merovingian royal politics, and attitudes toward Byzantium, are shown to be irrelevant to the production of the coinage. The types are a hybrid of influences. The patricius et rector provinciae is identified as the authority who dictated the unique metrological standards of the coinage.
As the ANS continues to expand their site on the World Wide Web of the Internet, they also are providing new information to all those around the world interested in numismatics. As of August 15, the ANS Web Site (http://www.amnumsoc.org) has made available a searchable database of their own Numismatic Cabinet holdings. Information on specific coins in the different departments will be searchable for ANS members and other numismatists, no matter where they live.
Divided into 12 departments, the total database of coin information represents over 533,000 records. It is being made available through the work of the Harry Bass Research Foundation, which is developing and maintaining the ANS site at this time. With the wealth of information that is generally available for the first time, it is becoming more important that numismatists avail themselves of the use of a computer in their research, and in particular the Internet.
Menu-Driven Search Capability
The link to the Search databases is on the main home page of the ANS site. On the Search sub-menu, there are search screens for each of the twelve ANS Departments, as well as an "E-Mail to:" capability to the respective Department Curator. There is also some background about each of the Departments, their strengths, and a brief history of their formation. Before searching, it will be helpful to read both the General Search Hints, which tells about how best to utilize the full power of Texis (the search engine), and also the Search Hints specific to the particular Department, which will give you some specific keyword search examples to get acquainted with the information and its layout.
Other Search Files On-Line
In addition to the Coin Department databases, other numismatic treasures are also at this same Search URL. There is a sample database of 2,200 records from the ANS Library. The Society is studying the means of computerizing the full "library-card" listing of the 100,000+ ANS Library items in order to make the catalogue available to the public over the Internet. Also under way is a creation of a searchable database of citations (most with abstracts) of the past fifty years of Numismatic Literature (published twice a year by the ANS), which includes submissions from all over the world. Though the original scholarship published may be in English, German, French, Spanish, etc., the abstracts are all in English, and will help students of numismatics decide whether to pursue tracking down the original article or publication. At this point in time, the HBRF staff has entered only the last several years, and the beginning years (1946 forward), but this oeuvre of knowledge will be expanded greatly in the coming months as more and more issues are included. It is a searchable resource that researchers and students of numismatics will want to visit time and again.
In addition to the databases already noted, two other databases of information are available at this same site -- the NIP (Numismatic Indexes Project) of the HBRF, and the HBRF Collection of U.S. Large Size Currency. The Numismatic Indexes Project (commonly referred to as "NIP") is a database of 72,000 articles from numismatic periodicals (written in English) in the last 100+ years, representing fourteen different publication sources. In addition to the different ANS publications, the full index of The Numismatist (ANA), The Celator, The Colonial Newsletter, and others are included. The HBRF Large Size Currency Collection represents 255 splendid examples of our US currency from the period of 100 years ago, and a number of these scarce/unique notes have full size obverse/reverse photos.
The American Numismatic Society is using today's latest Internet technology to share its vast numismatic knowledge, expertise and resources with the world, and to encourage numismatists everywhere to become members of the ANS and strengthen this outreach and sharing of knowledge.
Since 1991, The Harry W. Bass, Jr. Research Foundation, has endeavored to serve the numismatic research community. Two principal program areas currently engage the HBRF staff: the acquisition, cataloguing and preservation of rare and significant collections of U.S. Numismatics to the end that they will be available to serious numismatists for purposes of education and research; and providing support and expertise to develop and make available a variety of numismatic research tools through the Internet.
In July, Alan Stahl, ANS Curator of Medieval Coins, flew to the Dominican Republic to examine the coins found in the excavation of Concepción de la Vega. Like the other Dominican site on which Stahl has worked, La Isabela, this settlement was founded in the late fifteenth century by Christopher Columbus. The excavations at Concepción have been carried out by the Dominican Park Service and, like Isabela, are being analyzed by a team headed by Professor Kathleen Deagan of the University of Florida.
Concepción, in the interior Cibao valley, was founded and developed as a central spot for the processing of the gold which Columbus expected to find in significant quantities in the Caribbean. By the first decade of the sixteenth century, the settlement included a fortress, a cathedral, and a monastery famous as the home of the historian Bartolomeo de las Casas. The population is thought to have peaked at around 1510 with over 10,000 residents of European and indigenous background. The lack of substantial discoveries of gold, as well as a smallpox epidemic which devastated the indigenous population, led to the depopulation of the settlement, which is generally thought to have continued on a much reduced basis from about 1520 until an earthquake in 1562 finished all occupation.
Stahl has not completed his study of the coin finds of Concepción, but he has already noted some surprising patterns. Among the 61 coins found singly in context, none represent the blanca issue of 1471 of Henry IV, which dominated the finds of Isabela (see his report in AJN 5-6 [1993-94]). Rather, there is a modest representation of the maravedi issue of Ferdinand and Isabella initiated in 1497 (8 one-maravedi pieces, mainly from Seville), a larger representation of the special colonial issue of Ferdinand initiated in 1506 (5 four-maravedi pieces, 12 two-maravedi pieces, and 2 one-maravedi pieces, from the mints of Seville and Burgos), and a surprisingly large presence of the Santo Domingo bronze issue of Carlos and Juana (32 four-maravedi pieces and 1 two- maravedi), initiated in the 1530s. In addition, in the excavation a hoard was found of 55 examples of the Carlos and Juana four-maravedi issue, representing a wide variety of the styles of this notoriously diverse coinage. The only silver coin discovered to date is a half real of Ferdinand from the mint of Seville.
Stahl is due to return to the site, and will attempt a classification of the Carlos and Juana issue, but his preliminary observation is that the part of the site whose material he has seen to date is later than the 1495-1520 occupation previously assumed. If there are fifteenth-century features on the site they are probably not represented in the coins he has seen, and the numismatic evidence suggests significant activity at the site in the mid-sixteenth century. To Stahl's disappointment, he has so far found no evidence in the site or in the finds examined to date of the possible minting of coins in Concepción previous to the opening of the Santo Domingo mint, a conjecture that has been made on the basis of the documentation of a Mint Master at the site in 1500 and a description in the history of de las Casas.
Studies in the Macedonian Coinage of Alexander the Great by Hyla A. Troxell is now available from the ANS. Its 161 pages cover the silver coins issued by Alexander III and Philip II from the major Macedonian mint (usually identified as Amphipolis) and Alexander's lifetime gold. Issues and groups, die linkage, hoards, relative and absolute chronology are thoroughly investigated. Further clarification is provided by 24 tables, 8 figures, 4 appendices, and 3 indices. The 31 plates illustrate the coins and die links, early Macedonian coinage, and unpublished hoard material.
Members holding the Publications Subscription should have received their copy in the mail. Those who desire to purchase the volume can do so directly from the ANS for $85.00 plus postage and handling of $1.50 for U.S. delivery or $2.00 for foreign delivery.
John Kleeberg has been awarded one of the stipendia for research at the Herzog August Bibliothek in Wolfenbüttel, in Lower Saxony in Germany. He plans to spend two months working at the library Wolfenbüttel beginning April 15, 1998. His project will be examining the German financial press of the latter half of the nineteenth century. Although the Herzog August Bibliothek is perhaps best known for its collections of German Renaissance and Baroque literature (some days it seems as though everyone in the reading room is studying Klopstock's Messiah) it has excellent collections in the nineteenth century as well. In particular, it has a full run of the Berliner Börsen-Zeitung. Although Kleeberg has consulted other periodicals in the past, notably Der Aktionär of Frankfurt am Main, Der Aktionär is somewhat less interesting because it was an honest operation. The Berliner Börsen-Zeitung, on the other hand, was for sale to the highest bidder. It had close contact with the corrupt railway builders whom Kleeberg is studying, and publishes information about their dubious projects before anyone else, even though the financial estimates must be taken with a grain of salt, of course.
The Herzog August Bibliothek in Wolfenbüttel, which is a research and study center for European cultural history, goes back to the library established by Duke Augustus the Younger of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, who is perhaps best known to numismatists for his series of seven bell thalers and for his many beautiful multiple thalers, such as the "birthday thaler." Its previous librarians included Leibniz, the inventor of integral calculus, and Lessing, the playwright and author of Nathan the Wise, a plea for tolerance among Christians and Jews. The beautiful rotunda designed by Leibniz and which served as the model for other round libraries, notably that of the Radcliffe Camera in Oxford, no longer exists; it was torn down in the nineteenth century, partly at the urging of Theodor Mommsen, and replaced by a building constructed by the best railway station architect in the Duchy of Brunswick. In 1981, the baroque Zeughaus (arsenal) in Wolfenbüttel was renovated and opened to the public as new quarters for the library. The renovated Zeughaus is one of the most beautiful library buildings in the world.
The third annual Arab-Byzantine Forum at the ANS is scheduled this year for Saturday November 15 at 10:00. The meeting is for formal and informal discussion of the seventh and eighth- century copper coinage of the eastern Mediterranean derived from Byzantine prototypes, as well as the Byzantine prototypes themselves. The meeting will be co-sponsored by the North American branch of the Oriental Numismatic Society.
The meeting is expected to last most of the day. A sandwich lunch will be provided, as well as coffee and snacks, for which there will be a fee of $20.00. Anyone with an interest in the field who would like to attend should contact Michael L. Bates at the Society. Contributions on the historical, economic, administrative and social background to the coinage will also be welcome.
Two More Seminars Scheduled
During the coming year, there will be two more informal seminars for collectors and students. On Saturday, February 21, 1998, an East Asia Forum will be held. This is intended to concentrate on Chinese cast coins, to introduce the coinage to those new to this field of study. Several experienced specialists are expected to be on hand.
Then May 16, 1998, also a Saturday, will be the date on which a forum on Eastern Mediterranean Coinage in the Twelfth Century will be held. This is intended to bring together a lot of interests: Atabeg coppers, Crusader coins (both Frankish and Arabic), Byzantine, Fatimid, Ayyubid, Norman: if it's twelfth century, Mediterranean, and eastern, we're interested. We might even be willing to shade the limits a bit for interesting topics.
For any of the forums, contact Curator Michael Bates at the Society (bates@amnumsoc.org).
The little hill town of Isernia in Italy was the scene of a conference of some two hundred scholars from all over Europe on the "Transformation of the Roman World," the third and last convened to consider the change from antiquity to the medieval era in all its aspects, from June 28 to July 3. One conference working group was "The Use of Money in the Early Middle Ages," which included on this occasion Dr. Michael Bates, ANS Curator of Islamic Coins, to report the transition in the eastern Mediterranean countries, for comparison with Europe.
Other members of the panel included Ermanno Arslan for Italy, Cécile Morrisson on the eastern Roman empire, Stanislaw Sucholdolski on the Merovingians, Tuukka Talvio on the importation of foreign coin into Scandinavia, Miquel Barceló, Felix Retamero and Alberto Canto Garcia on Spain, and Mark Blackburn for England. Blackburn and Barceló were co-chairs of the group, and Blackburn made the group's formal report to the entire assembled conference. The entire Transformation project is financed by the European Science Foundation, an agency of the Council of Europe.
No European conference would be complete without excursions, which were of exceptional interest on this occasion. Attendees visited two monasteries of the transitional period. San Vincenzo al Volturno near Isernia (which is in Italy's central mountains, about 90 kilometers north of Naples) flourished for about a century before being burned and looted by Saracen mercenaries in the service of the Duke of Naples in 883. Its mother house Montecassino stood for over a thousand years before being reduced to rubble by American bombers in 1944, but beneath the modern reconstruction the ancient foundations can still be seen. At both sites, as well as at museums and institutions in Isernia, the group was shown around by expert guides.
The Proceedings volume of the eleventh annual ANS Coinage of the Americas Conference, Coinage of the American Confederation Period, was honored as "Best Museum Catalog" at the annual "NLG Bash" held July 31 in conjunction with the ANA Convention in New York City. The Numismatic Literary Guild, the national professional organization of numismatic authors, editors, and publishers, annually honors numismatic works published during the past year, selected from among submissions in a variety of categories.
Coinage of the American Confederation Period, edited by Dr. Philip L. Mossman, was published by the ANS in 1996 and is the largest volume in the COAC Proceedings series to date. Nine fully illustrated papers are presented in its 346 pages; the book is available from dealers and directly from the ANS at $25.00 plus $1.50 postage. The current listing of ANS publications in print may be viewed at the Society's web site, http://www.amnumsoc.org.
The Colonial Newsletter, serial #105, of August 1997, has been mailed to subscribers. This journal, founded in 1960, deals with early American numismatics prior to 1793 and appears three times a year. This current issue, the second one to be published under the sponsorship of the American Numismatic Society, contains two full length articles in its 34 pages.
The first feature, "The Case Against Thomas Goadsby," by Michael Hodder, describes the legal entanglements in which this prominent figure in New Jersey coinages became embroiled in post-Revolutionary New York of 1785. The second full length presentation is the reproduction and annotation of a c.1810 manuscript, The Adventures of a Halfpenny; commonly called a Birmingham Halfpenny. This child's book, written in animated fashion using the colloquial language of the period, narrates the adventures of a William III counterfeit copper. Although originally intended for a young audience, this booklet gives much numismatically valuable information about the manufacturing and circulation of counterfeit coppers. The 58 footnotes skillfully researched by the author, Charles W. Smith, explain many of the archaic terms and argot of the times.
A hitherto unpublished Fugio copper, Newman 25-PP, reported by Anthony Terranova, prompts a discussion of the clubbed rays Fugio by Editor-Emeritus James C. Spilman and current editor, Philip L. Mossman. Anyone who would like to receive a complimentary issue of CNL 105, is invited to contact Leslie A. Elam, Executive Director, American Numismatic Society, Broadway at 155th Street, New York, NY 10032. ANS members may elect to receive CNL as a perquisite of membership.
This year's meeting took place in Philadelphia at the Sheraton Society Hill Hotel on 2-3 May with the theme of the "Transformation of Humanistic Studies in the University of the 21st Century." Discourse, much of it murky, canvassed the impact of the bewildering array of technological "advances" in electronic communication. Predictions, dire and hopeful, that were offered, however, simply will have to wait on the passage of time. More interestingly, three panelists spoke of how the disciplines that comprise the humanities have undergone change because of political and social pressure. No longer does the emphasis of humanistic teaching stress national goals but global ones, or so it seems. But even in a global context, learning to write and speak coherently and with moral awareness, the essential substance of an education in the humane disciplines, will remain of value.
One other topic, the ever popular subject of the Academic Labor Market, occupied one session of the meeting. Again, many gloomy remarks on the consequence of having educated so many Ph.D.s, but no useful proposals on how to use them, were forthcoming. Underlying so much of the discussion at this session was the reluctance to admit that teaching and scholarly work are fundamentally a "calling." For many reasons, mostly meretricious ones, the Ph.D. has become a glittering prize that some think should be available to all who want it.
Haskins Lecturer
Natalie Zemon Davis presented the Haskins Lecture this year. The Henry Charles Lea Professor of History emeritus at Princeton, she specializes in French history of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Her account of her intellectual life demonstrates what a scholarly life entails and how it can be accommodated to a woman's role as wife and mother in a society that was and is not always sympathetic to the woman who wants a useful scholarly career. I found her talk engaging and stimulating. Intelligence rightly used, perseverance, and wit do have their rewards.
Change, as we all know, is inevitable and the ACLS too is changing. The president and the vice-president are both retiring this year. Stan Katz will return to teaching history at Princeton and Doug Bennett will assume the presidency of Earlham College. Both have served the ACLS nobly and well. The new president is John D'Arms, professor of Classics at the University of Michigan and sometime graduate dean there. He is an able and imaginative scholar and administrator who will continue the good work of Stan Katz. No vice-president has yet been appointed.
Respectfully submitted,
Roger A. Hornsby
Second Vice-President