Wiadomości Numizmatyczne

The aim of the work is to closely examine the permeating of Pomeranian coins, struck by the last representatives of the House of Griffins into the Polish monetary market and to determine the scale of the process. The principal research method is the examination of the finds containing Pomeranian coins deposited in Poland, complemented with the analysis of written sources. The exploration of the numismatic material allowed the determination of both the number of Pomeranian coins in Polish deposits (109 certain and 15 probable coins of the last five representatives of the House of Griffins in 49 deposits) and the frequency of individual types of Pomeranian coins (with the absolute prevalence of poltoraks and debased groschen). It also helped to arrive at the conclusion as to the direction of the influx of the Pomeranian coins into Poland (while in the second decade or the first half of the third decade of the 17th century the Silesian route may have been prevalent, from the third decade of the 17th century the northern direction seems to have been more probable). The analysis of political and economic relationships made it possible to explain the absence of Pomeranian coins in hoards from the Poland-Brandenburg borderland and the area at the border between Greater Poland and the Duchy of Pomerania.

The article is the first attempt to analyze comprehensively Polish numismatic illustration in the 19th century created in noble graphic techniques: woodcut, copperplate, etching and steelwork. The authors focused on discussing drawings from the work of J. Ch. Albertandi “History of Polish medals attested and explained” that never appeared in print and the works of K. W. Kielisiński, A. Oleszczynski and J. Lelewel. They drew attention to the value of the iconographic material as the transmission of scientific information complementary to the text, the graphic engraving as an independent, sometimes outstanding work of art and the complexity of motives and inspirations that guided artists in the subject of Polish coins and medals.

Surface prospection at site 5 in Nieprowice, Pińczów county, Świętokrzyskie voivodship, revealed a quite large series of Roman coins (33 specimens), accompanied by numerous and differentiated artefacts of the Przeworsk culture. Many of the artefacts are metal decorations and elements of dress that usually provide precise dating of archaeological sites. Site 5 at Nieprowice was occupied by people of the Przeworsk culture beginning with phase A2 of the younger Pre-Roman Period to the beginning of the Migration Period. The coins are exceptionally abundant and they are more differentiated than it is usual in surface prospection on the sites of the Przeworsk culture settlements, hence this place could be a central settlement in the region.

The paper aims at determining the provenance of Roman coins in an early medieval hoard found at Obrzycko in Wielkopolska in the 19th century. It is unlikely, taking into account the occurrence of late Roman silver coins in the territory of Poland and adjacent countries, that a fragment of a siliqua or miliarense with the name of Theodosius (I or II) would come from local finds made in the Early Medieval epoch.

The article discusses the phenomenon of folk beliefs in the late Middle Ages and the modern times, associated with Roman denarii. Found by villagers, Roman coins were called “St John’s heads”. In the known cases, cross pennies were deprived of the monetary features and perforated. The round object produced this way featured the anonymous emperor’s head that could have been taken for the head of St John on a platter. The perforation and removal of the monetary features was a magical practice that transformed the coin into an amulet, talisman or religious medallion. They may be seen as a symbol of the widespread cult of St John the Baptist.

In 2016 near Bornity (Braniewo district) a so far unknown stronghold was discovered. Within a small area the researchers unearthed a quarter of an early ̔Abbāsid dirham, a bronze spur with bent-in hooked extremities and a fragment of a ring of the Perm-Glazow-Duesminde type. In 2017 a preliminary small test excavation was carried out at the site. The discovered items and radiocarbon analysis of the charcoals from the rampart structure indicate that the site was in use in the last decades of the 9th century and the first quarter of the 10th century. Among the discovered artefacts the Arabic dirhams (two Hārūn ar-Rašīd’s dirhams and one al-Mahdī’s coin) deserve special attention and are discussed in detail in the article.

In Sowinki near Poznan 150 graves were discovered during archaeological examination of an inhumation cemetery from the 10th–12th century. The following four coins were found in the graves: 1. a fragment of an Arabic dirham from the 10th century, 2. a fragment of King Otto III’s (983–996) pfennig of Trier; 3. a fragment of a coin imitating Otto- Adelheid pfennigs; 4. a whole cross penny from the 11th century. The round plate, lost before examination, may have been the fifth coin. In grave 76 a two-pan scale was found, together with 18 weights: 6 from bronze-coated iron and 12 from lead. All the finds were made in the older part of the site, dated to the end of the 10th and the first half of the 11th century.

The architectural and archaeological research conducted in 1977 was aimed at determining the stages of the church’s spatial development, which was to be achieved through analysis of its architecture, cultural accumulations, historical sources etc. During the research, eighteen coins were discovered — three early medieval ones and fifteen late medieval. The finds from St Elisabeth Church can be dated back to the period between the second half of the 13th century and the second half of the 14th century. The condition of some of the coins prevented complete identification. The discovered coins included Czech parvus coins (four), Wrocław city hellers (three) and other small coins which were in circulation at the time in Silesia.

During two seasons of archaeological investigation, in 2014–2015, on plot 168 in Puck, a total number of 29 numismatic items were discovered: 28 single coins and one token. The chronology of discovered coins is quite wide: coins from the 14th to the 20th century were registered, among them five medieval coins. In analyzed collection the most interesting are coins of the Teutonic Order — firchens and bracteates; moreover we have Polish and Prussian coins and also Tyrolean and Bavarian coins.

Thirteen coins were found in archaeological excavations in the area of the old chartered town in Skarszewy, conducted between 16 and 26 October 2015. The finds comprised four Mediaeval coins and nine from Modern Times. The oldest is a firchen of Grand Master Winric of Kniprode, the youngest is a shilling of Frederick I from 1707.

Archaeological excavations conducted recently in Kalisz brought about two groups of Jagiellonian pennies. One is a small hoard of less than twenty coins of Vladislaus Jagiełło, found near the St. Joseph Sanctuary. The other comprises 37 coins found separately in archaeological excavations at early mediaeval settlement known as Stare Miasto (Old Town), adjacent to the hillfort at Zawodzie.

The subject of the discussion is the attribution of the Friedensburg 648 (283), 649 (280), 650 (282) hellers with the representation of Virgin Mary with the Christ child and the eagle of Lower Silesia. The coin was found during archaeological works conducted in 1999/2000 in Tarnów Jezierny. The find was crucial for determining that the coin was struck before 1442. The location of its coinage - Głogów or Lubin is still a matter of discussion.

During the museum query, which took place on 7 April 2016 in the Museum of Archaeology in Wroclaw an unknown parcel of the Grodziec hoard (district of Złotoryja) was revealed. This hoard was found in 1967. Two years later, it was published as a complex containing 492 coins: Polish, Bohemian and German groschen and half-groschen as well as two Gdansk shillings. Tpq was established as 1501. A parcel containing 173 Prague groschen had been completely left out of that publication. It contains coins of Charles IV, Wenceslas IV and Vladislaus II. The hoard dating had to be indistinctly altered (tpq 1502) and the quantitative composition of individual denominations turned out to be completely different. In the appendix the coins from the first part of the hoard are described, which were omitted or incorrectly described by M. Haisig. Especially interesting is the very rare groschen of the county of Henneberg.

The paper presents three cases of alleged classical coins, that are in fact modern items imitating classical coins, purportedly discovered at prehistoric sites on the present-day territory of Poland. This is used as a starting point for discussion on critical evaluation of numismatic and archaeological sources related to coin finds.

During archaeological excavation conducted in the area of a multicultural settlement in Sianów, Koszalin district, the West Pomeranian Voivodeship, in 2016 12 small, modern-time coins were discovered, dated from the 18th to 20th century.

The article presents a recent find of a half of Sultan Mahmud II’s gold coin dated at 1828–1829 AD and presents it in the context of other finds of Ottoman coins in the Polish lands till the beginning of the twentieth century. The authors point out that this is probably the first find of this ruler’s gold coin and one of few recorded finds of Mahmud II’s coins in the former and present territory of Poland.

In 1808 the Warsaw Society of Friends of Science decided to publish a work of John Baptist Albertrandi “Historia polska medalami zaświadczona i objaśniona” (Polish History evidenced with medals and explained). After the fall of the November Uprising Albertrandi’s manuscript and dies with graphic images of medals were confiscated together with the entire Society’s property and exported to Russia. This was the concern of two author’s articles (see footnote 5). The following text, being their extension, discusses letters of Julian U. Niemcewicz, the President of the Society of Friends of Science, to Henryk Lubomirski, and as well the person and activity of Józef Węcki, the publisher of the planned numismatic study.