[Bonetools] Coin Balances

Wed Aug 23 09:39:22 CEST 2023

Dear all,

There is one bone coin balance from 's Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands. Published in 'Het benen tijdperk' from Vincent van Vilsteren.

Best,
Marloes
________________________________
From: Bonetools <bonetools-bounces at listserv.niif.hu> on behalf of Ariel Shatil <ariel.shatil at gmail.com>
Sent: Monday, May 8, 2023 10:34
To: BONETOOLS <bonetools at listserv.niif.hu>
Subject: Re: [Bonetools] Coin Balances

Dear Hans and Martin,
Thank you very much for your replies! I've become much more cunning in finding quasi-legal article copies, and I've learned about 10 new german words!

I have the two short papers on the bone münzwaage from Hirsau (Gross 1991 and Steuer 1993 - ref. below).  Steuer mentions others found at Cologne and Strasbourg but unfortunately without any bibliographical reference. If by any chance you have an idea where I should start looking, I'll very much appreciate it. I will be happy to write something for "bonetool of the month" once I have things organised.

Unfortunately I could not find a bone balance in the Eastgate report as well. For now, the only bone example from England that I know of is from Castle Acre.

Steuer, H. 1993. Auf der Suche nach dem schweren Gold - eine Münzwaage aus dem Hirsauer Kloster, in  Zeitspuren. Archäologisches aus Baden. Archäologische Nachrichten aus Baden 50. p.200

Sincerely
Ariel

On Wed, May 3, 2023 at 9:58 AM Martin Foreman <Martin.Foreman at northlincs.gov.uk<mailto:Martin.Foreman at northlincs.gov.uk>> wrote:
Dear Chums,
I believe there is a medieval bone coin balance fragment from Eastgate, Beverley, in Evans and Tomlinson ?1998?
Excavations at 33-35 Eastgate, Beverley 1983-86: No. 3 (Sheffield Excavation Reports)
with a note on them solicited by Stephanie Armstrong,
Best wishes,
Martin

Martin Foreman

Finds Liaison Officer

Participation and Achievement

Learning, Skills and Culture

North Lincolnshire Museum, (Monday to Friday)

North Lincolnshire Museum, Oswald Road, Scunthorpe DN157BD telephone: (01724) 297055

________________________________
From: Bonetools <bonetools-bounces at listserv.niif.hu<mailto:bonetools-bounces at listserv.niif.hu>> on behalf of Hans Christian Küchelmann <info at knochenarbeit.de<mailto:info at knochenarbeit.de>>
Sent: 02 May 2023 16:54
To: BONETOOLS <bonetools at listserv.niif.hu<mailto:bonetools at listserv.niif.hu>>; Ariel Shatil <ariel.shatil at mail.huji.ac.il<mailto:ariel.shatil at mail.huji.ac.il>>
Subject: Re: [Bonetools] Coin Balances

Dear Ariel,

I remember having seen several European examples of coin balances in archaeological reports and publications, but unfortunately I do not remember exactly where, since they were presented mingled within other finds. A check in my reference database revealed only one 12th century find from Germany (Gross 1991). In case you are interested in that one and do not have access to the journal, I can scan the article for you.

And by the way, would you like to write a blog entry about your findings on coin balances for the bonetool of the month blog in one of the upcoming months?

Best wishes

Christian

Reference:
# Gross, U. (1991): Eine beinerne Münzwaage des 12. Jh. aus dem Kloster Hirsau. – Archäologie in Deutschland 2/1991, 44-45
--
Knochenarbeit

Hans Christian Küchelmann

Speicherhof 4, D-28217 Bremen, Germany
tel: +49 - 421 - 61 99 177
mail: info at knochenarbeit.de<mailto:info at knochenarbeit.de>
web: www.knochenarbeit.de<http://www.knochenarbeit.de>
ORCID-ID: 0000-0003-0207-3804

> Am 18.04.2023 um 08:12 schrieb Ariel Shatil <ariel.shatil at gmail.com<mailto:ariel.shatil at gmail.com>>:
>
> Hi friends and colleagues,
>
> So.... recently I've been looking at coin balances, a.k.a. tumbrels, a.k.a. trebuchets, made in bone. A very nice complete example has come into my hands. It was found in Jerusalem and according to the excavators dates to no later than the 11th century. MacGregor and others mention 2 items from Izmir, now in the Ashmolean Museum, that date to the 6th or 7th century, but since these are not from excavations I believe this date is questionable. Few bone examples from excavations in Kadikalesi, Turkey, are dated to the 13th-14th century.
>
> Looking for similar objects I found records of a rather large number of them in sites of the Golden Horde and the Rus principalities, with dates in the 14th to the 16th centuries. From the same area, but usually slightly later (15th-16th) there are also many examples made of copper alloy.  Metal examples of nearly similar dates (14th-15th) I've also found in Turkey and Syria.
>
> There is also a large group of them in England, 13th-14th centuries, mostly made of copper alloy, but the earliest example is made of bone and is of late 12th century date. I also found records of a single balance from Denmark (copper alloy) and a single one from Germany (bone), of similar date range.
>
> On top of all that, there are the Ottoman coin balances (18th-20th century) also made of bone, wood and metal.
>
> If you throw all this data on a map, you'll notice big geographical gaps, and there are of course the somewhat "smaller" chronological gaps. I'm trying to wrap my head around these objects and maybe bridge some of these gaps, so any information or data you might know of will be very helpful.
> Especially interesting to me will be data, if it exists, from Syria, Turkey, the Caucasus, the Balkans, the Baltic countries, Poland? maybe Scandinavia? and, well, basically anywhere.
>
> Thank you,
> May the force be with you.
> Ariel
>
> I've added some images for reference:
> 1. Bone balances from Kadikalesi in Turkey
> 2. 18th-20th century Ottoman balances of wood, metal and bone
> 3. Bone balance from Seliternoe/Sarai-Batu
> 4. Copper Alloy balance from Anglesey
> 5. Bone balance from Kolomna near Moscow
>
>
> <Kadikalesi.jpg><Othomann var materials.jpg><Saray-Batu Seliternoe.jpg><Anglesey Copper Alloy.jpg><Kolomna Russia.jpg>_______________________________________________
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