Coinage

COINAGE

	The Nordic Design of the Iron Age
Introduction	Jewellery as Form of Personal Expression
Hoards from the Roman Iron Age – Early Viking Age	Coinage
Hoards from the Early Viking Period	Hoards from the Medieval Period and Later
Hoards from the Late Viking Period	Silver on the Gotlandic Farms
The Dragon’s Gold	Treasures on the Sea Floor
The Objects Tell a Story	More Recent Treasure Tales

The Viking Age silver hoards often consist of complete pieces, or fragments of jewellery, silver and gold rods, silver bars, cut silver and coins. In the Viking Age, coins were valued, like all other precious metal, according to content and weight. This meant that the value of a coin was not dependent on its design, nor was the value of a silver hoard dependent on how long it had been kept hidden. In coin-producing countries, on the other hand, the value of the coin diminished as soon as one design was replaced by another. The coins in the Viking Age silver hoards do not emanate from Gotland, but from other areas, where coins were issued. Minting meant that the coin was given a value greater than the weight value.
The coin issuer wanted to earn as much as possible on his coinage. Payment with coins not bearing the area’s own stamp was prohibited. People were obliged to exchange the invalid coins for valid ones. The moneyer increased the worth of his design by retaining e.g. 1/3 of the silver he received as a fee.
Every coin conveys its own personal story. The place of mintage and the name or portrait of the moneyer indicate where and under whose rule the coins were issued. The Arabic coins always bear explicit dates of production. Otherwise, the period during which the coin was struck can be ascertained according to the name of the King or the portrait of the Emperor. The most recent coin in a hoard (TPQ) indicates the earliest date of deposition. The dating of a coin also enables the calculation of the time the coin had been in circulation before it ended up in the soil. The condition of the coin indicates the economic system within its circulation area. In coin-producing regions the actual minting furnished the coin with a higher value than that
of the bullion it contained. These were known as monetary societies. In non-monetary societies the coins were valued according to content and weight. Nicks (assay marks) in the coins, bent, cut and torn coins indicate that the coins have been in the hands of people who wanted to check their silver content.

From the 1140s onwards, local coinage was established on Gotland. This meant that a need of coins arose on the island, a need that could no longer be met with foreign coins.

On the mainland, coinage was a means for the king to reinforce and exert his power.

On Gotland there must have existed some other authority with similiar possibilities.

Denar. Romerska riket. Kejsarinnan Faustina d ä, död 141 e Kr. Rom.

This authority might well have been the Gotlandic Althing. Sometime later, the moneyer seems to have been someone else, probably a merchant league within Visby.

The first coins on the Swedish mainland were issued in Sigtuna under Olof Skötkonung

995–1000 and Anund Jakob 1025–1030. Only 1 500 of these coins are known and the coinage

Solidus. Östromerska riket. Kejsar Leo I, 457-474 e Kr. Konstatinopel.

period was very short. It was first towards the end of the 12th century that the mainland coinage was resumed.

On Gotland, once coinage had got under way, it proceeded without interruption. The youngest silver hoard to date, with Viking Age characteristics, contains a Gotlandic coin struck between 1140 and 1145. This is the oldest Gotlandic coin we have knowledge of, thus providing

the earliest evidence of coinage on the island.	Dirham. Kalifatet. Samanid Ismail ibn Ahmad Kalif al-Mutadid. al-Shash (Tashkent) 895/896 e Kr.

Whereas the royal coinage on the mainland involved constant changes in designs, the early Gotlandic type of coin remained in circulation for more than a half a century. This immobility indicates a firm organisation with sufficient economic resources and political means to control the cashflow on Gotland.

Gotlandic coins became more widespread than any other Swedish coin during the Early Medieval Period. In the east of Götaland they were predominant up to the mid 13th century.

Consequently, the unit system in both places was on a par.

Even outside Sweden, the Gotlandic coinage and its mint value

Srebrenik. Furstedömet Novgorod. Furst Jaroslav Den Vise 1015 - 1018 e Kr. Novgorod.

held a strong position. This was particularly true of the Baltic trading towns. In Riga the right to mint coins was granted to Gotlandic merchants in 1211, and the unit system was to be the Gotlandic one. The Gotlandic unit system was also in force in Reval and Dorpat.

The Gotlandic coinage progressed with various

types of coin up to the 1530s. During the coinage period, the island’s own coins totally

Penning. Olof Skötkonung 994 - 1022 e Kr. Sigtuna ca 995.

prevailed in the circulation. The Gotlandic

coinage followed a unique development, compared to the rest of the Nordic region. A remarkably large number of types of coin was issued continually with an unchanged choice of motif for an exceptionally long time. W-bracteates held the record with a duration of 161 years.


Penning, 1140-tal.	Penning, 1140-tal.	Penning, 1150-1225.


Penning, 1150-1225.	Penning 1288-1450.	Gote (örtug) 1380-1420.	Gote (örtug) 1380-1420.

Hvid 1520-tal.		Hvid 1520-tal.