Featured Was ist ein ABSCHLAG ?

I only have in my german vocabulary 10 words; nine are related to numismatic and one to to my favorite album from the rock band U2. So when I read in a recent CGB auction the term abschlag d'aureus, I was not sure at all what they were talking about. The wise thing to do would be to ask someone who knows both the german language and coins; so I communicate with one of our member, @Julius Germanicus. He explained me that the word means "discount"in a financial setting. But in a numismatic context, it "is a coin that is struck using original dies but in a metal that does not match that of the normal denomination. This could be either a trial strike in billon for a silver or gold type (several Aurei and Medallions are only known from corresponding trial strikes) or a presentation piece struck in silver or gold of a coin usually struck in a lesser metal". Here is the coin in question with its equivalent in gold:



The German term Abschlag, meaning "offstrike," implies that these rare bronze strikes from aureus dies were irregular, perhaps test strikes or mistakes.

For the hypothesis of the monetary test strike to be supported, it would have to meet at least these two conditions: 1) it is necessary to ensure that this or these types correspond perfectly or almost perfectly to known monetary types (except if this is a preparatory test for a type never produced). 2) it is also necessary that the test certifies a state prior to that of the coins struck or prior to the degradation of the die put into service. Most of the cases listed do not stand up to such an analysis. Many abschlag sold lately contained that kind of description:


-we could be facing a pseudo-argenteus “abschlag”.


-an Abschlag (offstrike) from dies intended for striking gold pieces of the value of 4 aurei. None of the issues in gold, if such there were, are known to survive today, but such high-value gold presentation pieces must frequently have been melted down.


-This aurelianus is reminiscent of an abschlag (monetary test strikes according to the German classification).

Some examples I found :




(On this specimen only the obverse is a die-match)

Enough of them survive, however, to demonstrate that they must have been produced intentionally, and were probably meant to circulate. Some scholars believe that such coins were produced to be distributed in special occasions along with their twins aureii, maybe as ceremonial pieces.

I'll show in conclusion 2 "unusual" abschlag that I did not know existed. The first is our friend Julius' favorite: the famous LYON LEAD MEDALLION:



Inscription on the upper half: SAECVLI FELICITAS, “felicity of the age”

Inscription on the lower half: MOGONTIACVM CASTEL Fl(uvius) RENVS

It was found in 1862 during some excavations made in the Saône, near Lyon. In 1870 it was sent to the Cabinet des Médailles de Paris. The 70 mm piece found in the Saône corresponds in fact to a lead proof of the reverse of a gold medallion. This must have been a medallion somewhere in the range of 36 to 100 Aurei. It is also important to recall that Roman medallions were produced in order to commemorate exceptional events. However, as we do not have any real medallion bearing on the reverse the image represented on this proof, we cannot answer the question of whether this type of medallion was actually produced and distributed. In the upper half of the medallion, on the left, two Roman soldiers, each bearing one helmet, one shield, and a spear can be seen. In addition, two laureate Emperors whose heads are adorned with halos are represented. The identity of these emperors has been debated and is of course connected to the issue of the dating of the coin. Who are they ? Diocletian (left) and Maximian (right) ? Constantius I(left) and Maximian (right), or even Valentinian I and Gratian ?

The 2nd special specimen: a BAR KOKHBA REVOLT "abschlag".


Ae rectangle 22 x 16mm 6.46g
Showing evidence of having been chopped from a larger piece of flat bronze before striking.
Same dies as Mildenberg 1984:205, No.65 (o:14 r: 37)

A rectangular piece of casually cut bronze, struck with a known die pair for undated Bar Kokhba denars, is thought to be the first known test strike from the Bar Kokhba Revolt. Based on the known test-strike from the ancient Greek world, one should ask why this Bar Kokhba test strike is made from a bronze fragment, and not lead. The logical answer is that the Bar Kokhba mint did not include a smelting and flan-manufacturing operation. Instead, all Bar Kokhba bronze and silver coins were struck upon previously circulating coins that had been especially prepared for re-striking at the Bar Kokhba mint. Therefore, unlike other mints, which included materials and equipment for making flans, Bar Kokhba’s mint had no reason to store raw metal such as lead, an element common in bronze alloys.

Sadly I do not have any abschlag in my collection to show off. But maybe you do ? Please tell me your opinion : were they TEST STRIKE or SPECIAL PRESENTATION PIECES ?

 

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I don't have any to show and am not competent to render an opinion about their purpose, but that was a very interesting and informative write-up!

 

I've always wondered about this ... Very occasionally you see Constantine era bronze coins (what I mostly pay attention to) that appear to be solid silver rather than surface silvered... i.e. uniform silver color with enough wear than it can't be surface silvering. They are typically dismissed as curios or fakes.

I'd be interested to see any convincing examples of Roman bronze types struck in gold or silver.

 

Abschlags (proper plural form is "Abschläge") were still produced in the 18th century, for example of Prussian coronation and tribute coins. These coins were first produced in gold and later Abschläge in silver were produced, probably as commemorative coins.

 

Like RC, I've nothing to add. But that sure was a fun read

 

Very interesting! Thanks, Ocat

 

Searching for "abschlage" on AC Search mostly comes up with coins for Postumus with jugate-with-Hercules obverses. A bunch of these were sold in Busso auction # 417. There's also a few for Victorinus.




It seems there are too many of these to be trial strikes that have all luckily survived. It's hard to guess if they were presentation pieces (to people undeserving of aureii ?!), or just a denarius denomination struck with aureus dies. The latter seems more likely. Was the jugate-with-Hercules bust used on antoniniani at all? If not, perhaps this bust served as a denomination marker on these denarii to held avoid confusion.

The "Plomb de Lyons" (with the nimbate tetrarchs) seems likely to be a gold medallion trial strike - why go to all that effort if the intention was just to strike in lead?

I'm most curious about the bronze types in silver/gold rather than the opposite. Maybe abschlage is the wrong search term for these ... not seeing anything on AC Search.

 

Digging around online, German abschlag is literally "off-strike", ab- ("off", "away") + schlag ("strike", "blow"), making perfect sense numismatically.

Interestingly, in addition to "discount" in finance, it can apparently refer in sports to a golfer's tee shot or a goalie's kick.

 

I have had this silver (or high-AR billon?) Crispus follis for years (decades, actually) but still have no solid explanation for its existence other than it perhaps was struck on an argenteus which somehow found its way into the flan preparation stream and all the way through the minting process, then into circulation.

There just seem to be a few otherwise unexplainable pieces out there in unexpected alloys.
Not a great example of it, but here is the exact same type and mint (Arles) in the low-AR billon alloy one would expect for a very late (c. 318), pre-reform follis.

 

I have this Commodus denarius which appears to have been struck using an aureus die, but enough exist that it may have been a dual issue.

RIC 253 is an aureus as below.

253 is also used for the denarius version. Not sure if it was common to strike silver coins with the same set of dies as a gold coin.