Congresses and Meetings

HOW THEY DIED : OVERSTRIKING AND REMINTING IN THE GRECO-ROMAN WORLD

On 19 May 2017, the 5th International Numismatic Conference of the Coin Cabinet of the Royal Library of Belgium will be organized in Brussels, focusing on the phenomenon of overstriking, reminting and the duration of circulation of coins in Antiquity. As human beings, coins are born, live and die. Although we are well informed today in which quantities they were “born” and how they “lived”, we still know nearly nothing about how they “died”, i.e. when they stop to be legal tender. Literary sources are extremely scanty on this important historical issue and archaeological contexts often offer tricky interpretations. Most of the time, subtle strategies have to be built to determine when coins ceased to be admitted as coins. In these circumstances, overstrikes are a great resource for the Greek world. In Roman times coin reforms were very frequent especially from the 3rd century AD onwards. Reminting the existing monetary stock was probably a way to increase the state’s revenues but the mechanisms are not well understood. From the Middle Ages onwards, recalls of coin issues and reminting were regular practices. The English king Edward I even brought 400 additional workmen over from France and the Low Countries for his recoinage of 1300. It is the intention of this conference to offer a wide panorama on the “live” of coins, their survival and their disappearance in crucibles or deposits.

 

Program

 

10.00 Welcome

Robert NOUWEN, Operational director

 

10.15 Introduction

François DE CALLATAŸ & Johan VAN HEESCH

 

10.30 Reminting in Medieval England

Martin ALLEN, Fitzwilliam Museum

 

11.00 « Les séries monétaires » et nomisma : comment classer les monnaies grecques?

Olivier PICARD, Institut de France

 

11.30 – 11.45    BREAK

 

11.45 Overstriking in the Greek world: a tentative overview.

François de CALLATAŸ, Royal Library of Belgium

 

12.15 Les refrappes dans le monde grec : apports et limites des analyses métalliques.

Christophe FLAMENT, Université de Namur

 

12.45 – 14.15    LUNCH

 

14.15 Roman over Roman: revaluation overstrikes in the Roman Republic.

Andrew MCCABE, UK

 

14.45 The crisis of small change in central Italy of the second and first centuries BC, and the function of overstriking.

Clive STANNARD, University of Leicester

 

15.15 – 15.30    BREAK

 

15.30 Overstriking and reminting in Roman provincial coinage: some preliminary observations.

Bernard WOYTEK, Austrian Academy of Sciences

 

16.00 Overstriking in the 3rd century AD: an overview.

Johan VAN HEESCH, Royal Library of Belgium & KU Leuven

 

16.30 – 17.00 Usure et obsolescence : deux fausses «bonnes raisons» à la refrappe des monnaies dans l’Antiquité.

Jean Marc DOYEN, Lille University

 

Registration

Participation is free of charge, but please confirm your presence by e-mail. Lunch is offered at 10 EUR (by inscription only).

medals@kbr.be

Scientific committee

Fr. DE CALLATAŸ (Royal Library of Belgium & ULB)

Chr. FLAMENT (UNamur)

J. VAN HEESCH (Royal Library of Belgium & KU Leuven)

K. VERBOVEN (UGent)

 

Venue

Royal Library of Belgium – Bibliothèque royale de Belgique – Koninklijke

Bibliotheek van België

Mont des Arts – Kunstberg (entrance in the back of the park)

1000 Brussels

How to get here

Public transport (train) : opposite of Brussels Central Station.

More information

johan.vanheesch@kbr.be

https://www.kbr.be/en/events/5th-international-numismatic-conference