What tools are needed for coin production? I am not aware of any evidence from the 13th century that describes the exact equipment used in a coin workshop. For the 15th century, however, we find the following illustration from the Spiez Chronicle.

The following items can be seen:

• Coin Stamps
• Hammer
• Striking pads
• Sheet metal shears
• Smelting furnace with bellows
• Large boxes (presumably made of wood)
• Buckets of water(?)
• Sacks and bowls for coin blanks and finished coins

On the left, we see a craftsman hammering molten silver into thin strips (known as zaine). These strips are later cut or punched into coin blanks (also known as Schrötlingen). He is probably(?) using a rectangular piece of hardwood as a base (based on the grain shown).

In the center is a craftsman who uses a stamp and hammer to mint the finished coins from the coin blanks. The lower stamp is inserted into a round workpiece, presumably a wooden peg to hold/fix the stamp in place. The upper half of the stamp is held by hand.

On the right of the picture, you can see another person showing a group of people (presumably the mint masters) the finished coins. At his feet are two boxes. These contain coins arranged in two rows, which were probably rounded with a hammer after being cut to size. There are also two additional embossing stamps and a base for shaping the blanks.

Above the coins are a pair of scissors, presumably tSheet metal shears, which were used to roughly cut the coin blanks from the thin strips.

Coin stamp

Not many coin stamps have survived, but those that have show the following common features:

The stamps are made in two parts. The lower part of the stamp has a spike, which was probably inserted into a wooden peg. In the middle of the stamp is a thickened section (a kind of “groove”) to prevent the stamp from pressing too deeply into the wooden peg.
The upper part of the stamp is cylindrical in shape and often shows signs of cracking from hammering.

The actual embossed image is engraved in mirror image on the front sides of the stamps (both top and bottom).

Sheet metal shears

The picture of the coin workshop shows a pair of sheet metal shears above the coins. These appear to have been used to cut coin blanks from the thin stripes. The shape of this type of sheet metal shears has hardly changed over the centuries, as two examples (one medieval and one Roman) show.

The first example is half of a pair of sheat emtal shears, which was discovered during excavations at Altbüron Castle in Switzerland, destroyed in 1309. The rear angled end of the handle was probably hammered into or inserted into a support, which allowed one hand to be free for the workpiece to be cut and the other hand to be used to operate the shear.

The Roman shear from the late Augustan settlement of Lahnau-Waldgirmes are very similar in shape, but the handle is significantly shorter.

The preserved shears are 21 cm long, with a blade length of about 7 cm and a width of 1.7 cm. These shears also have an angled end, which suggests that they were hammered into or inserted into a holder. The dimensions correspond to those of the shear in the picture above.

Casting mold for bars

The picture above shows how the silver is hammered into long, thin strips (known as Zaine). These strips were probably first cast from molten silver before being hammered flat into strips.

Below the smelting furnace, an artifact is visible that is comparable to a metal find from Schleswig and could possibly be a casting mold for the production of these strips.

Quellen

• Becker, Armin und Rasbach, Gabriele (2015). Waldgirmes. Die Ausgrabungen in der spätaugusteischen Siedlung von Lahnau-Waldgirmes (1993 –2009). Verlag Phillip von Zabern. Darmstadt
• Rosch, Christoph (2012). Altbüron: die Metallfunde der 1309 zerstörten Burg. In Archäologische Schriften Luzern Band 14. Luzern.
• Saggau, Hilke Elisabeth (2000). Mittelalterliche Eisenfunde aus Schleswig. Ausgrabung Schild 1971 - 1975, Neumünster, Wachholtz Verlag
• Eilbracht, Heidemarie (2004). Feinschmiede und Münzmeister – Ein Forschungsprojekt zum wikingerzeitlichen Metallhandwerk in Nordeuropa. In: Soester Beiträge zur Archäologie 5. Schmiedehandwerk in Mittelalter und Neuzeit. Stadtarchäologie Soest. Soest.