A Jetton Found Far from Home

A Jetton Found Far From Home

Walter R Bloom

In I 987 Dr Michael McCarthy of the legend, LVD: Xllll. DG. FR. ET. N. REX. Western Australian Maritime Museum led (the ET is more of a ligature of the two let an archaeological expedition, which in ters). cluded a number of on-land excavations, in Reverse: A crowned shield with three fleur search of clues to the wrecking of the Dutch de lis, surrounded by the legend, HANS. ship Zuytd01p that had taken place more than WEIDlNGERS. RECH. PFEN 250 years previously. As patt of that pro The legends expand on the obverse to gram contract archaeologist Fiona Weaver1 LVD(OVICVS) Xliii D(EI) G(RATIA) made a detailed report on fieldwork con F(RANCIA) ET N(AVARRA) REX, and on ducted by the group. In an entry in the day the reverse, HANS. WEIDINGERS. diary dated 6 May I 987 Weaver described RECH(EN) PFEN(NIG). excavations carried out at a site on top of For a long time this piece was thought to the cliffs overlooking the wreck of the be a coin or token of Alsace-Lorraine, and Zuytdorp in which the group came across a this is how it is registered at the Museum, pin, a button and what was described at the but it is in fact ajetton (Frenchjeton, Ger time as a small copper coin. The 'coin' man rechenpfennig), a counter used in cal (which has not been tested for content) is culating for accounting purposes. What is presumably bronze, weighs 1.061 gm and remarkable about this piece is the lovely has a diameter of 19 mm. Its description is green patina and its unimpaired state of pres as follows: ervation, certainly not what one would ex Obverse: Diademed bust of the Sun King pect of a coin that had been immersed for a Louis XIV ( 1643-1715) facing right with time in seawater. It is reasonable to assume long flowing curly hair, surrounded by the that the jetton escaped corrosion by the sea

Obverse and reverse of the Jetton of Hans Weidinger

45 " - »- ,. _ § - _,.

" - Shipwreck ,/~ Exca•ation site ,,,,,~,. r ·--md~ ~,,.

'·"" Jn . 1'S Top. View of the Zuytdorp cliffs Above. Clitf profile showing the wreck, camp site and excavation site

because it had been brought ashore in the the Zuytdorp had been carrying the bulk of pocket of one of the ship's company. the minting of schellingen (six stuivers) and The slory starts with the third and final double stuivers from the Middelburg Mint, voyage of the Zuytdorp, a vessel owned by and il was these coins that were covering the Chamber of Zeeland. The ship sailed the seabed near the wreck. The Zuytdorp from Vlissingen on 27 July 1711 on its trip must have mn aground in early June, two to Batavia, now known as Djakarta. The months after leaving the Cape. It is clear last record of the Zuytdorp was when it left that those crew who survived the ship's the Cape of Good Hope on 22 April 1712 grounding brought many of its items ashore after which it just vanished without trace. and then made their campsite in a sheltered Over 200 years later, in April 1927, a group section at the base of the cliffs. Later they led by stockman Tom Pepper from must have climbed the cliffs to set up a sig Murchison House Station rep01ted the dis nal fire for passing ships, but none ever came covery of wreckage of a ship at the fool of to the rescue. (the now named Zuytdorp) cliffs some 65 The artefacts discovered by the Western km north of the mouth of the Murchison Australian Maritime Museum expedition River. had only survived the destructive sea by The wreckage was not identified with cer having been taken off the ship by the crew tainty until 1958 following Phillip to the cliff top, and the remoteness of the Playford's research, the key to this being the area would have contributed to their remain presence of a large number of coins of ing undiscovered for such a long period of Zeeland dated 1711. It became evident that time. A very readable account of the earl y

46 5 archaeological discoveries of these artefacts cross fleuretty). See also Feuardent , 2 can be found in Playford , and for details No.J3020 and Barnard\ No. 324. of the actual coins found (as at 1985) see 3 Wilson . Acknowledgments Jettons most likely originated in France, and were used by merchants and bankers The author thanks Bob Reis along with for reckoning the complicated money sys various members of the numismatic lists tems in use then, both internally and for for [email protected] and eign exchange. Because the relative rates [email protected] for their of gold, silver and copper varied according help in locating information on jettons and to market dictates, location and government the Weidinger family, Patrick Baker for the decree, sums were figured on 'counting' two photographs, Bob Richards for the scan boards whereby piles ofjettons were stacked of the Zuytdorp cliffs, and Michael on various spots on the board and moved to McCarthy for providing information on the other spots as the calculations demanded. 1987 expedition. In addition, the author is Jettons were used throughout Europe and grateful to Peter Fleig for his help with the even found their way to Great Britain. They preliminary draft. were produced in the same way as coins and medals, with intricate and at times quite ar References tistic engraving. From the late fourteenth century onwards the centre for this industry I. Weaver, Fiona. Rep ort1~[ the excavations ofprevi was the German city of NUremberg where owly disturbed land sites associated with the VOC ship Zuytdorp, wrecked 1712, Zuytdorp Cliffs. West the mintmasters in charge of their produc ern Australia. A report to the Western Australian tion formed dynastic families, including the Maritime Museum, Fremantle, Western Australia. Lauffers and the Krauwinckels. The piece Sept.l990. found in Western Australia was produced http:// www. mm. wa.gov.au/ M useu m / ma rc h / by Hans (Iohann) Weidinger. As detailed in shipwrecks/Zuytdorp/Zuytdorp. htm I 2. Playford,'P. Carpet o/ silver: Th e wreck of the Mitchiner\ Hans Weidinger was appren Zuytdorp. UWA Press, Perth 1996. ISBN 1-87556- ticed to Georg Lauffer in 1660 and became 073-4. a master in 1670. Hans Weidinger was mar 3. Wilson, S. Coins from the Zuytdorp. J. Numis. ried to Anna Maria Mayerin in 1672 and Assoc. Aust., Vol. I, July 1985, 24-30. 4. Mitchiner, M. Jetons, Medals and Tokens, Vol. 1: died in 1727 aged 83 . His wife survived The Medieval Period and Nuremberg. B A Seaby, him by six years. Their son Iohann Friedrich London 1988. ISBN 1-85264-036-7. Weidinger was also active as a mintmaster 5. Feuardent, F. Jetons et meraux depuis Louis XIV from 1710 until 1765. This was well after jusq 'a lajin du Consulat de Bonaparte, 4 vols. , Paris the closure of the Lauffer workshop, which 1904-1915. Collection, vol. Ill. Rollin et Feuardent, Paris, 19 15. had operated over six generations from 1554 6. Barnard, F. P. , The Casting-Counter and the Count to 1716. ing Board. Fox, Castle Cary, Somerset, 1981 (rep1int This particular piece does not seem to be of 191 7 Oxford University Press edition). listed in the main references on jettons, but it is a variety of Mitchiner", no.l845 (with Western Australian Mari time Museum Cliff St., Fremantle, WA 6160 the shield replacing the crowned arcuate Email: Walter.Bioom@ museum.wa.gov.au