“NBR LIBRARY” SERIES OCTAVIAN ILIESCU THE HISTORY OF COINS IN ROMANIA (cca. 1500 B.C. – 2000 AD) Chronology – Bibliography – Glossary EDITURA ENCICLOPEDICĂ Bucharest, 2002 CONTENTS Preface ........................................................................................................................................ 3 Abbreviations.............................................................................................................................. 4 Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 6 Part I – Chronology ..................................................................................................................10 Foreword ..........................................................................................................................11 Chronology – Pre-monetary exchange ............................................................................36 Part II – Bibliography ..............................................................................................................65 1. Brief history ..............................................................................................................66 2. List of papers ............................................................................................................76 Part III – Glossary.................................................................................................................. 111 Specifications ............................................................................................................... 112 A. Names of coins ...................................................................................................... 114 B. Mints ...................................................................................................................... 133 2 PREFACE The paper preceded by this preface was the research subject of a contract concluded between the author and “Nicolae Iorga” Institute in Bucharest during September – December 1998. Originally, the paper was expected to comprise only Part I. Chronology and Part II. Bibliography, including 80 typed pages; these conditions were met on the date the aforesaid contract was completed. In 1998, apart from any contractual obligations, many supplements as well as Part III. Glossary added to the present paper. The full text was thus completed on 7 October 1998, when it was submitted for being published to the above-mentioned Institute. Some minor additions were made in order to update the paper to the year 2000. Thus, the history of the coin in Romania spreads over no less than 3,500 years. Because of paucity of funds, “Nicolae Iorga” History Institute could not publish the whole of this paper at an earlier date. Upon the author’s consent, part of the Glossary – referring to names of coins (O. I., Istoria monetei în România. Glosar numismatic, in Studii şi Materiale de Istorie Medie, 19, 2001, p. 199-214) – was published recently. The present paper could not be published destitute of the bounteous assistance of the National Bank of Romania. This is why the author took this opportunity to express his gratitude to the Governor of the National Bank of Romania, Mr. Mugur Isărescu, and to the Board of Directors of the National Bank of Romania. Finally, for the successful publication of the present paper the author’s thanks go to Editura Enciclopedică and Marcel Popa, Director, with whom he has been co-operating for more than three decades. June 2002 The author 3 ABBREVIATIONS Actes du XIe Congrès International de Numismatique: Actes du XIe Congrès International de Numismatique organisé à l’occasion du 150e anniversaire de la Société Royale de Numismatique de Belgique, Brussels, 8-13 September, 1991, Louvain-la-Neuve, 1993. The Romanian-Italian Workshop “Genovezii la Marea Neagră în secolele XIII-XIV”: The Romanian-Italian Workshop “Genovezii la Marea Neagră în secolele XIII-XIV”, Bucharest, 27- 28 March 1975, Bucharest, 1977. La numismatique, source de l’histoire de l’art et des idées: La numismatique, source de l’histoire de l’art et des idées. Travaux présentés au XVe Congrès International de Sciences Historiques, Bucharest, 11 August 1980, foreword by ROBERT A. G. CARSON, published under the guidance of OCTAVIAN ILIESCU. PERIODICALS AAR: Analele Academiei Române. Memoriile Secţiunii Istorice AIIA: Anuarul Institutului de Istorie şi Arheologie (“A. D. Xenopol”) AIIN: Anuarul Institutului de Istorie Naţională AISC: Anuarul Institutului de Studii Clasice AMN: Acta Musei Napocensis AMP: Acta Musei Porolissensis ArhMold: Arheologia Moldovei ASAR: Analele Societăţii Academice Române AVSL: Archiv des Vereines für Siebenbürgische Landeskunde BCMI: Buletinul Comisiunii Monumentelor Istorice Blätter für Münzfreunde: Numismatische Monatschrift. Blätter für Münzfreunde BSH: Bulletin de la Section Historique (de l’Académie Roumaine) BSNR: Buletinul Societăţii Numismatice Române CercIst: Cercetări Istorice CercNum: Cercetări Numismatice CN(A): Cronica Numismatică (şi Arheologică) 4 ConvLit: Convorbiri Literare CreştCol: The Romanian Academy. Creşterea Colecţiunilor, 1911-1915; Selective book of information about the rise in the collections of the Library of the Academy of the People’s Republic of Romania, 1961-1965; The Library of the Academy of the People’s Republic of Romania. Creşterea Colecţiilor. Selective book of information, 1965-1975. Dacia N.S.: Dacia, Nouvelle Série ÉBPB: Études Byzantines et Post-Byzantines JBLM: Jahrbuch des Bukoviner Landes-Museums MemAntiq: Memoria Antiquitatis NAC: Numnismatica ed Antichità Classiche. Quaderni Ticinesi NZ: Numismatische Zeitschrift RBN: Revue Belge de Numismatique RdI: Revista de Istorie RÉSEE: Revue des Étuds Sud-Est Européenes RevCat: Revista Catolică RevIst: Revista Istorică RevMuz: Revista Muzeelor RHSEE: Revue Historique du Sud-Est Européen RIAF: Revista pentru Istorie, Arheologie şi Filologie RRH: Revue Roumaine d’Histoire SCB: Studii şi Cercetări de Bibliologie SCIM: Studii şi Cercetări de Istorie Medie SCIV(A): Studii şi Cercetări de Istorie Veche (şi Arheologie) SCN: Studii şi Cercetări de Numismatică SMIM: Studii şi Materiale de Istorie Medie StCI: Studii Clasice 5 INTRODUCTION A mere occurrence, some 70 years ago, awakened within me an indomitable attraction for numismatics. Fairly vaguely at first, as some sort of childish game, this attraction turned little by little to a genuine passion, which opened before me a new path I’ve been following as long as I live. And if, as the French saying goes, the occurrence improves some matters at least, all I ask of my readers is to let me evoke here some events that happened a very long time ago. In the autumn of 1928, during the third grade at the Boys’ Primary School in Balş, just a few days after the start of the new school year, one of my schoolmates gifted me with an old coin, namely a 20 heller coin issued in the Austrian-Hungarian Empire in 1907. I kept it for a while in my pocket until one day when, as I figured it was of no use to me, I threw it away, somewhere in our large courtyard. Before long I found it, I kept it for a while in the same pocket, then I resolved on getting rid of it and tossed it again, this time however in the schoolyard. It was here where I stumbled upon it once again, and turned to a small coin collector afterwards. Indeed, until the end of the school year my schoolmates offered me three other coins, namely one Turkish piece worth 5 piaştri, issued in 1925, one Italian lira issued in 1922, and finally, the first Romanian coin that became part of my collection, a copper coin of 10 bani issued in 1867. In March 1930, my early numismatic collection was enriched by the fifth coin, the first I got hold of from the 20 lei issue of 1930, shortly after its being put into circulation. This coin, bearing the portrait of King Mihai as a child on the obverse and a refined allegory of the “Grand Union” on the reverse, had impressed me so deeply that I decided, starting that very day, to attach particular attention to the national currency, in my concerns of an infant yet enthusiastic collector. Driven by such intentions, I stepped up my endeavours towards enriching my small coin collection. My father appreciated my zestful and steadfast efforts and resolved on encouraging them. Thus, in 1930, having passed my entrance examination with flying colours and being enrolled in the first grade of “Carol I” National College in Craiova, he offered me several Romanian and foreign coins issued prior to Romania’s entering World War I. The domestic coins included a gold coin of 25 lei issued in 1906 and twelve silver coins: three pieces of 5 lei each, issued in 1880, 1883 and 1906, one piece of 2 lei, three pieces of 1 leu issued in 1910, 1912 and 1914, and eventually, four pieces of 50 bani, issued in 1900, 1910, 1911, and 1914. There were only two foreign coins, the first was a gold coin worth 20 French francs issued in 1906 and the second was a silver coin of 1 korona, issued for Austria in 1916. In late 1930, my collection of Romanian coins encompassed 25 pieces issued between 1867 and 1930. Encouraged by the achievements I had had by then, I started scraping together the first catalogue of Romanian coins, putting them in chronological order, as I took hold of them. The year 1934 was quite a genuine turning point in my numismatic activity. During the fifth grade of “Carol I” National College in Craiova, my collection numbered more than 50 Romanian