An award-winning scholar and teacher explores how
Shakespeare's greatest characters were built on a learned
sense of empathy While exploring Shakespeare's plays with
her students, Paula Marantz Cohen ...discovered that teaching and
discussing his plays unlocked a surprising sense of compassion in
the classroom. In this short and illuminating book, she shows how
Shakespeare's genius lay with his ability to arouse empathy, even
when his characters exist in alien contexts and behave in
reprehensible ways. Cohen takes her readers through a selection of
Shakespeare's most famous plays, including Hamlet ,
Othello , King Lear , and The Merchant of
Venice , to demonstrate the ways in which Shakespeare thought
deeply and clearly about how we treat "the other." Cohen argues
that only through close reading of Shakespeare can we
fully appreciate his empathetic response to race, class, gender,
and age. Wise, eloquent, and thoughtful, this book is a forceful
argument for literature's power to champion what is best in us.
Topic of the current article are eight silver coins of Louis XIV of France (1643 – 1715) from the depot of the National Museum of History – Sofia. They have a denomination of 5 sou or one twelfth of ...the silver thaler. The coins are portion of a larger hoard from the 17th c., originating from the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria.
The fineness of Roman imperial and provincial coinage has been regarded as an indicator of the broader fiscal health of the Roman Empire, with the apparent gradual decline of the silver content being ...treated as evidence for worsening deficits and the contraction of the supply of natural resources from which the coins were made. This book explores the composition of Roman silver coinage of the first century AD, re-examining traditional interpretations in the light of an entirely new programme of analyses of the coins, which illustrates the inadequacy of many earlier analytical projects. It provides new evidence for the supply of materials and refining and minting technology. It can even pinpoint likely episodes of recycling old coins and, when combined with the study of hoards, hints at possible strategies of stockpiling of metal. The creation of reserves bears directly on the question of the adequacy of revenues and fiscal health.
Numismatic data has always had a special place in archaeological studies. So, these documents can provide researchers with a wide range of information based on the focused point of research. The ...quality and quantity of elements used in coin metal can be restored by archaeometric studies. Some of these elements, such as silver, lead, copper and gold, indicate the monetary policies and metallurgy of their minting time. In this research, for the first time, 25 samples of coins in Ghajar periods were analyzed by the fast and non-destructive PIXE method with different minting techniques, and the percentage of main elements of these coins (silver, copper, lead, gold, iron, chlorine, calcium) were obtained. The results showed that silver is the mould element in this coinage and its amount is slightly different in hammering and milled coinages. Over time, the Qajars were able to gain more control over monetary policies. Also, the presence of small amounts of lead in most of the coins showed that the separation of elements has been done well by silver. And in this era, various sources have been used to supply the necessary silver for minting.
Abstract
At the Museo Campano (Capua, Italy), eight double‐relief silver coins belonging to southern Italian
poleis
and dated between the end of the 5th century and the beginning of the 3rd century ...BC were analysed. These coins are of great interest to historians and archaeologists because they provide extensive evidence on the monetary history and circulation of coins since the earliest times in the Campania region. Non‐invasive in situ analyses were performed using point XRF and MA‐XRF measurements and digital microscope photos. These coins were of high fineness. Data analysis methods using ROI imaging, deconvoluted maps, NMF (nonnegative matrix factorization), and k‐means were applied on the elemental maps to study the critical surface areas and to compare the effectiveness of different methods not commonly used for coins. These results combined with numismatic studies provided information on the historical context, the alloy used, and cases such as
subaerati
and restored coins. Important data were obtained on the currencies of the period under review, which will be useful to integrate with the analysis of further samples.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
A common issue in non-destructive surface analysis of historical silver coins is depletion of Cu from the near-surface areas, which in turn results in higher Ag content at a coin’s surface. This ...paper reports a non-destructive analytical strategy using µXRF for identification of Ag and Cu surface enrichments and depletions by comparing peak intensity ratios of Ag Kα/Ag Lα, Cu Kα/Ag Kα and Cu Lα/Ag Lα for coins and Ag-Cu standards of similar composition. Our characterization of coins from different contexts and chronologies shows that a multi-standard approach provides the most reliable identification of surface enrichment of Ag and depletion of Cu. Coins possessing Ag surface enrichment were further analysed with LA-ICP-MS to determine any differences in trace element composition between the cores and surface of the coins. We show that the near-surface regions of these coins are enriched in Au and depleted in Co, Ni, As, and Pt relative to their cores. These systematics allow for a more robust assessment of the degree of silver coin surface alteration critically important in measuring the original composition of historical silver coins.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Silver coins minted in the United States between 1837 and 1964 are comprised of 90% silver and 10% copper by law, but the presence of contamination with trace metals is likely. A collection of coins ...minted between 1841–1921 were analyzed for trace metal content using a handheld XRF device. A series of nine ten-cent coins were also analyzed using ICP-MS to relate the XRF response to metal ion concentrations. A linear correlation between lead concentration to XRF response allowed for quantitation of lead contamination. Greater amounts of lead were seen in coins minted prior to 1900 than in coins minted in the 20th century. In addition, two coins minted in 1854 were found contaminated with large amounts of either zinc or iron. The significance of these findings relative to silver sources and refining methods is discussed.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
The so-called posthumous tetradrachms of the Alexander type, struck in the ancient city of Cabyle in the interior of Thrace, as well as in most cities along the western Black Sea coast in the 3rd ...century BC, have always been a favourite topic of research. In 1991, the British numismatist Martin Price, in his fundamental work on the Alexander type coinages, presenting too brief overview of the silver and gold coins minted in the cities in the West Pontic area, has made the assumption that all these tetradrachms along with the gold staters struck simultaneously, were minted as “peace-money” intended to redeem the peace of those cities from the neighbouring tribes in the interior of Thrace, or as “protection money paid to the Gauls” intended for ransom to the Celtic Kingdom in Thrace. All modern authors who have written on this topic support these hypotheses. Although it has long ago been noticed the extremely high stylistic similarity between the tetradrachms of the ruler Kavaros minted at Cabyle and the tetradrachms minted in the West Pontic cities in the 3rd century BC, as almost all have used for these coins the term “Kavaros style”, introduced by Martin Price, nevertheless these tetradrachms have always been interpreted as autonomous civic coins. However, a completely new interpretation of the nature of these coins is presented here – that all they were in fact lifetime royal issues of the ruler Kavaros in Thrace.
Variations of 109 Ag/ 107 Ag in silver coins and ores are particularly useful in assessing the provenance of silver bullion. Silver isotope variability results from the temperaturedependent ...thermodynamic fractionation of Ag isotopes among the solutions and minerals participating in ore formation. They differ from lead isotopic variations which result from the decay of uranium and thorium and reflect the geochemical properties and the tectonic age of the possible ore sources. A remarkable property of Ag isotopes is the very narrow range of isotopic variations in silver bullion used for coinage (±1×10-4) with respect to the range of ores (±1×10-3). To test the practical usefulness of the technique, we analyzed the Ag isotopic abundances of 29 ore samples from ancient mining districts in the Aegean with major and minor Ag-bearing mineralizations, and of 34 ancient Greek coins minted from the sixth to late fourth centuries BC. We distinguished two groups among the coins: a dominant population (93% of the samples) with 109 Ag/ 107 Ag consistent with literature data (ε 109 Ag = 1 to +1) and an isotopically lighter population (ε 109 Ag = 2 to-1) which we show originated from Agbearing mineralizations in Lavrion (Attica). We further found that sulfur (also analyzed in this study) and silver isotope compositions in Aegean ores do not correlate, a finding which we confirmed on a selection of Iberian galena samples. This shows that the genetic ore type (whether hypo, meso, or epithermal) and silver productivity are not related. Finally, we undertook chemical analysis of the Aegean ore samples and confirmed that Ag-rich ores are Sb-rich for both Greece and Iberia. A remarkable outcome of Ag isotope studies in galena ores from Iberia and Greece is that silver isotope compositions can exclude, with a high degree of reliability, the REVISED Manuscript (text UNmarked) Click here to view linked References majority of mines identified by lead isotope analysis as sources from which coinage silver could plausibly have been extracted and thus significantly narrow down the actual source(s). Silver isotope results on galena ores are thus a useful tool for deciding which Pb isotope data included in ore databases should be included in provenance assessment studies. Contrary to some earlier assessments, subtle silver isotope variations can occasionally help determine ore provenance within a single mining district such as Lavrion.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
•X-ray technique and numismatic analysis are combined for the study of the Incuse coins of Magna Grecia.•Numismatic analysis provides the synoptic distribution of the samples and the historical ...period.•XRF analysis and multivariate data characterize, classify coins and provide further information.•Indications on production processes, origin of materials and historical changes in the coinage.•X-ray imaging is applied to highlight the surface enrichment of silver.
X-ray fluorescence and numismatic analyses have been used for the study of a sample of incuse coins at the Museo Campano (Capua, Italy). A group of 31 silver incuse coins (staters and drachmas) of the first coinage (530 BCE to 470/440 BCE) iussed by four cities from southern Italy has been characterized. Numismatic examinations provided indications on the synoptic distribution of the specimens from the different colonies and on the historical period. XRF and multivariate data analyses characterized the coins and provided additional information. Results show that the examined coins consist of a silver-copper alloy (with Ag > 95%). Trace elements indicate that the alloy may come from the same mine. Values of the AgKα/Lα intensity ratio and Ag-Cu alloy standards allowed to identify some surface enriched coins. Other characteristics implied evidence that three coins of Metapontum and Croton could be overstruck.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
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