Dr. Martin Rundkvist is a Swedish archaeologist, journal editor, public speaker, skeptic, atheist, lefty liberal, bookworm, and father of two.
Yesterday I did two hours of metal-detecting at a manor in Boo parish whose documentary evidence starts in the 13th century. Ancient monuments in the vicinity take it on down at least to the 10th. There are some nice 16th century small finds from the manor grounds, and my visit was intended to follow up on them. Lo & behold: I picked up one of Queen Christina's quarter öre copper coins from 1640. They are generally the oldest coins you'll find at any site, as in their day they were the largest issue yet in the history of Sweden: both as to the number of coins struck and as to the diameter of each coin. (Previous mentions here, here and here).
Here are pix of a much better preserved coin of the same type and date.
In other news, I got a good spelling suggestion from MS Word the other day. Confused by the Estonian word sajandil ("century") in a book title, the spell-checker suggested that I might mean SATANIC SALAMI.
[More blog entries about coins, metaldetecting, history, Sweden; mynt, historia, metallsökare, nacka.]
Humanities & Social Science
Comments
That is so cool, Martin! Do you have any photos of a less-eroded Christina copper coin?
The Old World has certain advantages which we lack in North America. The only human artifacts of a similar age around here are arrowheads and such.
Posted by: Larry Ayers | September 4, 2008 9:42 AM
Oh well, I think MS Word is the spell checker that refuses my surname and suggests "labia".
Posted by: Jonathan Lubin | September 4, 2008 9:12 PM
Out of curiosity, what are your feelings on the original patina on coins like this? Do finds like this get fully cleaned or are they left mostly in the condition that they are found?
Posted by: Brian | September 4, 2008 9:32 PM
Great find!! I posted a link to this site on www.oldcoinnews.com
Posted by: triumph110 | September 4, 2008 10:01 PM
Jonathan, I'd take that as a compliment!
Brian, my feeling is that ideally a conservator should reinstate the original surface as far as possible. This goes for all copper-alloy metalwork, of which I and my detectorist buddies tend to find loads. I like coins a lot, but to me they are one of many lovely kinds of small metalwork.
Posted by: Martin R | September 5, 2008 11:15 AM
Are you sure the date is 1640? It looks like 1642 to me.
Posted by: Pierre | September 5, 2008 5:09 PM
No, the 42 looks like this. I believe it's 40.
Posted by: Martin R | September 5, 2008 5:13 PM
I have to 1......realy ( 1634 )
Posted by: jaanus krass | August 26, 2009 7:28 PM