{"id":3689,"date":"2015-03-20T22:54:51","date_gmt":"2015-03-20T22:54:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/?page_id=3689"},"modified":"2016-08-27T19:40:02","modified_gmt":"2016-08-27T19:40:02","slug":"sorenson-2015-congress","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/abstracts\/sorenson-2015-congress\/","title":{"rendered":"Sorenson (2015 Congress)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Cover<\/a>David W. Sorenson
\n(David Berman, Numismatist<\/em>)<\/strong><\/h2>\n

“Semi-Official Counterfeiting: \u00a0‘False’ Coinage Produced within the
\nFrench Mints, 1380\u20131422, and What It Tells Us”<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Abstract of Paper Presented at the
\n50th International Congress on Medieval Studies (Kalamazoo, 2015)<\/h3>\n

Session on “Making It or Faking It?
\nThe Strange Truths of ‘False Witnesses’ to Medieval Forms”<\/strong>
\nSponsored by the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence<\/strong>
\nOrganized by Mildred Budny and Sarah M. Anderson<\/h4>\n

2015 Congress Events Announced<\/a> and 2015 Congress Events Accomplished<\/a><\/p>\n

[Published on 20 March 2015, with updates, and now with the publication of the Paper itself<\/em>]<\/p>\n

\"Tinned-copper<\/a>

Tinned copper fake French blanc of the period<\/p><\/div>\n

The study of coinage has uncovered numerous examples of counterfeiting, ranging from \u201cofficial\u201d counterfeits, where an official mint strikes issues which copy its own issues (extending from the issuance of plated coins with official dies to the production of seriously debased \u201cofficial\u201d issues) all the way down to run-of-the-mill fakes. \u00a0This paper looks at a variety of counterfeits, official, semi-official, and private-enterprise in the France of Charles VI (1380\u20131422), with emphasis on an incident in which mint personnel were caught attempting to produce their own bogus coin.<\/p>\n

In “official” cases the mint imitated its own coinage, through producing coinage of lower standards to the same design. \u00a0In semi-official cases some other mint-produced imitations, either with (e. g. Burgundy) or without (e. g. Rummen) the sanction of the original authority. \u00a0Slightly less official was the tendency of mint officials to produce substandard coinage when they could get away with it, which resulted in the introduction of mint-marks. \u00a0Finally, we have all sorts of individuals trying to make some extra cash by faking the coinage, or by creating extras just to have some money for expenses when the official currency did not suffice.<\/p>\n

Somewhere on this spectrum falls the case of the Paris mint workers of 1421 who attempted to produce some extra currency of their own. \u00a0They were caught, hence the information we have about them and their activities. \u00a0We do not know precisely what happened to them, but the penalties were not light.<\/p>\n

*****<\/p>\n

The Abstracts for the other presentations by David W. Sorenson at Sessions sponsored by the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence at the International Congress on Medieval Studies appear here:<\/p>\n