{"id":7664,"date":"2016-08-05T00:39:59","date_gmt":"2016-08-05T00:39:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/?page_id=7664"},"modified":"2020-11-16T06:10:08","modified_gmt":"2020-11-16T06:10:08","slug":"semi-official-counterfeiting-within-the-french-mints-1380-1422","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/semi-official-counterfeiting-within-the-french-mints-1380-1422\/","title":{"rendered":"Semi-Official Counterfeiting in France 1380-1422"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Tinned-copper<\/a>

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

David W. Sorenson
\n<\/strong><\/h2>\n

“Semi-Official Counterfeiting:
\n‘False’ Coinage Produced within the
\nFrench Mints
\n1380\u20131422
\nand What It Tells Us”<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Here we publish the illustrated text of David’s paper on “Semi-Official Counterfeiting” as a freely downloadable pdf<\/a>. The article is set by David Sorenson in RGME Bembino<\/a>, our high-quality multilingual digital font, also freely available. This publication marks the first publication on our website of the full text of a paper presented at our sponsored Congress Sessions<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The paper formed part of our 2015 Session on “Making It or Faking It? The Strange Truths of ‘False Witnesses’ to Medieval Forms” at the 50th International Congress on Medieval Studies. This Session and our other Activities are described in posts on the 2015 Congress Events Announced<\/a> and the 2015 Congress Report<\/a>. In preparing for the Congress, we posted the Abstracts for the Papers, including this one<\/a>.<\/p>\n

First the Abstrac<\/strong>t, next the Paper<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Abstract<\/h3>\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. This paper looks at a variety of counterfeits, official, semi-official, and private-enterprise in the France of Charles VI<\/a> (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. In semi-official cases some other mint-produced imitations, either with (e. g. Burgundy<\/a>) or without (e. g. Rummen<\/a>) the sanction of the original authority. Slightly 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. Finally, 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. They were caught, hence the information we have about them and their activities. We do not know precisely what happened to them, but the penalties were not light.<\/p>\n

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

The Paper is here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Cover<\/a><\/p>\n

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

The Abstracts for all David Sorenson’s presentations at our sponsored Congress Sessions\u00a0(2011\u2013) can be found in their Abstracts Listed by Author<\/a>.\u00a0 They <\/a>appear here:<\/p>\n