Early Dated Coinage

For early dated coinage in E-Auction 49 see lots 132-139

Dates on coins are "a really big deal." Add a mintmark on a U.S. coin and it can be even more costly (look up an 1893 Morgan dollar with a small "S" on the reverse...). Though coins had dates on them prior to the 13th century, coins using the calendar numbering system we use today did not appear until 1234 A.D. Though there were a few rare and seldom seen issues earlier, it was not until the 15th century that coins appeared in quantity with dates referencing the calendar we now use.

The coins were predominantly silver or billon—silver mixed with varying quantities of base metal. The typical denomination was a silver groschen, a thin piece about the diameter of a U.S. quarter (or British shilling). Prior to the 16th century, coins dated in this manner were issued in continental Europe, ranging from Scandinavia in the north to Italy in the south. The most frequent designs were arms and shields or other official symbols or images of saints. (Three of the pieces in this catalog are particularly interesting because they feature a medieval image of Charlemagne seated on a throne.)

The dates themselves refer to the Julian calendar but some are in Roman numerals, some in Arabic numerals, medieval numerals and, accordingly, with varying numbers of numerals.  

The calendar that we—and most of the world—now use had its origin in the Julian calendar, a reformed method of dating that Julius Caesar introduced in 46 B.C. A Christian monk in Africa established the starting point for the Julian calendar in the Sixth Century by first rejecting Diocletian as the principal reference point in use at the time, and then counting back using historic resources he had access to in order to determine that the Incarnation of Jesus Christ had occurred 525 years earlier and declaring that the beginning—Year One. 

The Julian calendar in use in the 6th century was 11 minutes off the actual solar cycle. By the 16th century the calendar was so out of phase with the actual seasons that calculating the actual date of Easter (the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after the first Sunday after the vernal equinox) was not possible. This led Pope Gregory III in 1582 to add a date to February every four years—and skip the leap year date once every 400 years on the centurial year. This is the calendar most of the world continues to use.

“Anno Domini”—A.D. –“In the Year of Our Lord,” appended to a number is familiar in coin catalogs and the dating commonly used by the numismatic press. Now, numismatics is one of the few disciplines where the “A.D.” designation is generally used. Most other scholarly publications use “C.E.”—Common Era, and "B.C.E."—Before the Common Era, to designate dates.


Allan Davisson


(The standard reference for this area: Robert A. Levinson. The Early Dated Coins of Europe 1223-1500. New Jersey. The Coin and Currency Institute. 2007)