No Small Change: Countermarks on Thracian Royal Bronzes (original) (raw)

In the decades before Roman conquest, Thrace’s rulers faced a significant problem with money: they were unable to mint enough bronze coins to ensure the easy circulation of small change. This countermark die study reveals that a centralized system of countermarks was developed under royal authority to control large numbers of coins in order to provide the large numbers of low-value coins needed to run the kingdom’s economy, and to proclaim their power, the kingdom’s territorial cohesion, and the prestige of their dynasty in the face of increasing Roman influence. Thracian bronze coins were also countermarked by Roman commanders and local city councils, all of whom required small change. Quantitative analysis reveals how haphazard, varied, and rare were local Roman and civic countermarks, compared with the more common, organized and careful royal countermarks. The presence of civic countermarks shows that royal attempts to control and supply small change via countermarking fell short. Thracian cities used countermarks to develop their own small monetary systems that operated inside or alongside the currency of the Thracian kingdom, as reserves of royal money, and power, dwindled.