Early Byzantine control stamp system

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The early Byzantine control stamp system was a method for testing and marking the silver content of various objects in the Byzantine Empire .

Procedure

A total of up to five different stamps were applied to the individual items of jewelry and everyday items . After the silverware had been made, it was controlled centrally in Constantinople by the government officials appointed for this purpose. The silver stamps were then attached using a punch . The dating of the control stamp can only provide an approximate indication of the time at which a discovered artifact was produced.

The first stamps used come from the reign of Emperor Anastasios I (491-518) and are called "Imperial". Only four stamps are affixed to all objects known so far from this period, with at least one of the standard shapes being repeated. From the time of Justinian I (527-565), the number of stamps on found silver treasures is always five.

The individual stamps

There are five stamps that were used by different officials and can be divided into three categories:

  • The round stamp
The stamp image contains the bust of the reigning emperor and (since Justinian I) a Greek inscription, which usually reproduces the personal name, occasionally also the title of the official who carried the stamp.
  • The square and the hexagonal stamp
Both are similar in nature and mostly contain the same imperial monogram . However, they always have different name and title inscriptions and therefore belonged to two officials of equal rank, who did not always have the same imperial monogram.
  • The upright rectangular stamp with a curved end and the cross-shaped stamp
The arched and cross-shaped stamps belong together and provide valuable dating criteria for narrowing down the time of the artifacts .
The arch-shaped stamp always contains a bust which is identical to the bust of the emperor on the round stamp. The so-called secondary monogram appears under the bust and to the side of it the name or title of the stamp owner.
The cross-shaped stamp only started in the time of Justinian I and only shows the secondary monogram and the name or title of the stamp holder. The secondary monogram usually matches that of the arcuate stamp.

Stamp leader

The holder of the round stamp was evidently one of the highest dignitaries of the empire because he was the portrait of the emperor. The owners of the hexagonal and square stamps usually had the same imperial monogram, so they were of similar rank. The two officials in the last group both bore the monogram of the incumbent comes sacrarum largitionum, i.e. the person responsible for the state's income and expenditure. But since the owner of the arch-shaped stamp was also allowed to use the portrait of the emperor, he was the higher ranking one. He was therefore responsible both to the comes sacrarum largitionum and (like the holder of the round stamp) to the emperor himself. The owner of the cross-shaped stamp only kept the secondary monogram of the incumbent comes sacrarum largitionum .

literature

  • Erica Cruikshank Dodd: Byzantine silver stamps. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington 1961, pp. 1-22.
  • Erica Cruikshank Dodd: Byzantine silver treasures. Abegg Foundation, Bern, 1973, pp. 35–39.
  • Arne Effenberger and a .; Late antique and early Byzantine silver vessels from the Leningrad State Hermitage; Exhibition catalog, Berlin 1978, pp. 49–53.
  • Erica Cruikshank Dodd: The location of Silver Stamping. Evidence from newly discovered stamps , in: Susan A. Boyd (Ed.): Ecclesiastical silver plate in sixth-century Byzantium. Papers of the symposium held May 16-18, 1986. Washington 1993, pp. 217-224.
  • Marlia Mundell Mango: The Purpose and Places of Byzantine Silver Stamping , in: Susan A. Boyd (Ed.): Ecclesiastical silver plate in sixth-century Byzantium. Papers of the symposium held May 16 - 18,1986. Washington 1993, pp. 203-216.
  • Jeffrey Spier: Treasures of the Ferrell Collection. Reichert, Wiesbaden 2010, pp. 172-173.