How to clarify the place of circulation of coins made in the same mint

Alice Baeta

Hi everybody,
We from Portugal have been developing a server for Portuguese monarchy medieval coinage and have a situation. There are some coins that were made in one location to be used in another, for example coins made in Brazil (and other colonies) to circulate in Portugal and vice versa. In Brazil there were mints that produced different coins for different locations, as in the coins made to circulate in Brazil had one typology, and the ones made to circulate in Portugal had another.
How can we identify these coins in Dedalo, as the mint is Rio de Janeiro and considering the different destination for circulation? For example, we have different coins made in Rio de Janeiro with the same issuer and value, one to circulate in Brazil and another in Portugal. We don’t know how to separate these coins when searching for them by mints.
We thought of two options: 1-Create a multiple mint that indicates where the coin was made and also where it circulated (as in Rio de Janeiro-Portugal, or Rio de Janeiro-Brazil); or 2-Create in Dedalo another field for place of circulation. Maybe this situation happens to another project, and we can collaborate to find the best solution. Feel free to suggest any other solutions as we are open to everything. Many thanks in advance! 🙂

Alex

Hi!

What an interesting question! I don't have a solution, but two mints don't make sense, since a coin is produced by a single mint. Circulation is not the same as production, so as I understand it, it seems logical to me to create a new field for that concept.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

If not, I can add it to the ontology.

Questions:
What kind of data you need to store? oficial toponym? or do you need something that combines time and space? something like the biography circulation of the coin?, or is it a simple connection to toponymy?

for e.g.:

Circulation	?
Coimbra, Portugal	?

O more complex as:

Time	Space	Annotation	bibliographic references
1850	Coimbra, Portugal	the circulation was...	(2025) Alice Beta, The circulation of the coins

Best

Alice Baeta

Hi Alex,

Thank you for the suggestions! I think the first option, using only the official toponym for circulation, is sufficient. What we need is to relate coins made in one place (e.g. Lisbon) to coins that circulate in another place (e.g. Brazil). However, the time of circulation and other information is the same as for coins made in Lisbon that circulate in Lisbon at the same time, so there isn't a need for more information to be associated with it.
Many thanks!!

Manuel Gozalbes

It seems that a new filed linked with toponomy thesauri will solve the problem.
What's the name for that field?

Legal tender: clear to describe official decissions like your Portuguese examples, but also works with banknotes.
Circulation area: more general, and ambiguous.
Other suggestions are welvcome
Best