Cover Picture: Electrochemical Characterization of Coinage Techniques the 17^th Century: The maravedís Case (Electroanalysis 9/2017)

Abstract

The cover image shows a Spanish maravedí produced in 1663 accompanied by SEM/EDX color map and a FIB‐FESEM trench and a voltammogram used for mint discrimination. More details are discussed in the article by Antonio Doménech‐Carbó et al., DOI: 10.1002/elan.201700326.

Microchemical surface analysis of historic copper-based coins by the combined use of FIB-FESEM-EDX, OM, FTIR spectroscopy and solid-state electrochemical techniques

“…The FESEM-EDX analysis confirmed the silica grain composition (area 2) and the silver-rich grain (spot 1). Regarding Ag being present, it has been reported that in the 16 th and 17 th centuries, Spanish Kingdoms had serious problems with counterfeiting copper coins, such as the maravedís [2,38,39], and kings like Felipe IV ordered silver to be introduced into the coinage of copper coins. No pragmatic was issued by Carlos IV about adding silver to copper coins.…”

“…In parallel to archaeological studies, archaeometrical and archaeometallurgical ones focus on characterising metal composition and correlating it with a manufacture technique, historic period and geographical distribution. Compositional studies are particularly interesting because they are conducted to identify a coin's alloy composition in connection to the relative chronology between different emissions [1] and to the efforts of rulers during all historic periods to reduce fraudulent monetary production by properly modifying alloy compositions [2]. Archaeometrical studies can also probe the application of specific minting techniques, such as plating [3], to produce forgeries [4], and to also reduce costs while producing official money during periods of crisis.…”

“…This technique has been applied to analyse the corrosion patinas of buried bronze artifacts [24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31]. Dating [32][33][34] and mint discrimination studies [2,35] have also been developed with this solid-state electrochemical technique. The proposed analytical strategy was applied to study a series of copper-based coins with different compositions and provenances in Europe that date back to the period from 1709 to 1924.…”

Solid-state electrochemical characterization of emissions and authorities producing Roman brass coins

“…In this context, we applied the VIMP methodology in order to acquire archaeometric information based on a minimally invasive (at the nanogram level) sampling on the metal patina. Application to the discrimination of different monetary series was described for silver [46], bronze [47][48][49][50] and copper [51] coins, but no studies on orichalcum materials have been done. This is based on the assumption that, under conditions of similar 'corrosion history', subtle differences in the composition and metallographic structure of the coins result in detectable features of the voltammetric response of the corrosion patina.…”

Aportación de nuevas metodologías multitécnica en el estudio y conservación de patrimonio numismático de procedencia subacuática

“…La microscopía electrónica de barrido de emisión de campo con haz de iones focalizados y microanálisis de rayos X (FIB-FESEM-EDX) permite obtener imágenes de gran resolución y profundidad de campo, realizar secciones transversales o trincheras gracias a la columna de iones de Ga + focalizados, que al interactuar con las muestras permite romper los enlaces químicos e ionizar los átomos de una manera controlada, y se puede obtener la composición elemental de la muestra analizada de forma cualitativa y cuantitativa gracias al microanálisis de rayos X (Álvarez Romero y Doménech Carbó, 2016y 2017. Esta técnica analítica ya se ha empleado para el análisis de diferentes colecciones numismáticas (Doménech-Carbó et al, 2017;Álvarez-Romero et al, 2017;Doménech-Carbó et al, 2019) quedando patente su capacidad para obtener información tanto de las capas más superficiales de las monedas compuestas, mayoritariamente, por productos de corrosión de los metales empleados en la fabricación de las piezas, depósitos exógenos y, como se presenta en este estudio, productos empleados en antiguas intervenciones.…”