Jewellery Production

Abstract

Today's hand made gold jewellery includes the most costly and most beautiful items available. Master craftsmen are found in many countries and their jewellery follows a centuries old tradition. In more recent times, to supply increasing demand, gold jewellery has also been machine made, for example gold chains, particularly in Italy. Here these two basic aspects of jewellery production are reviewed: gold craftsmanship, casting, alloys for jewellery, electroforming, chain production and findings are all discussed.     

清代云南铜矿垄断经营利润的考察

清政府对云南铜矿实行高度垄断经营的政策,即以低于商品自由贸易市场数倍的价格收购矿铜,又以相对较高的价格将矿铜批发给各铸钱局,通过统购统销来赚取价差,获得了大量垄断利润"铜息"。低价矿铜用于铸钱,极大地降低了铸钱成本,各铸钱局获得了丰厚的"铸息"。不仅如此,各铸钱局利用商品货币市场铜钱价格的高昂,通过出售铜钱或搭放兵饷等途径,最大限度地扩大"铸息"。"铜息"是清政府对云南铜矿实行垄断经营的直接利润,"铸息"是铜矿垄断经营的间接利润,是铜矿垄断利润向铸钱利润的转移。     

NORTH SYRIAN METALWORKERS IN ARCHAIC GREEK SETTLEMENTS?

Summary The Syrian origin of a casting mould for jewellery found at Al Mina leads to a discussion of similar moulds of the same origin, including examples from East Greek sites, and of the jewellery types produced. The presence of Syrian craftsman adds force to arguments for the importance of Syrian products and workmanship in Greek orientalising art.     

The Design of Gold Jewellery Stimulation and Promotion by the World Gold Council

Abstract

As with any work of art or industrial product, good design of jewellery is essential if it is to appeal to its owner. In the field of gold jewellery, the World Gold Council is playing a leading role and its efforts are here reviewed by commenting on the taste in British and Continental design of gold jewellery. Consumer preference, whether organic, symbolic or elementary jewellery is preferred, and the growth of the market are here discussed.     

Uses of Gold in Jewellery

Abstract

Gold plays a dominant role in the jewellery market. This is to a large extent due to the intrinsic value of gold, its beauty and its unique resistance to tarnish and corrosion. In 1990 the amount of gold used in jewellery was about 2000 t worldwide, reaching about 75% of the total demand for gold. The demands on gold materials for jewellery, its applications in the form of bulk material for wrought and cast jewellery and as gold solutions for electrodeposition and electroforming as well as activities to introduce powder materials for the manufacture of jewellery are described. Today's conventional carat gold alloys are reviewed; coloured gold alloys based on the Au–Ag–Cu system, as well as the white gold alloys, based on Au–Ni or Au–Pd alloys. Additionally, the development of special gold alloys is mentioned, for instance that of a very high carat gold alloy, 990 gold–titanium.     

西藏铸币史话(上)

雅鲁藏布江南部的雅隆河谷,公元7世纪初兴起了雅隆王朝（即吐蕃王朝）。公元629年西藏吐蕃政治家、军事家松赞干布统一了西藏,定都（逻娑luosuo）拉萨,建立了统一的奴隶制吐蕃王朝。并同唐朝建立起密切的关系。公元641年松赞干布迎娶大唐公主文成入藏和亲,使藏汉民族的关系以及西藏经济文化的发展,都产生了深远的影响。     

西藏铸币史话（下）

六．宣统桑康果木： 公元1909年（清宣统元年）西藏地方政府在拉萨以北的扎西地区建立以水利为动力驱动机器制造银币的造币工厂。当时制造的是一种大型的银圆,币名为“桑康果木”（桑康果木——其意为一两银圆）,币面铸有藏文“宣统元年”字样,下面铸有“一两”面值。     

ROME'S Rise to Power. Geochemical Analysis of Silver Coinage from the Western Mediterranean (Fourth to Second Centuries BCE)

We present the results of geochemical analysis of silver coinage issued by Rome and dated between the fourth and second century BCE, which are complemented by data of coinage issued by Carthage, the Brettii, and the Greek colony of Emporion. Each of these minting authorities represents one of the major parties involved in the struggle for hegemony in the fourth to second centuries BCE Western Mediterranean region. This study retraces how the metal supply shifts in response to the transforming power relations and how this change is related to Rome's rise to the virtually uncontested ruler of the region.     

Globalization,Recession and the Internationalization of Industrial Districts: Experiences from the Italian Gold Jewellery Industry

Abstract

Globalization and the recent recession crisis are significantly challenging Italian industrial districts (IDs), leading to deep transformations in their internationalization, innovation and organization strategies. With our empirical focus on a single industry (gold jewellery) and a specific country (Italy) and through the theoretical lenses of the global value chain (GVC) approach, the evidence in this article sheds light on the differences in how three IDs within Italy's gold jewellery sector (Valenza Po, Arezzo and Vicenza) compete in the global arena. Our comparative analysis reveals striking differences among these districts with regard to their upstream and downstream internationalization strategies in response to two industry shocks: increasing global competition in the early 2000s and the world economic recession of 2008–2009. Our explanation for the varied gold jewellery district responses to these two global crises involves both internal and external factors: (1) structural differences between the three IDs; (2) distinct business strategies; and (3) how these districts are linked to the gold jewellery GVC.     

SEALED SILVER IN IRON AGE CISJORDAN AND THE 'INVENTION' OF COINAGE

Summary. Recent finds of hoarded silver in Cisjordan present new material for the consideration of the conceptual history of coined metals. When the fundamental concepts associated with coinage are abstracted from the various objects that express them, it is possible to see that a kind of coined metal existed in Cisjordan and other parts of the Near East prior to the traditional 'invention' of coinage by the Lydians and Greeks c. 600 BC. ¹ Both hoards and written sources indicate that seals affixed to precious metals at times qualified them in a numismatic sense by guaranteeing weights set to standards as well as controlled composition. What has been characterized as the 'invention' of coinage was rather an adaptation of these same principal concepts. The frequency and size of silver hoards from Cisjordan point to a proliferation in the 'monetary' use of silver in that region during the Iron Age and suggest a relationship to the overwhelming preference for silver coinages among the Greeks.     

Fowler's Type G Penannular Brooches Reconsidered

Abstract

Analysis of coin finds in an area of NE. England employs and modifies methods developed for Iron-age and Romano-British assemblages alongside quantitative analysis developed specifically for Anglo-Saxon coinages. The results illustrate that observed patterns of coin loss do represent the overall coin loss for the study area, and sites can be confidently compared to each other and the region as a whole. The role and function of coinage apparently changes dramatically over the period from a medium of long-distance trade in the early period to a cash currency by the Viking takeover of York. A review of 'productive sites' suggests that these sites can only be adequately interpreted through analysis of their assemblages against the background of the regional circulation of coinage and artefacts.     

The Four Roman Ways

This paper reviews the origins, chronology, and changing circulation pattern of the potin coinage of Iron Age Britain. Archaeological evidence suggests that British potins were made in north Kent from the later second century to the late first century B.C. although potins continued in circulation after this. They were the first indigenous coinage, apparently copying cast central Gaulish imitations of the struck bronze coinage of Massalia, and possibly originated in the Medway area. Initially, potins circulated alongside the imported Gallo-Belgic gold coinages and, like them, were probably used as a form of primitive valuable, but in the mid-later first century, their circulation pattern and Junction changed, becoming closely associated with a network of major sites spanning both sides of the Thames estuary and with the later Iron Age developments which accompanied this, notably the elaboration of the well-known ‘Aylesford Complex’. Appendixes list stratified coins and sites with potin finds.     

THE TREASURE OF GUARRAZAR: TRACING THE GOLD SUPPLIES IN THE VISIGOTHIC IBERIAN PENINSULA*

The treasure of Guarrazar, found in the 19th century in Spain, is the most important illustration of the high level of Visigothic jewellery in the Iberian Peninsula. The votive crowns and crosses of this treasure are an arrangement of pierced gold in a Byzantine–Germanic style, decorated with emeralds, garnets, sapphires and other materials. In order to establish the provenance of the gold, we analysed a group of 46 minute samples from the most important pieces kept in Spain for major and trace elements. The combination of PIXE and PIGE with an external 3 MeV proton µ‐beam was used to analyse the samples. Considering the gold sources cited by Pliny the Elder and the composition of contemporary Visigothic coins, we suggest the exploitation of south Iberian mines. Using the same set‐up, we complemented these results with the analysis of 11 emeralds inlaid in items from the Guarrazar jewellery that is kept in France. We suggest the use of European sources unknown to the Romans for these gemstones.     

THE COMPOSITION OF IRON AGE STRUCK 'BRONZE'COINAGE IN EASTERN ENGLAND

EDXRF was used to analyse the composition of 88 Iron Age copper and copper alloy coins excavated from the site of a pre-Roman shrine and Roman temple at Harlow, Essex. Most of the coins are local to the Essex-Hertfordshire region, with a few of Kentish origin. The earliest struck base metal issues were struck from almost pure copper, but from the late first century BC, their composition shows more variety. Particularly interesting are a group of types belonging to the Romanizing phase of Tasciovanus'coinage, which were struck in brass and possibly represent a distinct denomination. Roman coinage and other metalwork imports from the Roman world presumably provided the initial impetus, and the ultimate source of the brass. However, this experiment was relatively short lived. Cunobelinus, who ruled eastern England during the earlier first century AD, mainly employed bronze to strike his abundant base metal coinage. The products of his Colchester mint reveal a consistently different composition from those struck at his unlocated second mint in the Hertfordshire area, although the precise alloy does vary, sometimes within the same type. This suggests that unlike gold and silver issues, the source and purity of the metal used for minting base metal coinage was not always critical.     

Retracing Magna Graecia's silver: coupling lead isotopes with a multi-standard trace element procedure

This study presents the results of compositional and lead isotopic analysis of coinage issued by the Greek colonies of Syracuse, Metapontum, Taras and Thurium in the fifth to third centuries bce . The data suggest that each colony in Magna Graecia, regardless of its motherland roots and despite ongoing conflicts between the cities, had access to the same silver, and that this supply was stable overall throughout their period of minting and issuing coinage. The paper retraces the silver sources of the colonies and points out a potential supply route for the metal. It includes a method development for a multi-standard quantification approach for laser ablation-inductively coupled-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) analysis of silver.     

On technology and production techniques of early medieval glass rings from Silesia

Glass rings used to be one of the most common jewellery types in the 10th–13th centuries in Central Europe, especially Silesia. The popularity of this type of decoration in this area could indicate its local origin. The chemical composition of the glass seems to confirm this theory. The Silesian glass rings analysed in this paper were made of high‐lead alkaline and non‐alkaline glass or of lead‐ash glass. There was also a close relationship between the colour of the finished products and the chemical composition of the glass. This provides new data for the study of the problem of production and distribution of glass jewellery in Central Europe.     

A Second Investigation into the Chemical Composition of the Roman Provincial (Procuratorial) Coinage of Judaea,AD 6–66*

An investigation of the chemical composition of the first Roman provincial coinage of Judaea, minted in ad 6–66, was conducted. A total of 103 copper‐alloy coins were analysed by ICP‐AES. It was determined that different copper alloys were used for the coinage, a leaded tin‐bronze and a pure tin‐bronze alloy. The investigation also showed that the copper alloy was made in four different formulae with regard to the alloying elements added to copper. Trace element profiles point to the existence of a shared pool of metal for Roman coins and metalwork.     

ROME AND THE EAST. PRODUCTION OF ROMAN PROVINCIAL SILVER COINAGE FOR CAESAREA IN CAPPADOCIA UNDER VESPASIAN, AD 69–79

During the first three centuries AD several eastern provinces of the Roman empire produced silver coinages of specifically local denominations and types. It has been claimed that at certain periods the mint of Rome was employed to strike some of these coinages, rather than the provincial mints to which the coins are traditionally attributed. This claim is based mainly on stylistic observations, but because style is regarded as subjective, some other form of evidence to support these observations is desirable. In this paper three types of coin are submitted to metallurgical analysis: silver denarii struck at Rome; Roman-style provincial silver coinage; and 'local'style provincial silver coinage. The aim is to discover whether the Rome-style and 'local'style coins have different trace element profiles, and whether these might indicate different ore sources or refining techniques. The results are then compared with Roman denarii to see whether there are any similarities between the denarii and the Rome-style provincial silver coins.     

New insights into the ancient silver production of the Wallis area, Switzerland

This paper discusses the results of a study of the exploitation history of the metallogenic region of the Wallis, Switzerland. Periods of exploitation in this mining district are determined by comparisons of the lead isotope fingerprint of the mines with those of dated artefacts presumed to have a local origin based on the style of craftsmanship. The approach is based on the study of silver mines in the Wallis area and illustrated by three examples of local craftsmanship: (1) silver jewellery from the Late Iron Age, (2) a reliquary shrine from the Early Middle Ages and (3) silver coins from the Late Middle Age.     

The image of authority in Carolingian coinage: the image of a ruler and Roman imperial tradition

This article examines the influence of Roman imperial symbols of authority on Carolingian coinage. During the brief period of a specific &1squo;renewal' in Carolingian coinage in the 810s, there was an evident turn to the Roman tradition of demonstrating authority. As a result, the image of a peace-making emperor on Roman coins during the late third to early fourth century was employed on Carolingian coins for the purpose of legitimizing the new imperial authority of the Carolingians. This image, however, was not long-lived and gradually disappeared in the 820s to 830s.