Dr. Ernest Oberländer-Târnoveanu

Chief of the Coin Room in the National History Museum of Romania

            On an imaginary numismatic map of the world, Romania certainly represents what could be defined at least as a true Eldorado, if not a real Paradise. As it lies at the great European crossroads and at the confluence of some crucial ancient, mediaeval and modern political, economic and monetary structures, the Romanian land revealed a wide range of monetary finds rarely encountered on our continent. The monetary finds in Romania illustrate true pages and chapters of a virtual numismatic encyclopaedia. Here one can actually find characteristic specimens for all the major components of European and Mediterranean numismatics, namely those of the ancient, Greek, Roman, Byzantine monetary issues, of the main local, Balkan, Central and West-European or Islamic mediaeval issues, together with those of the many modern European and extra-European issues.

            The coins, medals, plaquettes and orders constitute a highly important category of the national cultural heritage of Romania. All the national museums of history, as well as the county museums and many city, town and village museums hold significant collections of great worth and diversity [1] . Also extremely precious numismatic collections can be found in the Romanian Academy Library, in the archaeological institutes in Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca and Iassy, in the National Bank of Romania, as well as in the property of the Churches. Besides public numismatic collections there are a few thousand private collections, many of them of great scientific and cultural relevance. Within the structure of the Romanian national cultural heritage, the numismatic heritage, most of which is preserved in public collections, mostly museums, comes second in numerical order, next to the archaeological one. Qualitatively, the numismatic heritage, together with European painting probably constitute the part of the highest value of our cultural heritage, according to international standards. Our collections preserve a series of unique or extremely rare specimens that would be held in high esteem by any great museum in the world.            At the same time, our collections hold thousands of ancient, Byzantine, mediaeval and modern coin hoards that are extraordinary sources of reconstructing the political, economic and social history, not only at a local level, but also from a wider south-east or Central European perspective.

           By their special economic, political, documentary and artistic significance, as well as their highly important symbolic and intrinsic value within the finds in Romania, those of gold coins can be singled out. That is by no means fortuitous. During the unfolding of the great political and diplomatic events, as well as of international trade, coined gold constituted in history the equivalent of the circulatory and motor system of living beings. It was the blood and stamina that put into motions the states and societies in the course of history. Over the centuries, from Antiquity up to mid 20^th century, the gold coin was vital to stately mechanisms, military campaigns, as well as to diplomatic activities.

           Gold was chosen as a tool of state politics above anything else, not only due to its chemical and physical properties, to its symbolic significance or its universally recognised value, but also for some technical and practical facilities provided to the users by the coin struck out of this metal. Due to the fact that in Antiquity and the Middle Ages the gold / silver ratio usually ranged between 1/10-1/12 to 1/14, one gram of coined gold was equal to 10 - 14 g of coined silver, the other precious metal traditionally used in coinage. That meant considerable transport facilities, as a hundred kilograms of gold coins that could be easily transported on the backs of three horses, or in a cart, used to be worth a ton, or even more silver coins. This quality was an important advantage as all pre-industrial civilizations had lots of transport hardships. These advantages became incalculable in the case of sending currency to remote places or to difficultly accessible regions.

            The use of gold coins made it possible to obtain important savings linked to the production and putting into circulation of the currency, as in Antiquity and the Middle Ages a gold coin comprised a nominal or intrinsic value of 10 - 14 silver coins with a similar individual weight. During the modern and contemporary times this ratio deepened even further, as the difference between the value of gold and that of silver increased continuously, from the 16^th and 20^th centuries. Thus enormous amounts of work, wages and time were being saved, which meant something, taking into account that the administration, the war and the diplomacy needed huge amounts of coins, numbering hundreds of thousands and even millions of pieces which more often than not had to be available in a very short time.

            The quantity, quality and stability of gold coins used to be indicative of the power and prestige of states in the world or in the view of the general public. The recognition of the exceptional status of certain gold coins led to their type and metrological standard being adopted by other issuers, less rich and less strong states, willing to grant to their issues a better position than they could ensure by their own means alone. Gold coins were also extraordinary vehicles of political propaganda, as they used to carry the portraits, emblems and messages of the issuing states to the most remote corners of the world.

We should bear in mind the strong sacred symbolic worth of gold, as an element with unique qualities, related to the solar light and brightness, hence to the origin of life, immutability, and eternity, that came to be the quintessence of the monarchic characteristics of all time. Sharing coined gold on the occasion of all the ceremonies relating to the aulic cult used to be requisite action in royal behaviour, in ancient, mediaeval and modern cultures, practised from India to England, and from Scandinavia to North Africa. The concentration of gold sources around the imperial and royal residences, the exclusive control over the striking of gold coins, as well as their distribution became pre-eminently a monarchic prerogative, later taken over also by the ancient, mediaeval and modern republics.

            The same capabilities of the coined gold to store high values, universally recognised in small dimensions, as well as the easiness with which it can be transported made it an ideal tool in the great international trade dealings, involving considerable amounts of highly valuable goods. Also in this case, the weight stability, the title of the alloy and of the representations, as well as the capacity of certain states to launch rhythmically on the market considerable amounts of coins shaped over the centuries and over huge territories the confidence and preference of the general public in view of accepting and using above all certain gold issues, that were unofficially invested with the status of true international coins [2] .

            The gold coins have existed on the Carpatho-Danubian-Black Sea area for about two thousand years. The first gold coins - more exactly the electrum ones, a natural or artificial gold and silver alloy - uncovered on Romanian territory are the stateres or their fractions, issued by the Greek city of Cyzicus, in Propontida. They were found in Dobrudja, at Histria (Istria, commune of Istria, Constantza county) and Ion Corvin (commune of Ion Corvin, Constantza county), in southern Moldavia, at Galatz, as well as in southern Bessarabia, at Orlovka (district of Reni, Odessa region, Ukraine) [3] . The finds of Cyziciene gold coins have above all an economic significance, as they are linked to the Black Sea - Mediterranean trade that took place through the city of Histria, a process that  involved in early times also the inhabitants in the area of the Mouths of the Danube. Together with these stateres and Histria drachmas finds, the distribution of Cyziciene gold coins outlines the economic, and surely political hinterland of Histria within the area of the Lower Danube during the 5^th - 4^th centuries BC.

            The first stage of the widespread penetration of gold coins in the geographical area of the Lower Danube took place by the end of the 4^th century BC and during the 3^rd century BC, when the Macedonian stateres of Philippus II (359 - 336 BC), and especially those of Alexander the Great (336 - 323 BC), which as a matter of fact are the first Greek gold coins of very large size. Stray pieces can be found not only in Dobrudja, but also in Wallachia, Lesser Wallachia (Oltenia), Banat, Transylvania and Moldavia, which might point to their having penetrated in the area, especially as a result of political and military events. From the 4^th decade of the 3^rd century on, the gold coin of Alexander the Great would become the model for the posthumous stateres issues struck by the Greek cities on the western seaside of the Black Sea: Callatis, Histria, Tomis, Dionysopolis, Odessos and Messembria, to mention only the more important issuing centres close to the Geto-Dacian territory. During the second half of the 3^rd century, but especially by the end of the same century, the west Black Sea mints in Dobrudja, as well as Tyras and Byzantion, would start producing Lysimachus type stateres, whose striking would go on until the annexation of the settlements by the Romans, in the 1^st century BC [4] . Both the introduction of the stateres issues of the Alexander the Great type, and especially of those of the Lysimachus type within the Dobrudja mints meant the materialisation of certain integrationist trends manifest in the monetary, political, cultural and religious realms over an even larger area of the Greek world during the Hellenistic period. The apogee of these processes was the striking of the Lysimachus type stateres by the Greek cities on the Dobrudja sea coast. The introduction of this type, together with a metrological standard derived from the Attic one took place when a true west-Black Sea monetary union, under the aegis of Byzantium, was created.

            The research into the structure and chronology of the stateres finds of the Alexander the Great and Lysimachus type struck by the mints in the Greek cities of Dobrudja is indicative of the fact that the Callatian mint produced a large quantity of Alexander the Great type stateres and the striking had been going on for a long time, while its neighbours Histria and Tomis were less active. Instead, Tomis put into circulation a much larger amount of Lysimachus type stateres, even if the number of pieces struck at Callatis remained high enough. Also in this case, Histria is characterised by a rather low production, probably just a few thousand or tens of thousand pieces, struck with two pairs of dies.

The Macedonian and Lysimachus type gold coins belong to a few important hoards, such as those from Preajba de Pădure (commune of Teslui, Dolj county) [5] , Gâldău (commune of Jegălia, Ialomiţa county) [6] , Mărăşeşti (Vrancea county), Anadol (district of Reni, Odessa region, Ukraine), Dăieni (commune of Dăieni, Tulcea county) [7] , the hoard from the mouth of Strei river (Hunedoara county) [8] and a hoard from an unspecified locality situated north of Mangalia [9] .

            A short, but extraordinarily brilliant moment was the Koson type Dacian gold stateres issues, dated back to mid 1st century BC. The only Dacian gold coins, bearing the name of the issuing authority were found in a few very large hoards, such as those from Sarmizegetusa Regia and Târsa (commune of Boşorod, Hunedoara county) [10] . The concentration of finds in the south-western Transylvania, around the Dacian capital and the adjacent zones [11] is indicative of the fact that the issuing place of these enigmatic coins has to be searched in the area, undoubtedly in Sarmizegetusa itself.

The uncirculated coins of these finds belong to a large issue meant for important political payments, probably the waging of a war, but that were spent only to a small extent. Most of them remained in the Dacian royal treasury, being hidden because of the fights for the conquest of Dacia by the Romans. Some of them had been saved from the recovery endeavours undertaken by the imperial authorities. Unfortunately, after 1990, treasure hunters armed with metal detectors, unlawfully uncovered and illegally exported abroad thousands of Koson type stateres that the Romans failed to recover.

            The Roman gold coins, the aurei and solidi are an important component of the finds of noble metals issues in Romania. The oldest aurei known on the Romanian territory are those issued by Caesar, but they would become more frequent especially in intra-Carpathian Dacia during the 1^st century AD, during the last decades before the Roman conquest. The number of imperial aurei stray finds in Dacia is relatively high [12] , but only three hoards are known, that from Timişoara, Drobeta-Turnu Severin (Mehedinţi county) and that from Piteşti (Argeş county) [13] . In most cases, the penetration of these coins is linked to the political and military actions as well.

The solidi finds from the 4^th - 5^th centuries on the territory of Romania were in a much higher number, not only in Dobrudja and Oltenia, that were under the rule of the imperial authorities, but especially in Transylvania, Moldavia and Bessarabia, of which we mention the hoards from: Botoşani area (Botoşani county); Chirileni (district of Stânjenei), Chişinău, Cremenciuc (district of Soroca), Malcoci (district of Străşeni), all of them in Bessarabia, as well as that from Denta (commune of Denta, Timiş county). Judging from he structure and distribution of the finds, their source might have been the political payments made by the Roman Empire to the Gothic, Hun and Gepidic confederations that dominated the north-Danubian space, or the accumulations resulted from plunders and prisoner ransoms [14] .

Excepting Dobrudja, in the other Romanian regions, the Byzantine solidi finds from the 6^th - 7^th centuries become more frequent especially by the end of the 6^th century and the first quarter of the 7^th century. The finds are concentrated especially in Banat and Transylvania, being linked to the creation of the political and military centre of the Avars [15] . The gold coins hoards from that period are mentioned at: Firtuşu (commune of Lupeni, Harghita county), Axiopolis (Cernavoda, Constantza county) [16] and Slava Rusă (commune of Slava Cercheză, Tulcea county) [17] and Udeşti (commune of Udeşti, Suceava county).

            The gold coins finds in the area of the Lower Danube do not lack completely, but are very rare in the 8^th century and the first part of the next one. From the second half of the 9^th century the gold currency resumed its penetration in the areas between the Black Sea and the Iron Gates of the Danube on an ever-wider scale. They are related to the high political payments made by the Byzantine authorities, especially between 921 and 959, to the local political authorities, either directly, or through the First Bulgarian Tsarat. In Dobrudja three hoards from the 10^th century are known, that from Valul lui Traian (commune of Valul lui Traian, Constantza county) [18] , Isaccea [19] and that from an unspecified locality in the Tulcea county [20] , consisting in coins from Constantine VII and his associates (especially Roman II), and later issues. Another contemporary hoard comes from Veliki Gaj, in the Serbian Banat region [21] .

            The gold coins content of the finds of hoards hidden at the beginning of the 11^th century proves new currency accumulations after the Byzantine reconquest of the territories between the Balkans and the Danube, results of the payments made by the imperial authorities for the defence of the Danubian border. In this respect, typical are the finds from Greci (commune of Greci, Tulcea county) [22] and Dinogetia I (village of Garvăn, commune of Jijila, Tulcea county). While the Dinogetia I hoard has a rather compact structure, as it is made up most of all by issues struck by the end of the reign of Basil II and Constantine VIII, and later by a few coins from Romanus III and Constantine IX, the hoard from Greci indicates the accumulation by several generations of a local aristocratic family of successive sums of money, undoubtedly the results of political payments, lasting from the ‘70s of the 9^th century up to the ‘20s of the 11^th century. The same accumulation process in a family, over several generations, covering several centuries, can be remarked also in the case of the hoard from Veliki Gaj.

            As proven by the hoard from Dolheşti (commune of Dolheşti, Iassy county) [23] , as early as during the first decades of the 11^th centuries, the process of accumulating important richness under the form of gold coins had extended over the territories east from the Carpathians, surpassing the zones neighbouring the Danube. In this case it is still early to talk about the penetration of a high number of gold coins as a result of political payments made by the Byzantines beyond their frontiers, as a consequence of plunders, or of trade dealings.

The significant concentration of gold coins linked to the payments made by the Byzantine authorities for defending the Lower Danube border can be found also by the end of the 11^th century (the Dinogetia II and Dinogetia III hoards), Prof. Iširkovo and Silistra-Kalipetrovo (district of Silistra, Bulgaria). Other finds, such as the hoard uncovered in north-eastern Wallachia, at Borăneşti (commune of Coşereni, Ilfov county) or Tega (commune of Gura Teghii, Buzău county) [24] , or that from Variaş (commune of Variaş, Timiş county) [25] , might originate in the accumulations of precious metal coins resulted from the plunders undertaken in the Byzantine provinces.

            The gold and electrum coin hoards from the 12^th century on the Romanian territories are few. The two known hoards from that period are situated north of the Danube, in the southern region of Bessarabia, at Reni (district of Reni, Odessa region, Ukraine) and at Suvorovo (district of Ismail, Odessa region, Ukraine) [26] .

            An important step would take place during the second half of the 13^th century and the beginning of the 14^th century, when there was a massive intake of John III Vatatzes type hyperpera, that are not only the most common Byzantine gold coins on the Romanian territory, but also the first proofs of the integration of these areas in the great international trade that used to link Western and Central Europe to the East and the Balkans [27] . Researches proved that the Niceean hyperpera of John III and their imitations issues by the Latin Empire of Constantinople had the status of international coins, as they were the main payment means that allowed the trade revolution in the Mediterranean region in the second half of the 13^th century and the first part of the next one.

Single finds of John III type hyperpera can be found all over the Romanian territory, from Dobrudja to Bukovina, from Oltenia, Banat and from Crişana to Bessarabia, but important concentrations, often accompanied by hoards can be found in Dobrudja, southern Moldavia and Lesser Wallachia (Oltenia). These concentrations reveal not only the areas linked more closely to the great international trade of the time, but also the area of the main regional centres of economic and political power within the Romanian territory in the 13^th - 14^th centuries, during the age closely preceding the foundation of the unitary feudal states. The riches gathered by the Lower Danube aristocracy from the active participation in international trade dealings is revealed by the high number of hyperpera belonging to the hoards uncovered at Silistra (district of Silistra, Bulgaria), Uzun Bair hill (commune of Mihail Kogălniceanu, Tulcea county), Isaccea (Tulcea county), Stoieneşti (commune of Frecăţei, Brăila county) and Dunărea (commune of Seimeni, Constantza county). A high documentary relevance hold also the John III type hyperpera in the hoards from the areas north of the Danube, from Oţeleni (commune of Hoceni, Iassy county), Prăjeşti (commune of Traian, Bacău county), Osica (commune of Dobrun, Olt county), or Giurgiu (Giurgiu county). The latter contains the unique specimen known in the world of the hyperpera issued by Michael VIII Paleologus as Niceean emperor (1258 - 1261).

            The significance of the Niceean and Palaeologan hyperpera finds on the territories inhabited by the Romanians is much more important than it might be believed. The fact that certain regional rulers had at their disposal large sums enabled them to acquire valuable goods: expensive fabrics, jewels and spices, as well as to buy efficient weapons, horses, to employ mercenaries, to launch military operations and diplomatic activities, in short to strengthen and extend the political authority over ever larger territories. The significant stock of this kind of hyperpera, that stayed in currency also during the first half of the 14^th century enabled the developing Romanian feudal states to practice a more and more challenging military policy and diplomacy in the face of the aggressive manifestations of certain neighbouring great powers, such as Hungary, Poland and the Golden Hoard.

            Virtually, the entire quantity of coined gold used during the Middle Ages and the modern age on the Romanian territory south and east of the Carpathians came from abroad, as the gold ores in Wallachia and Moldavia were rather scarce. On the other hand, the monetary systems adopted by Wallachia and Moldavia during the second half of the 14^th century, of late Carolingian and Venetian-Balkan origin were based on silver currency. Excepting Transylvania, included in the Hungarian Kingdom during the 11^th - 13^th centuries, where after 1325 began the widespread striking of gold coins, the florins, at first issued after the model and standard of the Florentine florins, with significant exceptions, in Moldavia of the reign of Despot Vodă (1561 - 1563) and in Wallachia, during the reign of Constantine Brancovan (1688 - 1714), no other gold coins were struck on the Romanian countries during the Middle Ages. Even in Transylvania, until the last two decades of the 14^th century, the gold currency originated in the mints situated outside the province, being struck at Buda, Pécs and Kremnitz. As late as during the reign of Sigismund I (1387 - 1437), when efforts were being made to turn Transylvania into a shielding barrier against the Ottoman military expansion at the Lower and Middle Danube, some mints were opening for the gold coin striking.

            These Hungarian royal mints that issued gold coins during the 14^th - 15^th centuries were: Baia Mare (the activity began between 1387 and 1401), Baia de Arieş (the activity began between 1387 and 1401), Sibiu (the activity began between 1427 and 1430), Braşov (the activity began between 1427 and 1430), and later on at Cluj (the activity began in 1531) [28] . The most active Transylvanian mint was that at Baia Mare, whose production would reach a peak after the 1467 reform of Mathia Corvin (1458 - 1490).  Nevertheless, even after gold coins began to be struck in Transylvanian mints, a large part of the currency of that metal continued to come from outside the province, especially from Kremnitz, where the main mint of the Hungarian Kingdom had been established.

            After 1541, when Transylvania became an autonomous principality under Ottoman sovereignty, the mints controlled by the Transylvanian rulers struck a large amount of gold coins. Although the Transylvanian gold issues observed the traditional Hungarian system, having as basic denomination the ducat, the mints of the principality struck also exceptional pieces worth 10, 12, 25, 50 and even 100 ducats, but also fractions of ½ and ¼ ducats, in the mints at Cluj, Sibiu, Alba Iulia, Făgăraş, Sighişoara and Baia Mare [29] . The Transylvanian autonomous issues would cease in 1690, when the Habsburgs annexed the principality.

            Temporarily, during the 16^th - 17^th centuries some Transylvanian mints, especially the Baia Mare one, issued also coins for the Habsburg sovereigns, who were the kings of Hungary too. From 1692 to 1780 in Transylvania were issued both gold coins bearing the coat of arms of the principality, and pieces destined for the other imperial and royal Habsburg possessions. Until 1765 at Baia Mare were produced ducats or fractions bearing the imperial coat of arms, or that of the Hungarian Kingdom. At Alba Iulia the situation was more complex, as until 1780 were struck both coins with the Transylvanian coat of arms and with the imperial one. Later on, the mint issued gold coins, that is ducats and their multiples, with the imperial coat of arms between 1783 - 1804, 1813 - 1815, 1818 - 1830, 1835 - 1848 and 1853 - 1867. In just one year, in 1858, the Alba Iulia mint issued also gold crowns (kronen).

After the dualism was achieved, Alba Iulia became the second mint of the Hungarian Kingdom that had the duty to strike gold coins. Here were issued ducats between 1868 - 1871, and between 1870 - 1871 pieces of 4 florins/10 francs and 8 florins/20 francs [30] . From 1871 the mint was closed, as the coin striking was established above all at Kremnitz.

A short event in gold coin production during the Middle Ages on Romanian territory was the striking of Ottoman altuns in the mint at Mudava (Moldova Veche), during the reign of Suleyman I (1520-1566), probably in 1566 [31] .

            To the south and east of the Carpathians, the first autochthonous attempt at striking gold coins during the Middle Ages took place in Moldavia, in the time of Despot Vodă (1561 - 1563). His profound monetary reform aimed at introducing to this country the Western European monetary system, and correlating it to the Moldavian account coin system, used for accounting all the payments, as well as to the Ottoman system, whose real coins were widely used in everyday transactions [32] . Next to the thalers, the large silver coins, issued in the mint of Suceava in 1562 and 1563, by the order of Despot Vodă also ducats were struck in 1563. Only one piece of this monetary type was preserved, and belongs to the collections of the National Hungarian Museum in Budapest. The extreme scarcity of gold coins from Despot Vodă points to their having been issued in small numbers. A Polish source from that age reveals, however, the existence of hundreds of such coins owned by the Moldavian boyars, who had been at the court of Princes Despot Vodă and his successor Stefan Tomşa.

            Besides the prestige and material gains resulted from striking one’s own coins, Despot Vodă’s decision to put into circulation ducats and thalers was brought about by a pressing political necessity, namely providing the necessary currency for paying the mercenaries who had brought him to power. The metal needed to strike the coins came from the confiscation and melting down of the liturgy vessels and icon metal bindings of Moldavian monasteries. As the coins went mostly to a very small and mobile social category, like the mercenaries, their domestic impact was restricted. As a matter of fact, most ducat and thalers issues of Despot Vodă was taken out of the country, exchanged for Central and West-European local currency, and later melted down.

            In Wallachia the only attempt to strike gold coins dates from 1713. That same year Prince Constantine Brancovan ordered the striking of five and six ducat coins to the Alba Iulia mint for the celebration of the 25^th anniversary of his reign [33] . Also in this case, the decision of the Wallachian prince is part of a monetary reform attempt aiming at introducing to this country the Central and West-European monetary system and turning the account coins in the treasury, the “lei” (lion thalers) and “galbeni” (ducats) into real coins [34] . Struck in a small number, Constantine Brancovan’s coins were never put into circulation. Most of them, deposited in the treasury, were confiscated by the Turks in 1714, taken to Istanbul and melted down. Nowadays the issues of this prince are great numismatic rarities.

             Although there are many contemporary sources and monetary finds proving the occurrence on the Romanian territories during the 16^th-17^th centuries of important “official”, “semi-official” and “private” activities of forging some foreign coins [35] , they might have involved only silver coins. The very low weight and reduced title imitations of the Venetian ducats from the 14^th - 15^th centuries, uncovered in large numbers in Moldavia, assigned by Em. Condurachi to some mints in this country [36] , were later considered to be Genovese issues from Chios [37] . In reality, only a small part of the imitative ducat finds in Moldavia can be assigned for certain to the mint of Chios, as the rest might have come from the Black Sea area Genovese mint, first of all that at Caffa (whose gold issues, for a long time unknown, were recently discovered), or from Ottoman mints, specialised in imitating the Venetian ducats.

            The study of domestic and foreign documents from the 14^th - 18^th centuries, as well as that of the monetary finds enables us to reconstitute, on the whole, not only the role played by coined gold in the economic, social and political life of the Romanian states, but also the range of foreign gold issues mostly used by mediaeval Romanians. The sources point to the prevailing use of the gold coin as pay means for purchasing important goods, above all land, as essential pay means in the political realm, first of all paying the tributes to Hungary, or to the Ottoman Empire, as instrument of domestic policy and princely propaganda, used for princely donations and charities, but also for accumulations in the stately or personal treasury of Voyevods [38] .

            Although the contemporary documents from Wallachia and Moldavia from the 14^th-15^th centuries often mention the use of gold coins, until today, except for five remarkable hoards, namely those at: Brăeşti (commune of Brăeşti, Botoşani county) [39] , Târgovişte (Dâmboviţa county) [40] , Dudaşu Schelei, published under the inadequate name of the hoard from Schela Cladovei (Schela Cladovei, suburb. commune of the city of Drobeta-Turnu Severin) [41] , Victoria (former Cârpiţi, commune of Victoria, Iassy county) [42] and Schinetea (commune of Dumeşti,  Vaslui county) [43] , the collective gold coin finds, or the mixed ones including gold and silver pieces from that time in the regions south and east of the Carpathians are surprisingly scarce. Neither in Transylvania, nor in Banat the number of gold coin hoards from the 14^th - 15^th centuries, available until now to the scientific community is very large. In this sense we could mention the Alba Iulia finds [44] and a hoard from an unspecified locality in Banat [45] . In our opinion, this scarcity of gold coin finds from the 14^th - 15^th centuries cannot be explained by the fact that the age was politically and militarily stable, more exactly there were no conditions likely to favour the hoarding, concealing or losing of coins. On the contrary, as we have a lot of silver or billon coin hoards from that time. We think that the explanation resides in two social and economic phenomena characterising the gold currency circulation in the feudal society of the time. On the one hand, it used to be in the possession of princes and senior boyars, who were the favourite partners of foreign merchants and the main beneficiaries of the advantages of international trade. Their financial resources were more often than not invested in valuable goods, such as fabrics and jewels, in land purchasing, or in religious constructions. This way, the largest part of these sums left the Romanian states, or were turned into jewels, that were periodically transformed, as fashion changed, or into monumental constructions or church furniture, so that they left no monetary traces. The same goes for the money spent for political purposes, on the occasion of internal and external battles, or for paying the tributes.

            The structure of the early hoards from Brăeşti and Schela Cladovei consists mostly of Venetian ducats and imitations of them, that came to be international coins circulated by the great trade east of the Mediterranean and the Black Sea basin during the 14^th - 15^th centuries, after the recoil of the Byzantine hyperpera issues, as well as by the Hungarian florins, the new reference coins of Central European international trade. Of course, more often than not, the Hungarian gold issues in the Wallachian and Moldavian finds, from the 14^th century until late in the 19^th century, are nothing else but the monetary expression of the ample economic and political relationships that these countries maintained with Transylvania.

In later hoards, such as those at Victoria and Schinetea, the essential component of the gold currency is the low weight and reduced title imitations of the Venetian ducats, some of them struck at Chios, and others in unspecified Levantine mints, possibly in Genovese ones, but undoubtedly, also Ottoman ones. This gold coin category circulated also within the Black Sea international trade.

            We should remark that the frequent occurrence of isolated finds, as well as the hoards of such Venetian ducat imitations from Moldavia from the 15^th century point to significant strata of the local population enjoying more and more the benefits of international trade, that a century before only the rulers of Moldavian society relished.

            The two major components of gold currency on the Romanian territory during the 14^th - 15^th centuries, the Venetian ducats and their imitations, as well as the Hungarian florins, are a relevant witnesses of the Romanians’ active participation in the unfolding of international exchanges between the East and the West, as well as of the important benefits resulted from the exploitation of the key position of the Lower Danube territories in the trans-European mediaeval exchanges. The analysis of the structure of the mentioned hoards reveals the prevalence of the Levantine - Black Sea component of international trade until the last quarter of the 15^th century, to the detriment of the Central European one in Romanian economy.

            The hoard from Brăeşti is not only the most faithful mirror of the complex and remote ramifications of the Moldavian international trade during the first decades of its existence as a state (it contains, among others, a Genovese coin and an Indian one of the Sultan of Delhi, Mahmud I Tuqluq, struck in 1351), but it also reflects the impact of international trade on the richness of the local elite by 1400. At the other end of the Romanian lands, in the area of the Iron Gates of the Danube, the hoard from Dudaşu Schelei reveals also the importance of the political relationships in the penetration of the gold coin in the Romanian mediaeval world. This exceptional find, probably a part of the princely treasury of Michael I (1418 - 1420), lost during the battles with the Turks in the Banat of Severin, contains besides Venetian coins and imitations of them, next to Hungarian coins and French gold coins, undoubtedly, a part of the sums brought by the western crusaders, on the occasion of the crusade at Nikopolis in 1396, and included in the treasury, through gifts to the prince of Wallachia or by the acquisition of supplies and services.

            The hoard from Dudaşu Schelei has also an extraordinary scientific relevance for the monetary history of the Frankish principalities created by the western rulers in the Levant. It comprises the unique gold issue of Francesco I Gatilusio, “the Lord” of Lesbos, bearing a bilingual legend, in Greek and Latin, struck in 1354, on the occasion of receiving the island a fief from Emperor John V the Palaeologus.

            The distribution of gold coin finds on the Romanian territories during the 14^th - 15^th centuries points to their frequent occurrence in Moldavia, as compared with Wallachia. It is obvious that Moldavia was better situated on the great international commercial roads, first of all due to the existence of the road from the Black Sea to the Baltic Sea. That had not only economic and social, but also political relevance, as the important economic resources resulted from the good strategic position of the territory, and from the participation in the international trade provided Moldavia with the resources necessary for a long-lasting and often successful political and military resistance during the confrontation with the Ottoman Empire and Poland at the end of the 15^th century.

            The monetary finds enable us to better figure out the participation of the territories beyond the Carpathians, of Transylvania and Banat in the international trade between Levant and Central Europe during the 14^th - 15^th centuries. That is clearly reflected by the hoard discovered in an unspecified locality in Banat, which besides Hungarian and Venetian gold coins comprises also pieces issued in Chios.

            The gold coin finds on the Romanian lands become more and more frequent by the end of the 16^th century, and come to account for a common element of the circulating currency during the 17^th-18^th/19^th centuries. The large number of gold or mixed coin hoard, comprising gold and silver pieces, such as those at: Ghimpaţi (commune of Ghimpaţi, Giurgiu county) [46] , Buhăeni (commune of Andrieşeni, Iassy county) [47] , Bulboca (district of Anenii Noi, R. of Moldova) [48] , Bălţata (district of Criuleni, R. Moldova) [49] , Sângerei I (district of. Sângerei, R. of Moldova) [50] , Stupini (commune of Sânmihaiu de Câmpie, Bistriţa-Năsăud county) [51] , Oradea (Bihor county) [52] , Luncani (Luna county, Cluj county) [53] , Cupcui (district of Leova, R. of Moldova) [54] , Dezginiže (district of Ismail, Odessa region, Ukraina) [55] , Sângerei (district of Sângerei, R. of Moldova) [56] , Galaţi-Vadul lui Raşcu (Galatz county) [57] , Tanacu (commune of Tanacu, Vaslui county) [58] , Mileanca, wrongly mentioned in the relevant literature as the hoard of Sălişte (commune of Mileanca, Botoşani county) [59] , Cucuruzeni (district of Orhei, R. of Moldova) [60] , Ştefan cel Mare (suburb commune for the city of Oneşti, Bacău county) [61] , Moscovei (district of Cahul, Odessa region, Ukraine) [62] , Baia Mare (Maramureş county) [63] , Cotnari (commune of Cotnari,  Iassy county) [64] , Cluj-Napoca [65] , Hodora (commune of Cotnari,  Iassy county) [66] , Ţigăneşti (commune of  Munteni, city of Tecuci, Galatz county) [67] , Miorcani (commune of Rădăuţi-Prut,  Botoşani county) [68] , Hârlău (Iassy county) [69] , Gârbova (district of Ocniţa, R. of Moldova) [70] , Ştefăneşti (commune of Ştefăneşti,  Botoşani county) [71] , Bucharest-Brezoianu street [72] and Galatz-Republicii street [73] , as well as that of the isolated finds reveal a series of major economic, social and financial changings taking place locally, but also in the region or on the continent. On the one hand, coined gold grew in importance during the 16^th-18^th centuries. This phenomenon was due above all to the decline and fluctuations of the values of the main silver denominations traditionally in use in the Romanian territories, such as the Ottoman aspers, the Hungarian dinars, the halfgroats, the dreipolkers or Polish-Lithuanian triple groats. The  marked devaluation of these issues was generated both by the economic and political crisis that the issuing states underwent, and by the impact of the penetration of the American silver in the European economic and financial systems. The crisis of the low  or mid value silver currency during the 16^th - 18^th centuries could be compensated  only partially by the issue and use of high value silver coins – the silver crowns and florins, due to the long-term devaluation of silver as against gold.

            During the 16^th - 19^th centuries the massive penetration of silver took place  at the same time with the arrival of the American dollar on the European market.  During that age not only that the silver/gold ratio dropped dramatically, but at the same time the available gold stocks grew significantly, which is obvious also in the contemporary finds on the Romanian lands.

In a deceivingly paradoxical way, the chronic political instability that affected the Romanian states during the 16^th - 18^th centuries favoured the resorting on a large scale to the gold coin, as a solid reassurance during uncertain times. Also paradoxically, in some cases the military activity that took place in the Romanian Principalities during that age contributed to the spreading of the gold coin.

It is known that there was an evident link between the ceaseless intense military effort of the Roman-German Empire, Austria, the Ottoman Empire and Russia  during the 16^th - 19^th centuries, and the larger amounts of gold coin issues of these states. That would have consequences not only within the internal affairs of the empires waging wars, but would also lead to a change in the monetary realm in Central and south-east Europe. As during the modern age the neighbouring states issued a large amount of gold coins, Romanian society had at its disposal an ever higher quantity of this currency.

            Meanwhile, periodically, the economy of the Romanian Countries enjoyed true bulky gold coin "injections". They came from the subsidies granted to the Romanian princes who rose against the Ottoman Empire by the Roman-German Empire and other Catholic powers. Another source of gold coins for the Romanian states was the money paid by foreign armies that were deployed on the territory of the principalities during the 18^th - 19^th centuries. Besides the damages, spoils and losses of casualties, caused by wars, besides the tendency of great powers to burden the local population with the largest share of the expenses, by free or undervalued requisitions, by extraordinary financial contributions and service rendering, the presence of foreign armies meant also the introduction into the local circulation of considerable sums, often in gold, resulted from the spent pays or acquisitions. During the 17^th century and later there were certain situations, when the Ottoman Empire itself was forced, in some cases, not only to give up the payment of the tributes, but also to send money to the Romanian Principalities, and even purchase some quantities of products from these countries.

            The effect of the political pays practised by foreign powers on the local monetary circulation is revealed by the hoards concealed during the reign of Michael the Brave or during the first years of the 17^th century. At the same time, it is clear that most 18^th century gold issues from hoards and isolated finds is related to the military events from that century to a large extent.

At the same time, we should mention that in spite of the high taxes suffered by Romanian society during the 17^th-19^th centuries, of the negative consequences of the unfolding of military operations on the territory of the Romanian Countries, the age enjoyed a production growth, and, implicitly, social wealth. That is clearly pointed out by the gold coin issues. The increased export of agricultural products, salt and timber both to the south of the Danube and towards Central and Western Europe resulted in a constantly positive balance of payments and was followed by the transfer of high amounts of gold coins.

Excepting a remarkable recent synthesis on the monetary circulation during the 16^th century, owed to  B. Murgescu [74] , the earlier monograph of Gh. Zane, published in 1930 [75] continues to be the main documentary source for the monetary circulation during the 17^th-19^th century.

As during the previous period, also during the 16^th-18^th centuries the Hungarian gold coins 

[76] , as well as the Venetian ones [77] , used to be the most important components of the gold currency used in the Romanian Countries. These "traditional" issues during the 16^th century were followed by a gold coin issue meant to play a very important role during the next centuries. The Hungarian coins followed, between 1541 and 1691, the issues of the autonomous Principality of Transylvania, that observed the same metrological system [78] . Of all the new issues, the most important role will have the Ottoman gold coins, that start to occur in the finds from mid 16^th century [79] . An exceptional role will play also the gold coins of the United Provinces of the Low Countries, that emerge on the Romanian territory during the last quarter of the 16^th century [80] . The role of these issues would become very important during the 18^th century and the first decades of the 19^th century. For example, not by chance, the Organic Regulations, from 1831 - 1832, the Dutch ducat would become the standard gold monetary unit of the Treasuries of the Danubian Principalities [81] , being a true factor of economic and political union of the Romanian nation before 1859. The success of the Dutch ducats commercially and politically explains both the illegal issuing of certain pieces of this kind in Russian mints, and the taking over of their  type by the Polish revolutionaries. Such a piece, the first of this kind mentioned in the Romanian collections, property of the Prahova Museum of History and Archaeology, is published in this directory (directory no. IV 54). 

            The economic opening of the Romanian Countries market after the treaty of Küçuk Kaynarci, from 1774 and of that of Adrianopol, from 1829, as well as the stronger political influence of Russia at the end of the 18^th century and during the first decades of the 19^th century at the Lower Danube, coincides with the penetration into the Romanian Countries of Western and Russian gold issues, that, however, failed to replace the favourable positions of the Austrian, Hungarian, Ottoman and Dutch gold issues.

            As late as after the creation of the modern national monetary system of the leu, in 1867, by the emergence of the gold pieces of 20 lei, struck for the first time, experimentally, in 1868 and on a large scale, after 1870, the economy of the Romanian state would have at its disposal its own gold issues. Taking into account that during the '60s-'70s of the 19^th century Romania was economically and commercially oriented mainly towards Austro-Hungary, the German lands and the Ottoman Empire (where the Ottoman pound had been introduced, modelled after the weight and title standard of the British pound sterling), the endorsement of the gold issues standard of the Latin Monetary Union, in fact modelled after the French one was mostly a political decision.

The first modern issues of Romanian gold coins, those from 1868, were struck in Berlin. In February  1870 opened the State Mint in Bucharest, where coins of 20 lei were issued from 1870, 1883, 1884 and 1890. The 1906 issue, comprising new denominations, such as: 12,5, 25, 50 and 100 lei, besides those already common of  20  lei, was struck in Brussels. The process of systematic struck of the Romanian gold coin would cease in 1906. [82]

Because of the limited economic and financial possibilities of the Romanian state, the amount of gold coin issues from the 19^th century was relatively small, if we consider the quantity of gold coins struck by other European states. For the pieces with the nominal value of  20 lei the amount of issues ranged between 5,000 coins, in 1870 and 196,000 pieces, in 1890. The amount of issues struck in 1890 is the peak of the gold coin production in Romania. For the other denominations, the quantity ranges between 32,000 pieces for the coins of 12.5 lei, 24,000 pieces for the coins of 25 lei, 28,000 pieces for those of 50  lei, and only 3,000 pieces for the coins of 100 lei.

            A large part of the modern Romanian gold issues from the 19^th-20^th century were devalued and melted, or lost, as they were sent in 1917 to Moscow, together with the hoard of the National Bank of Romania, that was never returned by the Soviet authorities. Due to this fact the Romanian gold coins are in fact much scarcer than the assessments of auction catalogues let us to believe.

            The systematic striking of Romanian gold coins at the end of the 19^th century and early 20^th century ceased in 1906.  The fact that the modern Romanian gold coins followed the standard of the Latin Monetary Union made the parallel circulation possible in Romania until World War I of the French, Italian, Belgian and Greek pieces of 20 francs, pounds or drahmas, as well as of their multiples or submultiples.

            The creation of the modern state in 1859, turned independent in 1877, failed to resolve completely the monetary circulation union in the Romanian state, as an important part of the territories inhabited by Romanians were still under foreign occupation. In Transylvania, Banat, Crişana and Maramureş, until 1918 circulated gold coins of the Austrian Empire, turned after 1867 the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the ducats, their divisions and multiples, the sovrans, the pieces of  ½ and a crown, as well as those of 8 florins/20 francs, issued before the monetary reform of 1892. After 1892 the pieces of  10, 20, 50 and 100 crowns were widely used. In Bessarabia, from 1812 under Russian occupation circulated the coins of 5, 7,5, 10, 15, 25 and 37.5 rubles, that were reformed between 1886 and 1898, by the change in the title and weight.

            The accomplishment of the national unity in 1918, as well as that of the monetary union in in 1921 were not accompanied by the putting into circulation of gold coin issues for economic purposes. In fact, after World War I Romania did not strike gold coins with circulating power any more, only commemorative pieces, of the so-called “non circulating legal tender” category, pieces whose legal value had no connection with the nominal one written on them [83] , as they were exchanged like any other merchandise, whose price varied according to the value of gold, to certain coefficients determined by the striking and putting into operation costs, as well as the supply and demand on the financial and numismatic market. The number of pieces struck was too small to really influence the monetary circulation process.

            Such gold pieces were issued in 1922, on the occasion of the crowning of King Ferdinand I and Queen Mary as sovereigns of all Romanians. On that occasion were struck in London pieces on which was written the nominal value of 25 lei (150,000 coins), 50 lei (105,000 coins) and 100 lei (30,000 coins). The weight and title of the pieces correspond to those of the old Romanian issues from the time of Charles I (in fact that of the Latin Monetary Union).

            New issues were put into circulation in 1939-1940, at the new State Mint in Bucharest reopened in 1935. They were meant to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the enthronement of King Charles II. On that occasion, were issued both pieces bearing the nominal value of 20 lei and 100  lei, according to the old standard of the Latin Monetary Union, but also monetary pieces without a precise denomination, whose  42 g. weight did not correspond to any present or earlier monetary system. These medal-like issues were inadequately called "large gold coins", a term that traditionally Romanians used to  give to the pieces of four and five ducats. There are no official data on the amount of the issues, but judging from their extreme scarcity, it seems that only a few hundred pieces were produced. As a matter of fact, the largest part of them were retained and taken out of the country by Charles II, which resulted in their being even harder to come across.

              The last Romanian gold coin issues date from 1944, in fact from 1945, although the first date is written on the coins. They are pieces without nominal value, weighing 6.55 g, struck to commemorate Northern Transylvania joining the Romanian state, after almost four years of foreign rule, following the Vienna dictate. A number of 74,480 coins, struck at the State Mint in Bucharest. Theoretically, the measure of putting into circulation of gold coins had also an antiinflation function, as by selling gold, a part of the money paper surplus on the market was to be absorbed. Those were the official explanation, as in reality, the political and economic leadership of the country tried to protect a part of the gold reserves of the National Bank of Romania from a virtual confiscation by the Soviet occupation forces.

            During the whole period after World War I in Romania the general public continued to use the old gold coins issued by King Charles I, the foreign gold coins issued during the 19^th century and early 20^th century, as well as contemporary foreign issues, from the inter-war period, even if gold had ceased to be a current payment means. A series of very important and generally accepted gold coins, as for instance, the pieces of 20 French or Swiss francs (and their equivalent in other states), the British sovereigns (punds sterling), or the pieces of 20 US dollars were quoted at the stock exchange, as their price in lei fluctuated.  Of course, also then there was a "black" market  of gold coins, with much higher prices than the official ones. The times of political, economic and social unrest, the wars, revolutions and soaring inflation were factors favouring the use of gold coins, as a form of safe investment, or intact preservation of the hoarding value of treasures.

            The liberal laws on gold, which made it possible to detain and use without restrictions by natural or artificial persons of gold coins or ingots ended in 1938, when the Decree no. 1037/1938 was published, and under the pretext of the worsening of the international political situation and the imminence of a new war, the authorities imposed the interdiction of detaining and using  gold currency by natural persons, who had to compulsorily exchange them at the National Bank of Romania. At the same time, the use of gold coins by institutions was much restricted. Moreover, any unlawful gold activity was considered criminal. Legally also after 1938, the coin ornaments and the pieces in numismatic collections continued to be excepted from deposition and exchange at the National Bank of Romania. This legislation was maintained also by the Antonescu's regime, and after a short relief period in 1945 - 1946, linked to the issuing of commemorative coins dedicated to the liberation of Northern Transylvania, starting from 1947, the authorities launched a true hunting of gold coin holders, including those who legally acquired them in 1945 - 1946. The legal base of this action was provided by the Law no. 487/1947.

Under the communist regime, repressive legislation on gold initiated by Charles II, and much hardened in 1947, was applied with much wrongdoing and violence. On that occasion, the regulations became more and more oppressive and arbitrary, giving way to abuse. Often were confiscated also the ornaments made up of coins, necklaces, whose possession was theoretically legal. Thousand of citizens were spoiled of their gold coins and objects, many of them being sentenced to many years of prison for the crime of having been the possessors of only one "forbidden" coin.

            In the early '60s, when the decree no. 210/1960 the authorities tried to apply certain pragmatic measures, meant to increase at the expense of the population, the gold stocks, lessened because of the compensations paid to Western countries for the goods nationalised in 1948. Although the 1960 law maintained the previous repressive nature, it tried to determine the "wilful" delivery of gold coins to the National Bank of Romania by holders. The latter were encouraged to do that by the promise that they would not be punished for a previous possession, that those who deliver the pieces would remain anonymous and be paid a compensatory sum of money. The last change in the regulations on precious metals, and, implicitly, on the status of gold coins under the communist regime took place in 1978, by the endorsement of the decree no 244/1978. On that occasion, the current control and interdictions in force until then only for gold were extended to platinum and silver. At the same time, the possession of gold coins for the special numismatic collections, and after 1978, of silver ones, had to have a special authorisation.  After 1985, absurd regulations stipulated that even certain museums had to deliver the gold and silver coins to the local subsidiaries of the National Bank of Romania, thus taking them away from their cultural and scientific destination. The same happened with many hoards recovered by the Militia, that previously used to be delivered to museums.

            Under the circumstance, when the movement of the precious metals was strictly controlled and monopolised by the state, it is no wonder that unlike other socialist states, such as: Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and Albania, from 1946 to 1982 - 1983 Romania did not issue gold or silver coins. The Romanian commemorative gold coins of  500 and 1000 from 1982 and 1983, dedicated to the anniversary of 2050 years from the creation of the centralised and independent Dacian state were struck abroad, in the USA, by a private company, that paid the Romanian state a redevence in exchange for the right to use the marks and official title of these coins.

After Romania returned to democracy and the market economy, the National Bank of Romania gradually resumed the precious metal commemorative issues. In 1995, after a 40 year interruption, the first Romanian silver coins were put into circulation, and in 1998 was resumed also the gold coin striking on the occasion of 150 years from the Revolution of 1848 and 80 years from the unification of all Romanians. Symbolically, the gold coin striking took place at a 130 year distance from the striking of the first Romanian modern issues. After 1998 the commemorative gold coin issuing became common practice, as the artistic and technical quality improved every year, together with the theme diversity of these pieces.

            A systematic publication of the gold coin finds, besides their unquestionable heritage and artistic worth, represents an important scientific and cultural event, whose impact goes beyond the local, regional or national interest, due to the fact that monetary circulation has no political or cultural frontiers. Knowing the gold coin finds in the Carpatho-Danubian-Pontic territories is a major source of political, economic and social data on this region. Their value as historical sources can be synthesised by the concise statement that these coins can provide clues and even quantifiable parameters of the local population's participation in events and international trade. The gold coin finds of all time are a clue to the degree of integration of a region in the great continental and global political, economic and cultural processes.

Besides the scientific and cultural processes of the numismatic heritage, the record  and systematic publication of gold coins in public collections became a pressing necessity, given the various aggressions and losses our cultural heritage has been suffering, as all that grew worse after 1989.

            During the last four decades there has been a constant interest of Romanian numismatists in the editing of the gold coin finds. Very important, by the number and diversity of the issues, as well as by the example and model offered to specialists in other institutions, was the publication of a part of the gold coin preserved in the Coin Room of the Romanian Academy Library, undertaken by O. Iliescu and his collaborators [84] . Also for this collection, important for Romania, we have to mention the relatively recent publication of two directories of certain coin categories in the collection of the engineer Constantin C. Orghidan, illustrating also a series of gold coins [85] . Of utmost importance was the launching, by the end of the '60s and during the '70s and '80s, of the publication of museum collection directories In spite of all the shortcomings, errors or limits, inherent to any such work, it is worth mentioning the importance of the editing of the directories of the collections of the e Sălaj County Museum of History, in Zalău [86] , National History Museum in Iassy [87] , of the Maramureş County Museum of History, in Baia Mare [88] , of the Braşov County Museum of History [89] , of the Mureş County Museum of History, in Târgu Mureş [90] , in a few museum in north-western Transylvania, as well as in the collection of the Criş Land Museum in Oradea, and of other museum in western Transylvania [91] . Meanwhile, were published a part of the finds of ancient, Byzantine and mediaeval coins preserved in the collection of the Prahova County Museum of History and Archaeology in Ploieşti [92] , the Museum of the Lower Danube in Călăraşi [93] , the Town Museum of Sebeş, Alba county [94] , the Teleorman County Museum of History, in Alexandria [95] , the Olt County Museum, in Slatina [96] , the Institute for Eco-Museum Researches  (the former Museum of the Museum of the Delta of the Danube in Tulcea) [97] , the  “Vasile Pârvan” Museum in Bârlad [98] , the Museum of National History and Archaeology Constanţa [99] , the Museum of Brăila [100] , the Museum of Săveni, Botoşani county [101] , National Museum Complex "Curtea Domnească Târgovişte [102] , National Museum of the Union in Alba Iulia [103] , “Iulian Antonescu” County Museum of History and Archaeology in Bacău [104] , County History Museum in Galaţi [105] , Museum of Oltenia in Craiova [106] , National Museum of History of Transylvania in Cluj-Napoca [107] , Neamţ County History Museum in Piatra Neamţ [108] , Bistriţa-Năsăud County History Museum in Bistriţa [109] , Museum of Banat Mountains Area in Reşiţa [110] , Bucharest City Museum and "Maria and Dr. G. Severeanu" Collection, branch of the same museum [111] , Buzău County History Museum [112] , Botoşani County History Museum [113] . Meanwhile, a part of the finds of ancient, Byzantine and mediaeval coins are preserved in the collection of the National History Museum of Romania [114] . We should also mention the publication of the gold coins in the collection of the “Vasile Pârvan” Institute of Archaeology in Bucharest [115] .

We think that also important is the systematic publication, after 1990, of some hoards comprising mediaeval and modern gold coins uncovered in Bessarabia, found in public collections in the Republic of  Moldavia [116] .

            In spite of the rather long list of contributions mentioned above, until now we could not obtain any data on the content of the gold coin collections, but from a very small part of the public institutions that hold such a heritage. Moreover, all the publications are partial and unsystematic. With rare exceptions, the directories or articles and studies published until now regarded only the ancient and Byzantine coin finds or some mediaeval hoards, leaving aside the numerous modern and contemporary coins preserved in our public collections. We are right to assert that the existent publications provide only a poor image of the extraordinary numismatic heritage preserved in the Romanian public collections, first of all in museum ones.

            Our older idea, emerged in the late '80s, of launching a systematic publication of gold coins and hoards found in the Romanian public collections, starting from the extraordinary national cultural heritage database worked out and managed by the Institute for Cultural Memory - CIMEC has begun to take shape after 1990, following the many fruitful discussions with Dan Matei, the director of this institution and with Irina Oberländer-Târnoveanu, deputy director of the institute The vast culture and practical sense characterising my colleagues of COMEC enabled them to embrace with enthusiasm the cause of such an endeavour, as they made useful suggestions for its carrying out and made available all the resources existent at that time. An extremely useful model, as content, not form, seemed to us the series of the French publication Cahiers Ernest-Babelon - L’or monnaye, initiated in 1982.

            At first, in 1991-1994, as a preliminary part of the project, we checked, updated and corrected a part of the record data sent by various museums, stored at CIMEC. In 1995-1996, together with my colleagues Paraschiva Stancu, Ana-Maria Velter and Katiuşa Pârvan, I started to check, correct and fill in the cards of the gold coins in the Coin Room collection of the National History Museum of Romania. Unfortunately, later, a series of professional and personal duties prevented us from completing the two volumes comprising all this material. From the very beginning, from 1995 our colleague Oltea Dudău from the  Bruckenthal National Museum in Sibiu joined the team. By working hard, she succeeded in finishing  the directory on the gold coins in the collections of the oldest museum in the country two years ago. Unfortunately, because of the absurd and hardly understandable bureaucratic hindrances, we failed to photo the precious numismatic material, although  CIMEC was willing to cover the costs partially or entirely.

            Since 1997, when CIMEC employed my former students, Mihai Dima and Aurel Vîlcu, the latter joined the project. Moreover, their enthusiasm and energy enabled them to carry out one volume, that was to be the first complete one of the series. They succeeded in co-opting a few loyal and serious collaborators, namely Ana Dicu, from the Buzău County Museum, Marian Neagu, director of the “ Museum of the Lower Danube” in Călăraşi, Emil Păunescu, director of the “Teohari Antonescu” Museum in Giurgiu and Elisabeta Savu, from the Prahova County Museum of History and Archaeology, in Ploieşti. We should mention the efficient and understanding support from dr. Eugen-Marius Constantinescu, from the Buzău County Museum.

            Later, the project benefited of the financial support of the Department of Museums and Collections in the Minister of Culture, in 1997-1999. Regrettably, after my resignation from that department, in June 1999, the new director not only ceased the project financing, but tried to hinder it by occult manoeuvres or direct pressure, in spite of the keen interest this department claims to have for the record and putting to good use of the national cultural heritage Under such unfavourable circumstances, the project was saved by the financial assistance from  CIMEC and the enthusiasm of the collaborators who had invested such efforts for its carrying out.

            The first volume in the series The Gold Coins in the Public Collections in Romania, published both in a classic form, on paper, and on CD-ROM, worked out by Aurel Vîlcu, Ana Dicu, Marian Neagu, Mihai Dima, Emil Păunescu and Elisabeta Savu aims at presenting the gold coins in the collections of four museums in central and eastern Muntenia: namely the Buzău County Museum, the “Lower Danube Museum” in Călăraşi, the “Teohari Antonescu” Museum in Giurgiu and the  Prahova County Museum of History and Archaeology in Ploieşti. In all these cases the collections belong to relatively new museums, created or reactivated after the '50s, even if in some cases the institutions had begun the legal or formal existence back in the inter-war period [117] . Another common element of the four institutions is the scarcity of the heritage record before the '80s, as the numismatic staff was lacking, but also because of an amateurism of the first management teams. Due to that, often we lack certain essential scientific data on the place of coin discovery, on the collections and persons linked to the origin of the pieces, or on the way and date when they entered into the possession of the institution, although few decades have passed since these museums were founded.

            The directory comprises in its pages data on 380 ancient, Byzantine, mediaeval and modern coins or coin-shaped pieces, but also a few period and modern fakes (the latter proposed by the authors). Unfortunately this volume omitted an exceptional electron piece in the collection of the Prahova County Museum of History and Archaeology. It is the gross imitation of an electron aspron from  Manuel I (1143-1180), having as a prototype the type E pieces (the fifth issue?) struck at Constantinople [118] . The special interest of this coin originating in the area of the Plain, resides in the fact that it is the first Byzantine coin imitation from the 12^th century known until now north of the Lower Danube. This coin might have been struck even in an improvised mint in the area.

            Most coins published in this work were never published before. Only a small number were already published or were mentioned very briefly, above all in the chronicles dedicated to monetary finds in Romania written over the decades by our late professor Bucur Mitrea, and more recently by Gheorghe Poenaru Bordea.

            Besides coins in the proper sense, in this directory are published also two coin-shaped pieces, meant for necklaces, imitating more or less faithfully the metrological standard and the piece type of four Austro-Hungarian ducats (directory no. IV 12 and 92). One of these comes from a Bulgarian mint, active at the beginning of the 20^th century, and the other one seems to have been produced in an Italian or Levantine mint, whose issues concerned the Balkan and Levant areas, where the use of necklaces, as prestigious ornaments, or as dowry, were still deeply rooted until World War II.

            Of all the coins and coin-shaped pieces published now, 378 are of gold and electron. Out of scientific reasons, wishing to publish all the coins in a certain category of these collections, even if formally the pieces do not belong to the category announced in the title of the volume, namely "gold coins", the authors decided to include in this directory also two period fakes after the Ottoman coins preserved in the collection of the Buzău County Museum (directory no. I 227-228).

            The occurrence of these coins might point to their having been the work of unofficial mints, specialised in manufacturing coins for necklaces. We think that the beneficiaries of these fakes were destitute people who could not buy gold artefacts, but who would wear such ornaments, as a sign of social distinction in the Romanian and Balkan rural and suburb world from the 18^th-20^th centuries.

            To this category of “gold” fakes belongs also a stater of the  Alexander III type in the collection of the  Prahova County Museum of History and Archaeology (no. IV 94), with an unusually low weight (7,00 g.) for a piece with the conservation degree that has the specimen in question. This coin must be a modern replica produced by the galvanoplasty technique. We do hope that those in charge with the museum collection record will make the necessary corrections, taking off the gold coins these fakes, so that to prevent any administrative confusion regarding the true identity of these  pieces.

            Unfortunately, if the authors have adopted the principle of publishing all the coins that were or should be of gold and electron, on which we agree, we fail to understand why the directory does not yet include a piece in the collection of the County Museum of History and Archaeology that is in a similar situation. It is the galvanoplastic copy of the ducat of Despot Vodă (the unique coin preserved in the public collections in Romania !), that deserves to be published, even just for removing the erroneous ideas or “myths” still circulating among specialist collectors on this piece.

            We should make a few remarks also on three gold coins of the Alexander III type in the collection of the same museum. The first one is a stater (directory no. IV 95), that the authors, following M. Price' catalogue [119] ,  consider to be a  modern fake. We think that this label is far from truth. The piece has the style and weight of the perfectly authentic coins. Besides,  taking into account the rather common aspect of the staters of the Alexander III type and the relatively low prices offered for such coins on the numismatic market in the 19^th century and the first half of the 20^th century  we cannot see what genius faker, able to imitate perfectly the style of the artistic engravers could strive to produce so “banal” pieces, with little value. Moreover, if he was so talented, how could he make the  childish “mistake” to make a die with a spelling error of great proportions (a sign, at the first letter Σ, the word ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ), easy to detect by collectors or numismatists. It is hard to explain how these coins are in a Romanian collection, before being sold to a museum in Ploieşti, taking into account that, usually, most Romanian collectors from the 19^th-20^th centuries only purchased coins from the local market, that included a very rich and cheap supply, as they lacked the financial means to compete on the international antiquities market, the source of a museum like the British Museum, that holds similar coins.

            Even more interesting are two pieces (directory no. IV 96-97), bearing also the name of Alexander III, but having representations and an unusual denomination for the Macedonian gold mint or in those derived from it. Their weight would correspond to half a stater and a quarter of stater. The pieces in question are neither cast nor galvanoplastic copies. They are struck with dies whose style is  perfectly included in that of most authentic monetary issues of the Alexander III. Also in this case, as the authors follow Martin Price, consider that the coins are  modern fakes (correctly they could be named modern “inventions” , as fakes reproduce monetary types). As in the case of the  stater mentioned above, it is hard to explain how these coins were produced, as their style and metrology are perfectly included in that of the authentic ancient one. Not less difficult to explain are how they were included, if they are the work of a faker, willing to create very rare if not unique, therefore expensive pieces in an obscure collection in Romania, before being owned by the Count Museum of History and Archaeology in Ploieşti.  

            Taking into account that this directory is meant for a general public, namely numismatists, collectors, archaeologists, historians, but also people willing to be initiated in the mystery of old coins, or art lovers, the coins are rather fully described, all the technical data are provided and are accompanied by directory references. In the case of coins whose legend in the Greek , Latin or Cyrillic alphabet they are rendered in their original form, but also in the modern spelling. The Arabic coin legends are rendered transliterated, according to the modern Turkish orthography [120] and in Romanian translation. In our opinion, this kind of legends must have been rendered in the original form, the Arabic standard, which is perfectly possible in this moment due to the fact that the present computer facilities, accompanied by the transliteration, according to the present international standards (used, not only by  l’Énciclopedie de l’Ilam, but also recommended also by the Romanian Standardisation bodies) and accompanied by the Romanian translation.

            Whenever the case, the authors mention the place of discovery of the coins and provide references on whether the coin was already published or only mentioned earlier. More often than not, the pieces are accompanied by photos, even if better had been that the entire material to have been reproduced by photos, as the project had been conceived at first. The most interesting pieces from a scientific and artistic point of view are shown in enlarged photos. The volume is accompanied by more indexes, which makes it easier to be referenced.

            For specialists, even a simple general look into it proves that the gold coin sample is statistically significant, as it rather faithfully illustrates the main stages of coined gold circulation in the Lower Danube area, as well as that of the main categories and coin issues used over the centuries in this area.  The structure of the collections well reflects the dynamic use of gold coins on the Romanian territory, being dominated by the issues from the 16^th-19^th centuries, the peak age of gold currency circulation. This is an important scientific statement, as it enables us to assert that except for a few cases, relatively easy to detect, most ancient, mediaeval and modern coins come from local finds, even if we lack certain data on their origin. An exception is the Museum of the Lower Danube in Călăraşi, that because of the geographical closeness to Dobrudja includes in its collections a lot of coins from the province between the Danube and the Black Sea.       

            A few cons published here deserve special attention. We bear in mind above all the stater from the Callatian mint of  Alexander  III type, discovered on the hill named “Clinci”, situated on the territory of the commune of  Roseţi (Călăraşi county), found in the collection of the Museum of the Lower Danube in Călăraşi (directory no II 1). The very well preserved coin seems to belong to a dispersed hoard, even if today we lack certain data on the uncovering conditions. The presence in south-east Wallachia, close to the Danube, of a large amount of gold and silver coins of the Macedonian type or their imitations (see the tetradrahms hoard from Rasa) constitutes the proof  that in the area existed an important centre of Getic political power, ruled at the beginning of the 3^rd century BC by Dromichaites. Towards this area were directed not only the economic interests of the Greek cities on the Black Sea coast, first of all of the  Callatis, in whose hinterland southern Dobrudja and south-east Wallachia were situated. [121] , but also the political ones. The hoard from Gâldău, linked to the Getic participation in the fight for supremacy in the Hellenistic world after the death of Alexander III, as well as the find from Roseţi, dating from 260-225 BC make us think of long involvement of the Callatian city as intermediary between the political formations of the local populations and the Greek world. The prevalence of the Callatian monetary component in the gold coin hoards at Mărăşeşti, Dăieni and Anadol indicates the fact that the influence of these cities was extended in the 3^rd century over a much larger area including not only Dobrudja, but also south Bessarabia, Moldavia and eastern Wallachia.       

            The stater of the Koson type in the collection of the  Prahova County Museum of History and Archaeology in Ploieşti (directory no. IV 1), in spite of it very low weight due to wear, is numismatically important. Unfortunately, we think that there are few chances to originate in find in the north-eastern zone of Wallachia where they lack until now certain data on the occurrence of such coins.

            The proportion of late Roman coins, from the 4^th-5^th centuries in public collections point to an important growth, which is typical of the Romanian territory. They include a rare solidus from Constantinus I (306-337) (no. IV 3) and an unpublished variant of the solidi issued at Constantinople in the name of  Valentinianus III (425-455) (directory no,. IV 4). The frequency of solidi finds from the 4^th-5^th centuries in north-eastern Wallachia regarding the existence of an important  political and military centre of the Gothic confederation. In this region, a centre that was maintained also during the firs half of the 5^th century under Hun rule. The coin from Zenon (476-491) in the collection of the  “Teohari Antonescu” Museum in Giurgiu (no III 1) belongs to a series of interesting gold coin finds from the second half of the 5^th century and early 6^th century Central and north-eastern Wallachia, that can be linked to the rise of a power centre, after the disappearance of the “Hun Empire”, a centre linked to the Ciurel culture, that had close links to the Byzantine Empire, as proven by the numerous imports from the south-Danubian region. It is not out of the question that the  economic wealth and political power of this formation to depend on the salt trade.

            If the presence of the tremissis from Justinianus I (527-565), originating in Izvoarele (commune of  Izvoarele, Constanţa county) (directory no. II 2) is normal for the circulating stage of the Roman-Byzantine province of Scythia Minor, instead the gold coins from Mauricius Tiberius (directory no. IV 4) and Heraclius and Heraclius Constantinus (no I 2) are extremely rare finds from the region of the Southern Carpathians and the Danube, as well as the Eastern Carpathians. The situation is hard to explain taking into account that the sources mention many raids of the Slavs into the Byzantine provinces at the Lower Danube, that had as attack bases the territories of Wallachia and Moldavia. Taking into account the frequency and success of these incursion, it was natural that the number of Byzantine gold coin finds from the second half of the 6^th century in Wallachia and Moldavia to be large, or at least at the level of bronze issues. At the same time, it would have been likely that the attack  of the Avars against the “Sclavini” north of the Danube, from 574, should have left much more monetary traces, including through lost or hidden gold coins. Regarded from a wider political and military perspective, from the Middle Danube to the steppes north of the Black Sea, the coin from Heraclius and Heraclius Constantinus belongs to systematic subsidies granted by the Byzantine authorities in 610-626 to the Avar confederation and other tribal unions in order to ensure peace or draw them into fratricide conflicts, useful to the  imperial interests. The small number of finds in the area of Wallachia and Moldavia, as compared to that in Banat, Northern Serbia, North or Southern Hungary, and to those in the north Black Sea constitute a sign that the regions north of the Lower Danube were not interesting for the Byzantines, so they were politically and militarily not too dangerous.

            Although on the territory of Central and Eastern Wallachia there are a few gold coin finds from the 8^th-10^th centuries, the series of gold coins in the four collections published after an about four-hundred year interruption, with the nomisma tetartera issues from Basil II and Constantine VIII (976-1025), belonging to the Museum of the Lower Danube in Călăraşi and County Museum of History and Archaeology in Ploieşti (no II 3 and IV 5). The present type in the two collections - the last tetartera issue of this emperor - are the most common Byzantine coins from the 11^th century that occur in the Lower Danube finds from Dobrudja to Oltenia, and from Transylvania, to Moldavia. They came here as a result of massive subsidies granted by the  imperial authorities, probably as compensation for the participation at the Danubian border in the definitive vanquish of Bulgaria, in 1019. The large spreading of the coins of this type north of the Danube can be considered to be the result of the involvement of some local mercenaries in the imperial army, and local feudals allied to the Byzantines, in this long and bloody conflict.

            Other Byzantine coins worth discussing are the two nomisma histamenon from Michael VII Ducas (1071-1078), in the collection of the Prahova County Museum of History and Archaeology (no. IV 5-6). They were published, at first, by Ir. Dimian, as coming from Borăneşti (commune of  Coşereni, Prahova county) and Tega (commune of Pănătău, Buzău county). Both coins were turned into earrings, during the modern age, in a rudimentary work by a rough jeweller, probably a gypsy. In fact, it is clear the two pieces belonged to the same pair. Taking into account the scarcity of gold coins from the second half of the 11^th century north of the Danube, in out opinion, is less likely that they came from different finds, tens of kilometres away from each other. Moreover, statistically it is hard to believe that coming from different places, they were transformed in earrings by the same gypsy. We think that the coins of Michael VII in the collection of the Ploieşti museum come from a single find, a dispersed hoard. It might have been uncovered somewhere in north-eastern Wallachia, both at Borăneşti, and at Tega, the data on the identity of the real place being later distorted by the one/those who sold the coins to Ir. Dimian, or by he himself, at the moment of publication.

            Taking into account the above we consider that in the future we will not be able to talk of two localities in north-eastern Wallachia, where isolated gold coins were found from Michael VII, but of a hoard of which two pieces were preserved.  Lacking peremptory data we think that we cannot specify the precise location of the origin place of this hoard, which both could be Borăneşti, or Tega. We think that much more important than a hypothetical identification of the exact place of discovery is the historical significance of this hoard from the ’70 or immediately after, whose concealing has to be linked to the political and military unrest taking place in the north-Danubian territory, after the dissolution of the Pecheneg hegemony over the region and the restoration of the Cuman supremacy.

            A special attention deserves the aspron trachy of electron from Alexios I (1081-1118), uncovered at Valea Râmnicului (comm. Valea Râmnicului, Buzău county), in the collection of the Buzău County Museum (no I 3). The coin was issued after the reform of 1092/1093, probably about 1100. It is not only unique in Romania, but it is also one of the rare finds of electron coins reformed from this emperor known until now. The coin from Valea Râmnicului reveal a certain resumption of the penetration of Byzantine coins in early 12^th century in the area north of the Lower Danube dominated politically by the Cumans.

            A very interesting coin is that from John III Vatatzes (1222-1254) in the collection of the Prahova County Museum of History and Archaeology (no. 8), although apparently the piece belongs to a very common type uncovered in the area of the Lower Danube and the Balkans. The special characteristics of this piece resides in the fact that its weight was drastically reduced by cutting, many decades after the issuing. The coin in question weighs 2.31 g. Such a weight is included in the range of 2.50-2.25 g., characterising a series of hyperpera finds from John III originating in Wallachia, Oltenia and Moldavia. It is a phenomenon characteristic of the Romanian milieu, dating from the first half of the 14^th century. The oldest coins were cut in order to correspond to the “Romanian” perper gold equivalent, the local account coins, copied after Byzantine-Balkan pattern, usually expressed by a 12 real silver coins [122] .

The coin collections from the 16^th-19^th centuries reveal the growing role of Ottoman gold coin issues, next to those from Austria and the Low Countries on the monetary market at the Lower Danube.

            Among the most important contributions for the knowledge about the mediaeval and modern monetary circulation included in this directory is the complete publication of the important hoards from Rasa (commune of Grădiştea, Călăraşi county) and Bora (suburban commune of the city of Slobozia), preserved in the collection of the Museum of the Lower Danube in Călăraşi (no II 9-24) and the hoard in the  Oinacu square in Giurgiu (nos. III 2-23 and 26-30).

            The hoards from Rasa and Bora were hidden during the events in the second part of the reign of Michael the Brave, respectively about 1595, for that uncovered at Bora and after 1596/1597, for that from Rasa. Both finds are extremely eloquent for illustrating the effect of subsidies sent by the imperials and by other authorities from the Catholic world for the pay of the mercenaries of Michael the Brave. Most coins are issues from Romano-German Empire territories, from Italy and the Low Countries.

            As a matter of fact, under the same political and military circumstances can be assigned also the loss of the altun  from Murad  III (1574-1595) (no. II 8), uncovered at Jegălia (com. Jegălia, Călăraşi county), that could represent only a part of the dispersed hoard. The authors publish a unique gold coin preserved in the hoard from Vălenii de Munte (Prahova county), an altun of the same sovereign issued at Damascus (no IV 13).

            The hoard uncovered at Giurgiu, in the Oinacu square dates from the end of the 18^th century, being buried after 1787, probably during the war from 1787-1792. The find is typical of the monetary circulation in the Ottoman enclave north of the Danube, being dominated by coins of this state, as well as Venetian coins of the Low Countries, Austria and Hungary.

            Interesting is also the Egyptian component of the Ottoman coin lot ( 38.09 %) in this find, part of them being issued during the revolt of the governor Ali Paşa. We have to remark that the issues of the mint at Cairo are extremely rare in the other collections published now that is a single piece (0.53 %), out of 187 pieces of Ottoman coins in the collection of the  Buzău County Museum, and also a single one out of 35 Ottoman issues hold at the Prahova County Museum of History and Archaeology (2.85 %). A similar proportion of 2.35 % have the coins struck in Egypt also in the hoard uncovered on the Republicii street in Galaţi.

            The occurrence of Ottoman coins struck in Egypt north of the Lower Danube as early as mid 16^th century would become truly  important only in the 18^th century. The finds of coins struck at Cairo reveal the role played by various gold sources in the gold supply to our region during the age of transition from the Middle Ages to modern times. The coin finds coming from the Egyptian mint points to a South-Saharian gold participation in the supply to the Romanian Countries, next to the traditional sources in Central Europe or the American gold, came in the 16^th-18^th centuries through more indirect ways, more exactly the Low Countries or Venetian coins. A few coins published in this directory reveal, however, the direct penetration of the American gold into the Romanian lands by the end of the 18^th century. In the collection of the Prahova County Museum of History and Archaeology there are two Brazilian coins (no IV 10-11), the first of this kind mentioned in our collections (although I know more unpublished pieces). Recent researches by nuclear analyses revealed the special role of Brazilian gold coin issue in the economic growth of Western Europe, during the second half of the 18^th century, especially in the case of France and England [123] . We begin to perceive now the vital role of Brazilian gold not only in the economy of the European West, as the echoes of its presence reached the Lower Danube by means of the western trade or political pays.

            Most coins in the hoard from Giurgiu-Oinacu Square (66.66 %) are perforated, which proves their non-monetary use, as ornaments. The perforated pieces in this find proves that it comprised not only the money reserves of the owners including above all European coins, but also uncoined gold pieces that made up a small necklace or the decoration of a female head-dress. The new hoarding phenomenon under the form of necklaces or other coin jewels that would develop swiftly during the 18^th-19^th centuries, as social wealth grew in mid class milieu of Romanian villages or towns is extremely clearly reflected by the structure of the coin lot in the collection of the Buzău County Museum. In this collection, 213 mediaeval and modern pieces of a total of 225  (946 %) are perforated or bear small ears. In reality, the number of the gold coins transformed during the 18^th-20^th centuries into ornaments published in this directory is even larger, if we consider that some ancient and Byzantine coins are perforated or bear stick traces or that two coin-shaped pieces from the 20^th century were struck especially to manufacture necklaces.

            It seems that Ottoman, Austrian and Venetian gold coins from the second half of the 18^th century and the first decades of the 19^th century that the Romanian market supplied to the necklace “industry” was so large that generally it was sufficient until the 20^th century. That is clearly illustrated by the coins in the collection of the Buzău County Museum, where the pieces issued after 1838/1849 turned into jewels are very few as against the first ones.

Even if this foreword is rather comprehensive it cannot cover but a small part of the scientific importance of this volume. We are convinced that from now on it will be an important instrument for study, record and putting to good use of our cultural and historical heritage preserved in the Romanian public collections, first of all museum ones. Undoubtedly, it will be a new success in the endeavours of systematic publication of the numismatic sources of the Romanians.

            The publication of this volume in a high quality graphic presentation and also in CD-ROM version, a new thing in the Romanian numismatics, is rendered possible both due to the fruitful collaboration of the authors, but also due to a joint effort from many others. I am glad to express my gratitude for their endeavours and ideas to Dan Matei, director of CIMEC, Irina Oberländer-Târnoveanu and deputy director of CIMEC. This volume is published owing to the outstanding endeavours of Vasile Andrei from CIMEC, who carried out the image processing and the CD-ROM version entirely. We thank a lot to Eng. Nicolae Stănică from Daim Publishing House for his valuable contribution to the final presentation of this book. The photos are due to Daniel Gora. The English version  is owed to Anca Doina Cornaciu.

Bucharest  October 2001