Minting in Vandal North Africa: coins of the Vandal period in the Coin Cabinet of Vienna's Kunsthistorisches Museum

Abstract

This paper offers a re-examination of some problems regarding the coinage of Vandal North Africa. The coinage of this barbarian successor state is one of the first non-imperial coinages in the Mediterranean world of the fifth and sixth centuries. Based on the fine collection in the Coin Cabinet of Vienna's Kunsthistorisches Museum, this article questions the chronology of the various issues and monetary relations between the denominations under the Vandal kings, especially after the reign of Gunthamund (484-96). The Vandals needed and created a solid financial system. In terms of political, administrative and economic structures they tried to integrate their realm into the changing world of late antiquity and the early Middle Ages.

Gold Coinage and Its Use in the Post-Roman West

“…39 More substantial copper-alloy and silver issues from Italy and the Vandal kingdom in Africa followed the same pattern of naming local rulers-often municipal authorities rather than the king. 40 Adherence to the imperial prerogative in gold coinage was probably not just a matter of respect. At least into the sixth century most pseudoimperial coins conformed to imperial tradition in design and, more importantly, adhered to widespread norms of weight and fineness.…”

Creating Memory in Vandal Period Africa

“…It was not necessarily a provocation of Rome because recourse to older symbols in coinage was not unusual in late antiquity (cf. Berndt, Steinacher 2006;Berndt, Steinacher 2008a;Merrills, Miles 2010, 168-175;Ladich 2013;Steinacher, 181-187). Instead, it demonstrates a deliberately chosen image program.…”

“…The gens Vandal is not named on a single coin (cf. Berndt, Steinacher 2006;Berndt, Steinacher 2008a;Ladich 2013). It appears only in a few official documents, e.g.…”

Dating Coins, Dating With Coins

“…Metcalf (1988), however, suggests that the anonymous Vandal ‘Victory’ coins may fill this gap. Unfortunately, it appears that the dating of Vandal issues remains quite unresolved (see Berndt and Steinacher 2008, for example). One possible solution would be the detailed analysis of coin groups by stratigraphic phases.…”