Several unknown varieties of Prague grossi struck under John of Luxembourg and group IV. of Castelin’s typology
Abstract
The article introduces three unknown varieties of Prague grossi struck under John of Luxembourg. Since a dividing mark in the form of two crosses is found on both of them these two varietes can be added to group IV. of Karel Castelin’s typology.
The same applies for further five varieties of Prague grossi which are also not included in Castelin’s typology but have already been published before. Having presented a total of eight varieties unkown to Castelin the authors proceed with discussing certain inconsistencies between the descriptive part and a summary table in Castelin’s study and issues related to interpretation of some of the dividing marks used to describe group IV. in this study.
The authors then update Castelin’s group IV. by adding the aforementioned eight new varieties and correct the diving marks for three of the Castelin’s original varieties. The article is concluded with a discussion on relative chronology of the different varieties within group IV. as well as vis-a-vis other groups in Castelin’s typology.
Based on an analysis of iconographic features of the presented coins the authors conclude that the Prague grossi with dividing marks in the form of two crosses present a rather heterogeneous group of coins and were most likely struck for a longer period of time. This is a different conclusion than the one arrived at by Castelin who considered his group IV. to be a rather exceptional tranche produced over a very short time frame- potentially as short as one year.