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In continuation of successful digitization projects which focused on the holdings of the State Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology Saxony-Anhalt (LDA) and the Saxony-Anhalt Numismatics Collection in the Kunstmuseum Moritzburg Halle (Saale), and thanks to funding from the state of Saxony-Anhalt a new project has been running now for a year: the digital recording and indexing of coins finds in small and medium-sized museums in Saxony-Anhalt. The chronological spectrum ranges from antiquity to the application of the Imperial Coinage Law (Reichsmünzgesetz) of 1871/73. A new website offers comprehensive information about the project and the opportunities to participate.
On July 1, 2022, the State Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology Saxony-Anhalt (LDA) was able to start the project › S·E·S·A·M – Systematic recording of coins from Saxony-Anhalt‹, thanks to funding from the state of Saxony-Anhalt and the support of the Saxony-Anhalt Numismatics Collection in the Kunstmuseum Moritzburg Halle (Saale) of the Kulturstiftung Sachsen-Anhalt, the Fraunhofer Institute for Factory Operation and Automation (IFF) in Magdeburg and the Museum Association Saxony-Anhalt e.V. As of today, a website provides information about the project, the first work results and the opportunities for participation.
The ›S·E·S·A·M‹ project follows the successful digitization projects ›Digital Heritage 2017/18‹ and ›Rares-Bares‹, funded by the state of Saxony-Anhalt and the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). As part of these two projects, large parts of the coins found in Saxony-Anhalt have already been secured for research and the general public by digitally recording the collections of the LDA and the Saxony-Anhalt Numismatics Collection.
Systematic surveys revealed that there are still at least 47 mostly municipal museums across Saxony-Anhalt with coin collections that have not yet been indexed or digitized to a great extent. Due to the wide range of tasks of the museums, the capacities and the technical equipment to record such finds are often lacking. The LDA now offers these institutions the opportunity to participate in an effective, long-term secured and high-quality digitization process supervised by specialist staff. The results of the digitization are saved and made accessible to research and the general public in compatible data formats, regardless of location.
Only through comprehensive recording and documentation of coin finds a sound scientific analysis becomes possible. Hardly any other type of find can be described with as much certainty from production to deposition as coins. They represent one of the most important sources for archaeological, regional and economic history research, especially for those epochs from which few written records have survived. Building on the digitization work that has already been carried out, the aim of the ›S·E·S·A·M‹ project is to complete the available data. Coin hoards that are divided between different collections can be virtually reunited and evaluated. Coin finds from antiquity are now also included, after the ›Rares-Bares‹ project had focused on coins from the Middle Ages and modern times. The imperial coinage law (Reichsmünzgesetz) of 1871/73 marks the end of the recording, as it lead to a uniformization of coin designs and the large variety of coin types came to an end.
Digitization is again carried out using the ›Optical System for Coin Analysis and Recognition‹, ›O.S.C.A.R.‹, which was developed in cooperation with the Fraunhofer Institute IFF as part of the ›Digital Heritage 2017/18‹ digitization project. Based on around 1,000 optical features, this recording device creates a 'digital fingerprint' of a coin in just five minutes. In addition, a 2 ½D model is calculated, which allows a closer look at minting details of the often corroded coin finds. The system has been continuously developed and improved in recent years.
The images generated and the numismatic object data collected are recorded and made accessible via the already well-established KENOM database (›Cooperative collection and use of object data from coin collections‹). The catalog of finds of the Numismatic Commission is also managed and updated in this database, which was specially developed for the registration of coins and is used by various museums, libraries and universities as well as institutions for heritage management and numismatics for inventorization and data management. Here, information on the find location and find context is recorded and maintained, which is extracted from inventory books, indices of collections, correspondence, etc.
To date, more than 13,500 coins have already been digitally recorded with ›O.S.C.A.R.‹. For about 5,000 of them, the numismatic data are already recorded in the KENOM database.
The ›S·E·S·A·M‹ project, which will run until the end of 2026, is unique in German coin find research. Never before has an attempt been made to comprehensively and systematically index and digitize the coins located in various public institutions across an entire federal state. The project is therefore trend-setting and can provide new impulses for research.
Find out more on the project website at www.sesam-projekt.de.
Landesamt für Denkmalpflege und Archäologie Sachsen-Anhalt
- Landesmuseum für Vorgeschichte -
Richard-Wagner-Straße 9
06114 Halle (Saale)
www.sesam-projekt.de
sesam@lda.stk.sachsen-anhalt.de
›O.S.C.A.R‹. in action: A coin is digitized.
Viktoria Kühne
Fraunhofer IFF
Coin recording with ›O.S.C.A.R.‹ on site in a participating museum.
Anna Wendt
State Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology Saxony-Anhalt
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