Society for Creative Anachronism ARCHIVE
The Thirtieth Year Celebration Commemorative

No illustration available yet!    The official TYC Commemorative is hand-hammered by the Moneyers' Guild of An Tir using hand-engraved dies. The design is in the "high Gothic" style of the "prestige" gold coins of the fourteenth century. This style represents the highest development of mediæval coin design before the Renaissance movement re-introduced ancient Roman style elements to coin design.    The design is adapted from the "Flandres d'or" of Count Louis II de Mâle of Flanders (1346 -'84) struck at Ghent. That coin, in turn, was adapted from the "Franc à pied" gold coins of King Charles V of France (1364 -'80). The Flandres d'or was a larger coin (32mm in diameter versus 28mm for the franc à pied) with much more elaborate design (adding the helm, shield, and another set of columns) and more refined die work.    The Flandres d'or represents a rivalry between the mints of France and the Low Countries, just as the wealth and power of the rulers of Flanders rivalled that of the Kings of France. Being situated at the cross-roads of western Europe's commerce, the Low Countries produced their own versions of English, French, and Italian coins.    While the work-horse trade coins of European commerce were the gold florins of the Republic of Florence (and many states' copies of them) and the gold ducats of the Republic of Venice - both produced for centuries with no change in their traditional designs - fourteenth century England and France produced an extraordinary variety of prestige gold coins of broader, thinner fabric and ostentatious designs.    For the TYC Commemorative, the design has been modified by substituting the TYC logo of three X's in a laurel wreath for the rampant lion on the shield on the Flandres d'or; the lion on the King's surcoat has been given a crown and a tail "forked and nowed" to represent the host of TYC - the Kingdom of An Tir. The plumes on the helm are shown shorter than on the Flandres d'or and floppy looking to be more recognizable to modern eyes. The inscription is "CELEBRAMUS ANNO SOCIETATIS XXX" - Latin for "we celebrate the year of the Society thirty".    On the other side of the coin, the badge of the Moneyers' Guild of An Tir has replaced the rampant lion in the center on the original Flandres d'or. The "Moneyers' goat" badge is canting arms, as "goat" is an acronym for "Guild of An Tir".    The inscription is "GELDONIA MONETARIORUM REGNI A(N) TIRI(i)" for "Guild of the Moneyers of the Kingdom of An Tir". The letters spelling "An Tir" are in the angles of the "flowery cross". "An" is spelled with an "A" with a "nasalization bar" over the letter, just as on the Flandres d'or the word "Flandres" is abbreviated "FLAD" with the bar over the "A".    At nearly an inch and a quarter in diameter, this is about the largest coin that is practical to produce by the hand hammered method. Significantly larger coins were not produced in Europe until drop-hammers came into use in the Austrian Tyrol in 1480's. The TYC Commemorative is available in pewter, fine silver, and fine gold.    The Thirtieth Year Celebration commemorative commemorated a Society-wide event. Approximately ever five years, a major event is held to commemorate the founding of the SCA. For the 30th anniversary, An Tir got to host it. It was a ten day event held in June, 1996 at the Clark County Fairgrounds in Washington, about fifteen miles north of the Columbia River and Portland, Oregon. Attendance was around 4,000 people. Several hundred of the medals were struck in pewter on the site, as well as probably more than a hundred fine silver pieces. Probably something in the neighborhood of another hundred pieces have been struck since then (mintage is unlimited). Four pieces (weighing about a quarter ounce apiece) were struck to order in fine gold. This is the largest and most impressive piece ever struck by any of the SCA Moneyers' Guilds, and it was featured in an article about the event in the next issue of the Society-wide publication "Tournaments Illuminated". The Moneyer of Silberbyrg ... EMail:Ian Cnulle (Greg Franck-Weiby)