Numismatic definitions
Like most fields of expertise, numismatics has its own lingo. Find the numismatic definition of a term by entering it in the field below.
Obsidional Currency
Term for emergency money produced by the defenders of besieged towns and cities. These usually took the form of pieces of silver plate, commandeered for the purpose, crudely marked with an official device and the value. Instances of such siege coinage have been recorded from the twelfth to the nineteenth centuries. Paper money was issued in Venice during the Austrian siege of 1848, and by Mafeking in 1900 during the Boer War.
