Original scientific paper
Coin hoards from Croatia. XIV. Hoard of 16th c. gold and silver coins from Svinjarevci
Ivan Mirnik
orcid.org/0000-0002-7275-9142
; Archaeological museum in Zagreb
Muhamed Ždralović
Abstract
The Slavonian village of Svinjarevci (Orolik, Vinkovci, Croatia) was descibed some time (1857) before the discovery of the treasure by Vinko Sabljar, the brother of the Croatian National Museum curator and director Major Mijat Sabljar, as a place with 95 houses, 500 inhabitants, of which 50 were Germans, 115 Hungarians and 5 belonged to other nationalities; 495 were Roman Catholics and 5 Jews. (SABLJAR 1866: 411). The situation in 1895 was as follows: the village had a primary school, there were 148 houses, 760 inhabitants, the Roman Catholic parish was at Stari Jankovci, the Greek-Oriental parish was at Negoslavci, it covered a surface of 2,219 acres and 1,270 fathoms. The administration was at Negoslavci, which belonged to the district of Vukovar, in the County of Srijem (Razdieljenje 1895: 200). Koren~i} lists the number of inhabitants: 500 in 1857, 610 in 1869, 691 in 1880 (one year before the treasure trove), 760 in 1890, 726 in 1900, 771 in 1910, 760 in 1921, 810 in 1931, 851 in 1948, 838 in 1953, 917 in 1961 and finally 956 in 1971 (KORENČIĆ 1979: 746). As an archaeological site Svinjarevci became known through the excavations of an early Croatian cemetery untertaken by the amateur Karl Franz Nuber of Osijek in the last decade of the 19th c. In some of the graves there were Hungarian silver coins struck under the Arpadian kings Béla I. (1048–1063) i Ladislaus I. (1077–1995) (BRUNŠMID1904 : 87–90: MIRNIK 2002: 110, 113; 2004: 217). The discovery of the coin hoard was described by Šime Ljubić in the same year 1881. It was found by Luka Parmanac, a shepherd on June 29, 1881, on a site called the »Wallachian Graveyard», close to the road leading from Svinjarevci to Orolik, approximately one kilometer from Svinjarevci. The plot was owned by Josip Rikard. Parmanac suddenly saw some small silver coins lying on the ploughed land, took a few and showed them to another shepherd called Ivan Petkov. A third shepherd, Grgo Ambruš joined them, and following Petkov’s suggestion, they took a hoe and returned to the site, where they started digging. Not more than one and half foot deep, there was a pot, full of gold and silver coins. According to what Luka Parmanac said, Luka and Grgo divided the treasure, thus each one took 51 talers and 52 ducats.The right reverend Sebastijan Riesel, parish priest at Stari Jankovci, as soon as he heard of this, informed the district prefect in Vukovar. The latter dispatched one of his secretaries M. Nikolajević to the village of Svinjarevci in order to get hold of the treasure. Unfortunately the coins taken by Parmanac had already been dispersed, and Grgo buried most of his part, fearing that it might get lost. Therefore Nikolajević managed to collect only 48 gold ducats, 55 silver talers, 4 silver forints and 50 specimens of small change. No futher enquiry was undertaken. Most of the saved coins reached the Croatian National Museum Archaeological Department in Zagreb. Among the Turkish money there are some gold and silver coins, struck by Bayazid I (one coin, the oldest one in this preserved part of the hoard), Selîm I (three coins) and Suleymân II the Magnificent (54 specimens) in several mints. Gold sequins are very well struck, but the small akche are very superficially struck, worn, pierced or even corroded. The remainder of the hoard are talers and half talers of various central European states, particularly Austrian and German. The oldest was struck in 1538 and the most recent in 1567, therefore this year ought to be taken as the terminus post quem for the burial of this treasure.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
18699
URI
Publication date:
8.12.2006.
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