Authentication and Evaluation of the Technique of Minting the Romanian Coins of the 20th Century. I

The present work highlights the results of optical and electronic microscopy analyses performed on fifteen selected outdated 20th century Romanian coins. The obtained results brought significant contributions in establishing specific archaeometric characteristics of corrosion coins products generated within the in-use and demonetization periods, under the action of both natural and anthropogenic factors. The work was mainly aimed in identifying the nature of the alloy and of the raw material used during coins minting, with specific emphasize on their resistance toward the action of various natural and anthropogenic factors. Emphasize is also given to the manufacturing techniques, edition characteristics and the in-use-interval. Performed elemental chemical analysis clearly showed that major elements abundances are highly correlated with coins origin area and their minting period.