Die Rechenpfennigprägung in den österreichischen Erbländern

The method of reckoning "on the lines", i. e. with casting counters on a reckoning table or board had been in use since ancient times but not earlier than in the 13th century the counters were designed as coin-like, mostly struck pieces of metal. This use spread from western Europe (France, Netherlands) to the east and since the 14th century counters were also imported into the later Austrian Hereditary Lands, among the earliest being Bohemia and Hungary. First the counters were imported, mainly from Nuremberg, the most important centre for the production of so called "Tand" (non-precious metal work), only from Bohemia and Hungary medieval local pieces are known. In the second half of the 15th century in Austria the production of own counters started first of all in the Tyrol, followed step by step by most of the other Habsburg territories. But counters were not only emitted by the public authorities among them the "Rechenkammern" (financial administration) but also by private persons, first of all exponents of the Habsburg mining and minting administration. Beside their function of reckoning tools the counters were - like the coins - objects of mass media, their legends and pictures transporting a lot of information and partly interesting iconographic elements. One of the most prominent themes on the counters is the interpretation of "vanitas" being very popular in the late middle-ages and early modern times. In the course of the 17th and 18th centuries the reckoning with Arabic figures became usual and the casting with counters step by step vanished the counters becoming more or less gambling tokens. The series of the Austrian counters ended in the third quarter of the 17th century and since that time only Nuremberg counters circulated in all the Austrian lands. Nevertheless the idea of the counter as a form of small medal ("jeton") survived and found a renaissance in the 19th century as a group of counter-shaped medalets on the one hand and a large quantity of newly invented pieces which were produced in Bohemia in the 1850ies and sold to collectors as genuine. Besides the deception of the buyer the forgers tried to illustrate the Bohemian revolt against the Habsburg rulers in 1619/20 in connection with an actual anti-Austrian political message. Beside the text the book contains a comprehensive catalogue of all counters trying to describe and depict all dies known so far.