OTTO, the Elder (Brit.). Goldsmith, appointed Mint-engraver under William I. and in office until his death, in 1101. In 1087 he was ordered to build the famous tomb of William the Conqueror at Caen. He is mentioned several times in Domesday. Andrews (Numismatic History of the Reign of Henry I., 1901) ascribes to this artist the coinages of William I. and II., and the earliest issue of Henry I. Presumably he cut the seal of that king (illustrated). The following notes are extracted from Mr Andrews' work, " That Otto was the Engraver of the types is quite clear from various Exchequer records, but that he was the designer of them can only be inferred from his position, and the absence of any mention of a separate official for that purpose " (p. 25)... " We have material evidence that the Norman coinages were designed and engraved by Otto the Goldsmith and his descendants, and the only question now remaining is as to who cut the working dies? From a numismatist's point of view it would be more interesting to think that these were made at the respective mints, and that when we hold a coin of some outlying mint in our hands, we should see the local work of that mint complete in miniature handicraft. But, unfortunately, such was not the case in the reigns of the Norman kings, or at least the presumptive evidence is against it. During the sieges and counter-sieges of Stephen's reign, however, there were numerous exceptions, and in this fact lies not the least of the attractions which make the study of his coins more interesting than that of the coinage of any other reign. “ The presumptive evidence that the working-dies were sunk and issued by the workmen of Otto and his descendants at London has to be gathered from numerous documents and then compared as a whole. Domesday, when giving the returns of the mints in which the king still retained an interest, frequently repeats the expression : " Quando moneta vertebatur quisque monetarius dabat xx solidos ad Londoniam pro cuneis monet? accipiendis " (Worcester). To pay the money to London for receiving the dies is not quite the same as to pay the money for receiving the dies from London, and it might be argued that, in any case, when a fresh type was issued, a pair of dies or devices must have been distributed to each mint from which the working-dies could be copied. Henry I., in confirming the privileges of a mint to the Abbot of Bury St. Edmunds, directed the writ to the Bishop of Norwich (as the spiritual Lord), to his Justiciaries or Sheriffs, and to Otto the Goldsmith of London (Otto the younger). The inclusion of Otto in this writ could only be for the purpose of a direction to him to supply the Abbot with the necessary dies. The Pipe Roll of 1130 records the murder of one of William Fitz Otho's men in Devonshire, which suggests the probability that he was there distributing the dies. It also mentions the Aurifabri of London twice, as receiving fees from the Exchequer in the first instance, and, in the second, as receiving sixty shillings and ten pence for coal or charcoal, which shows that they carried on a considerable public undertaking, nor are any other Aurifabri mentioned throughout the Roll. In the forty-ninth year of Henry III., Thomas Fitz Otto, the then representative of the family and hereditary cuneator, successfully petitioned the King in the Court of Exchequer for the return of the old and broken dies as his perquisite, alleging that they belonged to him of right and inheritance, and that his ancestors had been accustomed to have them... Various records not only suggest that the working-dies were all issued from London, but that the " old and broken " ones were called in and returned to the Ottos " (pp. 27-29). “ Otto the Elder, Goldsmith to William I., is mentioned in Domesday as holding lands in Essex and Suffolk, and it would seem, from certain writs of the Exchequer, issued in the reigns of Henry III. and Edward I., that he and his descendants held these lands and others subsequently granted to them in petit serjeantry as cutters and keepers of the king's dies. This shows that the office was strictly hereditary, and it remained in the family, though not always exercised by its members, until the reign of Richard II. " (p. 25). Otto's descendants who held office as Mint-engravers were : his son, OTHO or OTTO the Younger (or OTHO FITZ OTTO), 1101- 1120; the latter's son, WILLIAM FITZ OTHO, 1120-1125, who from 1126 to 1130 probably worked under the direction of a freshly appointed Engraver, perhaps the goldsmith WYZO FITZ LEOSTAN, and remained in office at least until the end of Henry I.'s reign. Another, WILLIAM FITZ OTHO was Mint-engraver under King John, and until after the 28th year of Henry III., 1243.
Source: Biographical dictionary of medallists; coin, gem, and seal-engravers, mint-masters, ancient and modern, with references to their works B.C. 500-A.D. 1900; compiled by L. Forrer, London 1904
Source: Biographical dictionary of medallists; coin, gem, and seal-engravers, mint-masters, ancient and modern, with references to their works B.C. 500-A.D. 1900; compiled by L. Forrer, London 1904
NORTHALL, ONUPHRIUS
NORTHALL, ONUPHRIUS (Humphrey?) (Brit.). Inventor of a coining-press and machinery for inscribing the edges of coins and medals. He offered his inventions to the Nuremberg Mint in 1694, but without success, similar appliances having already been in use at the private mints of F. Kleinert and the Lauffers. A Nuremberg Thaler of 1694 bears the inscription on the edge: nach dem alten schrot und korn, and Thalers and Half Thalers, struck there, in September and October of the same year, for Bishop ...
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NORTHALL, ONUPHRIUS (Humphrey?) (Brit.). Inventor of a coining-press and machinery for inscribing the edges of coins and medals. He offered his inventions to the Nuremberg Mint in 1694, but without success, similar appliances having already been in use at the private mints of F. Kleinert and the Lauffers. A Nuremberg Thaler of 1694 bears the inscription on the edge: nach dem alten schrot und korn, and Thalers and Half Thalers, struck there, in September and October of the same year, for Bishop ...
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NOSTER, HENDRICK
NOSTER, HENDRICK (Dutch). Mint-engraver at Nymwegen, appointed on 22. June 1584. He was probably a son of Jan Noster. Beside his annual salary of 72 Florins, this Engraver was paid a similar sum in 1589 for the dies of a copper Half Liard, and in 1591 for a Jeton and silver Liard. During his term of office, the Nymwegen Mint issued: . Al. Crowns; — AR. Half Philippus Daelders; Twentieth Philippus Daelders; Liards; — ?. Liards, and Half Liards. After 1591 Hendrich Noster's name no longer occu...
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NOSTER, HENDRICK (Dutch). Mint-engraver at Nymwegen, appointed on 22. June 1584. He was probably a son of Jan Noster. Beside his annual salary of 72 Florins, this Engraver was paid a similar sum in 1589 for the dies of a copper Half Liard, and in 1591 for a Jeton and silver Liard. During his term of office, the Nymwegen Mint issued: . Al. Crowns; — AR. Half Philippus Daelders; Twentieth Philippus Daelders; Liards; — ?. Liards, and Half Liards. After 1591 Hendrich Noster's name no longer occu...
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NOSTER, JAN
NOSTER, JAN (Dutch). Mint-engraver at Nymwegen, from about 1544 until his death in 1564. Under him the following coins were issued: Al. Couronne au soleil; Real; Half Real; Florin Carolus ; — AR. Real; Half Real ; Florin Carolus; Four Sols; Sol; Half Sol; — Billon. Courte of 3 Mites of Brabant; Courte of 2 Mites of Flanders. Between 1565 and 1567 were further struck: Al. Real; Half Real; — AR. Philippus Real; Half, Fifth, and Tenth; Courte of 2 Flemish Mites. But these latter coins were proba...
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NOSTER, JAN (Dutch). Mint-engraver at Nymwegen, from about 1544 until his death in 1564. Under him the following coins were issued: Al. Couronne au soleil; Real; Half Real; Florin Carolus ; — AR. Real; Half Real ; Florin Carolus; Four Sols; Sol; Half Sol; — Billon. Courte of 3 Mites of Brabant; Courte of 2 Mites of Flanders. Between 1565 and 1567 were further struck: Al. Real; Half Real; — AR. Philippus Real; Half, Fifth, and Tenth; Courte of 2 Flemish Mites. But these latter coins were proba...
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NOVELLIUS
NOVELLIUS (Rom.). Engraver of coins at the Mint of Rome, period unknown ; and one of the few Die-cutters of Republican times, whose names have come down to us. An antique inscription, edited by Marini, bears these words : — novellivs avg. lib. ATIVTOR PRAEPOsitus SCALPTORUM SACRAE MONETAE. "Neither the coins themselves", says Stevenson, "nor any writers on monuments of antiquity, furnish the slightest particulars respecting the artists who engraved the dies for the mint of Rome". It is suggested...
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NOVELLIUS (Rom.). Engraver of coins at the Mint of Rome, period unknown ; and one of the few Die-cutters of Republican times, whose names have come down to us. An antique inscription, edited by Marini, bears these words : — novellivs avg. lib. ATIVTOR PRAEPOsitus SCALPTORUM SACRAE MONETAE. "Neither the coins themselves", says Stevenson, "nor any writers on monuments of antiquity, furnish the slightest particulars respecting the artists who engraved the dies for the mint of Rome". It is suggested...
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