Disir
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- Sep 30, 2011
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A new East London exhibition has shed light on a little-known episode of persecution faced by England's medieval Jewish communities.
Executions, which opens at the Museum of London Docklands until 16 April 2023, immerses visitors in the city’s 700-year history of recorded public executions through a series of illuminating objects and documents.
One artefact that provides a glimpse into this brutal past for Britain’s Jews, is a “clipped” silver “short cross” penny, minted in the 13th century.
The crime of “coin clipping” was widespread in the late 1200s. Perpetrators would trim off the edges of English currency, then made from high-quality silver, so they could be melted down and sold to a silversmith or used for producing counterfeit coinage. “Short cross” pennies were especially vulnerable to clipping as the structure at its centre did not reach the edge.
Coin clipping is what they were nailed for but it was just an available crime.
Executions, which opens at the Museum of London Docklands until 16 April 2023, immerses visitors in the city’s 700-year history of recorded public executions through a series of illuminating objects and documents.
One artefact that provides a glimpse into this brutal past for Britain’s Jews, is a “clipped” silver “short cross” penny, minted in the 13th century.
The crime of “coin clipping” was widespread in the late 1200s. Perpetrators would trim off the edges of English currency, then made from high-quality silver, so they could be melted down and sold to a silversmith or used for producing counterfeit coinage. “Short cross” pennies were especially vulnerable to clipping as the structure at its centre did not reach the edge.
Coin clipping is what they were nailed for but it was just an available crime.
