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Message:: [QUOTE="FitzNigel, post: 5390111, member: 74712"]Hoo-boy.  The dating discussion again.  Okay, traditionally, the Middle Ages “ends” around 1450-1500 A.D.  In numismatics, some (myself included) just lump in all hammered coins as ‘medieval’ because of the similar technology in use, but you would be laughed at in a room full of historians if you attempted to claim the 17th century as ‘medieval’ (despite all of the arguments around how periodization is a man-made construct, blah blah blah). in terms of the development of state power and centralized governments that really takes hold in the 16th century, perhaps it’s no surprise that they are able to issue larger silver coins for wide-spread commerce, as opposed to the more localized “feudal” issues of the historical Middle Ages.  pin terms of ‘chunky silver,’ perhaps it’s better to consider the context of what coins looked like when they started minting bigger coins.  Here’s a comparison of the first ‘big silver’ (grosso) to be minted in Venice next to the coinage that it was already in circulation:[ATTACH=full]1231642[/ATTACH] and here is an attempt at a side image to show the Grosso is thicker (although the piccolo on the left is concave, so it is actually hard to tell...)[ATTACH=full]1231643[/ATTACH] A few more examples - England:[ATTACH=full]1231648[/ATTACH] Metz:[ATTACH=full]1231649[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]