{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,20]],"date-time":"2025-12-20T22:31:50Z","timestamp":1766269910189,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":40,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"17","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,8,24]],"date-time":"2023-08-24T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1692835200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100005802","name":"Ministry of Research, Innovation, and Digitization","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["37PFE\/30.12.2021"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["37PFE\/30.12.2021"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100005802","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Materials"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Several forged 3-Polker coins have been reported in historical sources on the financial crisis that occurred between 1619 and 1623 at the start of the 30-year-long war. Supposedly, belligerent countries forged other countries\u2019 coins which were then used for external payments as a war strategy. Thus, a lot of 3-Polker coins (e.g., Sigismund-III-type) were forged, and the markets became flooded with poor currency. In the present day, these pre-modern forgeries are rare archeological findings. Only five forged 3-Polker coins randomly found in Transylvania were available for the current study. There are deeper implications of silver and tin in the forgery techniques that need to be considered. Thus, the forged 3-Polker coins were investigated via nondestructive methods: SEM microscopy coupled with EDS elemental spectroscopy for complex microstructural characterization and XRD for phase identification. Three distinct types of forgery methods were identified: the amalgam method is the first used for copper blank silvering (1620), and immersion in melted silver (1621) is the second one. Both methods were used to forge coins with proper legends and inscriptions. The third method is the tin plating of copper coins (with corrupted legend and altered design) (1622, 1623, and 1624). The EDS investigation revealed Hg traces inside the compact silver crusts for the first type and the elongated silver crystallites in the immersion direction, which are well-attached to the copper core for the second type. The third forgery type has a rich tin plating with the superficial formation of Cu6Sn5 compound that assures a good resistance of the coating layer. Therefore, this type should have been easily recognized as fake by traders, while the first two types require proper weighing and margin clipping to ensure their quality.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ma16175809","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,8,24]],"date-time":"2023-08-24T10:47:08Z","timestamp":1692874028000},"page":"5809","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":4,"title":["Ag and Sn Implications in 3-Polker Coins Forgeries Evidenced by Nondestructive Methods"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"16","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3274-8817","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ioan","family":"Petean","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Babes-Bolyai University, 11 Arany Janos Street, 400028 Cluj-Napoca, Romania"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4000-1978","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Gertrud Alexandra","family":"Paltinean","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Polymer Composites, Institute of Chemistry \u201cRaluca Ripan\u201d, Babes-Bolyai University, 30 Fantanele Street, 400294 Cluj-Napoca, Romania"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Adrian Catalin","family":"Taut","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Applied Electronics Department, Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, 400027 Cluj-Napoca, Romania"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Simona Elena","family":"Avram","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Materials and Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, 103-105 Muncii Bd., 400641 Cluj-Napoca, Romania"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Emanoil","family":"Pripon","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Zalau County Museum of History and Art, 9 Unirii Street, 450042 Zalau, Romania"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0360-016X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Lucian","family":"Barbu Tudoran","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Biology and Geology, Babes-Bolyai University, 44 Gheorghe Bila\u015fcu Street, 400015 Cluj-Napoca, Romania"},{"name":"National Institute for Research and Development of Isotopic and Molecular Technologies, 65-103 Donath Street, 400293 Cluj-Napoca, Romania"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Gheorghe","family":"Borodi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"National Institute for Research and Development of Isotopic and Molecular Technologies, 65-103 Donath Street, 400293 Cluj-Napoca, Romania"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,8,24]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"24","DOI":"10.1016\/j.orbis.2019.12.003","article-title":"The Myth of the Secular: Religion, War, and Politics in the Twentieth Century","volume":"64","author":"McDougall","year":"2020","journal-title":"Orbis"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"101495","DOI":"10.1016\/j.eeh.2022.101495","article-title":"Warfare and Economic Inequality: Evidence from Preindustrial Germany (c. 1400\u20131800)","volume":"89","author":"Schaff","year":"2022","journal-title":"Explor. 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