hacksilver

English

Etymology

Partial calque of German Hacksilber.

Noun

hacksilver (uncountable)

1. (usually historical) Silver objects that have been cut up or otherwise defaced and circulated as currency, especially in archaeological contexts.
   • 2001, The Early Slavs: Culture and Society in Early Medieval Eastern Europe‎^[1]:

     Tenth-century hoards still consist mainly of coins from Central Asia, but with variable amounts of hacksilver. The latter consists of whole and cut coins, whole and broken ornaments and ingots (both of bar form and flat 'spills' of molten metal).

   • 2004, John Hines, editor, Land, Sea and Home: Proceedings of a Conference on Viking-period Settlement, at Cardiff, July 2001, page 186:

     The non-numismatic elements of Class 4 and 5 hoards, which for the purposes of this paper are dealt with together, comprise, respectively, finds containing hacksilver with complete ingots and/or ornaments and finds consisting exclusively of hacksilver.

   • 2015, Field Methods and Post-Excavation Techniques in Late Antique Archaeology‎^[2]:

     Hacksilver, for instance (silver plate cut up and circulated for its monetary value) is well-studied as a late antique phenomenon, and has most recently been the subject of a major new study associated with the re-publication of the Traprain Law treasure, a hoard of Late Roman hacksilver found at a hill-fort site in Scotland.

Alternative forms

• hacksilber