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Contorniate

Contorniate.  A medal with a V-shaped furrow around its edge. The term is derived from a thin bronze medallion so named and first used about the time of Constantine the Great, supposedly as a counter in a game like checkers. The furrow aids a human when picking up the piece by hand. A modern medal is trimmed on a lathe and the contorniate furrow is cut after the piece is turned off to the correct diameter; it is similar in manufacture to a concaved edge. A modern example of a contorniate edge is the 2-inch Weizmann Institute of Science Medal of 1959 (or its larger cast counterpart); it is unusual in that it also has a beveled edge (59-82).  See edge.

excerpted with permission from

An Encyclopedia of Coin and Medal Technology

For Artists, Makers, Collectors and Curators

COMPILED AND WRITTEN BY D. WAYNE JOHNSON

Roger W. Burdette, Editor


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