Usualmark Público Deposited
During a great part of the Middle Ages, when payments were made in the Mark as a money of account, it be- came necessary to have a fixed standard, as the Pfennige and other small coins were not uniform in size and fineness. The coins were therefore melted and east in a flat circular lump, on which incuse stamp- ings were affixed, indicating the weight and purity of the silver. These ingots are known in contemporary records as marcae argenti usualis signatae , and the common name for one of them was the Usualmark. By an agreement made in 1382, the cities of Goslar, Brunswick, Hildesheim, Eimbeck, Hanover, Wernigerode, and Osterode pledged themselves to keep all their Usual- marken at a uniform degree of fineness. They were stamped with the arms of the respective cities, and in addition with a crown, as an indication of the conventional agreement.
- Frey's Dictionary (American Journal of Numismatics, Vol. 50, 1916)