Of what R. P. Knight, Mr Edward Knight, Mr Tylon, Mr Barker, Mr Brown, and several others. The British museum and universities in England have also collections; as well as the Advocates library, the Antiquarian Society, and the universities in Scotland.

SECT. IV. Materials of which Medals are constructed.

Medals are formed of gold, silver, and the various modifications of copper. The gold usually made use of in coinage is about the fineness of 22 carats; and as the art of purifying this metal was very much unknown in former times, the most ancient medals are for this reason much more impure than the modern coins. Gold is never found in its native state above 22 carats fine; and the very ancient medals are much under that standard. Many of them are composed of a mixture of gold and silver, called by the ancients electrum. The gold medals were made of much finer metal after Philip of Macedon became possessed of the gold mines of Philippi in Thrace, and the medals of his son Alexander the Great are equally fine; as well as those of some other princes of that age. Those of the Egyptian Ptolemies are of the fineness of 23 carats three grains, with only one grain of alloy. The Roman coins are very pure even from the earliest times; the art of refining gold being well known before any was coined at Rome. Some authors are of opinion, that the Roman coins begin to fall short of their purity after the time of Titus; but Mr Pinkerton denies that any thing of this kind takes place till the time of the emperor Severus; and even then only in a very few instances. Most of the Roman gold was brought from Dalmatia and Dacia, where that metal is still to be met with. A very remarkable circumstance is observed in the eastern part of Hungary, which belonged to the ancient Dacia. It germinates in the vines of Tokay, and is found in their stems; as it is elsewhere in the straw of corn.

Pliny informs us, and indeed it is generally known, that gold and silver are found mixed together in the earth. Where the silver amounted to one-fifth part of the gold, the metal was called electrum; but sometimes the quantity of silver was added artificially. The gold was in those days as well as at present refined by means of mercury; and the ancient artists had certainly attained to great perfection in this branch of metallurgy; as Bodin tells us, that the goldsmiths of Paris upon melting one of Vespasian's gold coins found only $\frac{1}{5}$ part of alloy.

Most of the ancient silver, particularly that of Greece, is less pure than that of succeeding times; even the Roman silver is rather inferior to the present standard, and that from the very beginning; but in the time of Severus, the silver appears very bad, and continues so until the time of Diocletian. Many writers upon this subject have mistaken the denarii aerati, "coins of brass washed with silver," for silver currency. Silver coins are extremely scarce from the time of Claudius Gothicus to that of Diocletian, or from the year 270 to 284; in which short space no fewer than eight emperors reigned. Silver at that time was found mostly in Spain; and the commerce with that country was disturbed by the usurpers who arose in Gaul; and such were the troubles of the times, that not only the silver but also the gold coins of those eight emperors, are extremely scarce. There is still, however, some silver extant of these eight emperors; and it is certain, that copper washed was never used as silver currency, but was entirely a distinct coinage. Occasional deprivations of silver had taken place long before; as Pliny tells us, that Mark Antony mixed iron with his silver denarii; and Mr Pinkerton informs us, that he has seen a denarius of Antony, which was attracted by a magnet.

The ancient bras coins consist of two kinds: the Ancient red or Cyprian, which indeed is no other than copper; and the common yellow bras. Our author observes, that in the Roman coinage bras was of double the value of copper, and he is of opinion, that it was the fame among the Greeks; and the latter is the metal most commonly made use of in the Greek coinage. The Roman sesterces are always of bras; the middling-sized kind are partly copper and partly bras; the former being double the value of the latter, which are the aes.

Mr Pinkerton next proceeds to give an account of Mixed metals used among the Romans. In Britain, all kinds of coins made of mixed metal are without hesitation alleged to be forgeries; although it is certain that the variety of mixed metals used in coinage was very considerable. The most valuable mixture was that of gold or silver, already mentioned, named electrum; the silver commonly amounting to one-fifth part of the gold made use of, or perhaps more. Of this mixture are many of the early coins of Lydia, and some other Asiatic states; also those of the kings of the Bosporus Cimmerius, during the imperial ages of Rome. Next to the electrum were the coins of Corinthian bras; but Mr Pinkerton informs us, that Corinthians did not a single coin was ever struck of this metal by the ancients; it having been constantly employed only in the fabrication of vases or toys. It was in use at any rate only for a very short time; being altogether unknown in the days of Pliny the Elder. Our author therefore ridicules those who pretend not only to find out imperial coins of this metal, but to discover three kinds of it; viz. one in which the gold predominates, another in which the silver prevails, and a third where the bras is most conspicuous. He gives Encius Vico, one of the most ancient writers on medals, as the author of this idea; but whose opinions were confuted by one Savot, a writer in the 17th century. Vico mentions a coin of this kind struck under Augustus, another of Livia, and a third of Claudius. The mistake, he is of opinion, arose from the circumstance of the first propagator not being able to account for the various mixtures and modifications of bras observable in ancient coins of the large size; and which in so common a metal appear very odd to the moderns. Besides the authority of Pliny and other antiquaries of more modern a date, who all declare that they never saw a single medal of Corinthian bras, or of that metal mixed with silver and gold, our author adduces another evidence which he looks upon to be superior to either; viz. that those who have given into this supposition, imagine, that the large pieces called sesterces, and others called dupondiarii, worth about twopence or a penny, are said to have been composed of this precious metal. It is unreasonable to think, that any proportion of gold gold or silver could have been made use of in these. The coins said to have been struck upon Corinthian brafs are only done upon a modification of common brafs; of which we know, that in proportion to the quantity of zinc made use of in conjunction with the copper, the metal assumes a variety of hues. On the authority of Pliny he informs us, that the coins mistaken for Corinthian brafs were no other than prince's metal.

The Egyptian silver coins struck under the Roman emperors are at first of tolerably pure silver; but afterwards degenerate into a mixture of copper and tin with a little silver. They are very thick, but many of them are elegantly struck, with uncommon reverses. There are likewise three sets of brafs coins belonging to this country from the earliest times of the Roman emperors there. Some of these are of bell-metal or pot-metal; and, after the time of Gallienus and Valerian, the coinage of brafs with a small addition of silver becomes authorized by the state; the coins struck upon it being called denarii æret. Those of lead or copper plated with silver have been fabricated by Roman forgers. Some coins of lead, however, have been met with of undoubted antiquity: and an ancient writer informs us, that tin money was coined by Dionysius; but none has been found. The lead coins of Tigranes king of Armenia, mentioned as genuine by Jobert, are accounted forgeries by Mr Pinkerton and other modern medalists. Plautus, however, makes mention of leaden coins, and several of them have been found; but our author looks upon them to have been chiefly effay pieces, struck in order to let the artist judge of the progress of the die. Others are the plated kind already mentioned, fabricated by ancient forgers, but having the plating worn off. A great number of leaden coins are mentioned by Ficorini in a work entitled Piombi Antichi, in which he supposes them to have served as tickets for guests; and coins of the same kind are also mentioned by Passeri. In the work entitled Notitia Imperii Romani, there is mention of coins made of leather, but none of them have ever been found.

Sect. V. Of Ancient Money.

In considering the different sizes, values, &c. of the Greek and Roman coins, our author treats of the medals as money; a knowledge of which, he says, is essentially necessary to every reader of the classics; inasmuch that it may almost dispute the preference with the studies of ancient geography and chronology. Notwithstanding all that has been written upon the subject, however, our author is of opinion, that the science is still in its infancy, in as far as it relates to the real money of the ancients. "The ideal (says he), which is indeed the most important province of discussion, has been pretty clearly ascertained; and we are almost as well acquainted with the Attic mna or mina, and the perplexing progress of the Roman sestertia, as with our own pounds." But with the actual coin of the ancients the case is different; and the ignorance even of the learned in this point is wonderful."

Our author now goes on, with great asperity of language, to particularize the ignorant manner in which modern authors have treated the subject of medals. "Arbuthnot and Clarke (says he), are, if possible, more ignorant of medals than Budéus the very first. The latter professes his love of medals, but quotes a confular coin with the head of Cicero; and looks upon one of the 30 pieces of silver, the reward of the treachery of Judas, and which was said to be preserved among some relics at Paris, to be worthy of reference and commemoration. Arbuthnot, if we may judge from his book, had never seen any ancient coins; and Clarke, it is well known, was quite ignorant of them. The latter, with all his labour, seems even to have known nothing of the theoretic part of the real ancient money. Indeed Dr Mead's catalogue seems to have been almost the only book on medals which had undergone his perusal. On the other hand, the ignorance of medallists on this score is no less profound. To this day they look upon the didrachms of Ægina, so celebrated in antiquity, as tridrachms of Ægium; and upon the early obolus as a brafs coin. In the Roman coins the large brafs is esteemed the as, while it shall be proved that it is the sestertius, and worth four qæs. The denarius is reckoned at ten æs even in the imperial times; whereas it only went at that rate for the first 90 years after the coinage of silver at Rome. The denarius serenus is taken for silver currency; with other mistakes, which evince that medallists are as ignorant of the theory, as the others are of the practice."

In his account of the ancient Greek money, Mr Money first Pinkerton observes, that the light of science, like that coined in the sun, has proceeded from east to west. "It is the east most probable (says he), that the first invention of money arose like the other arts and sciences; and spread from thence into the western parts of the world. In its first shape it appeared as mere pieces of metal, without any stated form or impression; in lieu of rude state, which, it was regulated by weight. Even down to the Saxon government in England, large sums were regulated by weight; and in our own times every single piece is weighed in gold; though with regard to silver this nicety is not minded, nor indeed does it seem practicable. Among the ancients, whose commercial transactions were less important and extensive than those of the moderns, silver was weighed as well as gold; nay even brafs, in some cases.

In Greece, large sums were determined by minæ or Greek minæ; and the most capital sums by talents. In every country the mina is supposed to have contained 100 drachme, or small silver coins, of that country, and the talent 60 minæ. The mina is supposed to be a pound weight of the country to which it belonged. The Attic pound, according to Dr Arbuthnot, contained 16 ounces, equal to our avoirdupois pound; but Mr Pinkerton looks upon this as a very absurd opinion, and accuses the doctor of having adopted it merely that he may explain a passage in Livy. He is of opinion, that the Attic pound is very nearly the same with the pound Troy. The mina of Athens had at first 73 drachms; but by Solon it was fixed at 100. The ancient drachm weighed the same which it does at present in medical weight, viz. the eighth part of an ounce. The mina or pound of 12 ounces had consequently 96 of these drachms; but four of them were given to the round sum to supply defects in the alloy; and indeed (says our author), in consequence of a common common practice in all ages and in all countries, of giving some addition to a large weight. Thus the pound in weight had but 96 drachmae in fact, while the pound in tale had 100; as the Roman libra in weight had but 84 denarii, in tale 108; and as our pound in tale, by an inverse progress, is not a third of our pound in common weight.

Notwithstanding the very severe criticism on Dr Arbuthnot just mentioned, however, we find our author adopting his account of the talents used in coinage in several countries. Thus, according to the doctor,

| The Syrian talent had | 15 Attic minae | |-----------------------|---------------| | Ptolemaic | 20 | | Antiochian | 60 | | Euboean | 60 | | Babylonian | 70 | | Larger Attic | 80 | | Tyrian | 80 | | Egyptian | 80 | | Aeginean | 100 | | Rhodian | 100 |

Notwithstanding the concession made here by Mr Pinkerton to the doctor, he tells us, that he very much questions this list of talents, and that many ancient writers are little to be relied upon. "Writers on this subject confess, that the numbers in all ancient manuscripts are the parts most subject to error, as being almost always contracted. They ought to allow that the authors themselves must often be liable to wrong information.

"Herodotus mentions, that King Darius ordered gold to be paid into his treasury by the Euboic talent, and silver by the Babylonian. The Euboic is esteemed the same with that called afterwards the Attic; and as we estimate gold by carats, so it is natural to suppose, that the most precious metal would be regulated by the most minute weight. But I confess, I take the Babylonian talent to be the same with that of Aegina. Mr Raper has proved the first coins of Macedon to be upon the standard of Aegina. Now the early Persian coins are upon that very scale, the largest tetradrachms weighing from 430 to 440 grains. Hence it follows, that the Persian silver coins were of the Aeginean standard; and the payment was certainly to be made according to the standard of the money. The larger Attic talent was of 80 lesser minae; because the larger Attic mina was of 16 ounces. The Alexandrian talent, according to Festus, consisted of 12,000 denarii, being the same with that used by the Egyptian kings in their coins; and is shown by Mr Raper to have been the same with the talent of Aegina. Perhaps the whole of the ancient coins of Asia, Africa, Greece, Magna Graecia, and Sicily, are reducible to three talents or standards. 1. That of Aegina, used in most of the more ancient silver coinages; as would seem in even the later of Egypt, Carthage, Cyrene, &c. 2. The Attic (being the Asiatic gold standard, afterwards used by Phidon king of Argos in estimating gold, and called Euboic from Euboea, one of the quarters of the city of Argos), used in Athens and the greater part of the world as the standard both of gold and silver. 3. The Doric or Sicilian talent of 24 nummi, each worth an obolus and an half; whence the talent is estimated at six Attic drachms or three darics. These weights continued to be the standard of money after it began to be distinguished by imposition; nay, to the fall of Greece and prevalence of the Roman empire."

Coinage, according to Herodotus, was first invented by the Lydians, from whom the Greeks quickly received it. The former could not have received it from the Persians, whose empire did not begin till 570 B.C., though our author supposes that it might have proceeded from the Syrians, who carried on commerce in very ancient times. The most ancient Greek coins of most ancient Greek silver have an indented mark upon one side, and a tortoise upon the other; and those of greatest antiquity have no letters upon them. Those of later date have ΑΙΤΕΙΩΝ marked upon them, which medallists interpret of Aegium in Achaea; being led into that supposition by the tortoise, which they look upon as the sure mark of the Peloponnesus. But though our author agrees that the tortoise was so, he thinks that they are otherwise very far wrong in their conclusions. Aegium in Achaea was a place of no consequence till the times of Aratus and the Achaean league; but there are 11 of these coins in Dr Hunter's cabinet, which show that they must have been struck in times of the most remote antiquity, and that the place where they were struck was rich and flourishing at the time. The coins we speak of are not common; but those which have the name ΑΙΤΕΙΩΝ at full length, and which may perhaps belong to Aegium in Achaea, are extremely scarce; inasmuch that in all Dr Hunter's vast collection there are not above one or two. They are likewise constructed upon a scale quite different from all other Grecian money; being of 8, 13, 15½, 90, and about 186 grains. The Grecian drachma at an average is 66 grains; and Mr Pinkerton thinks it would have been strange if pieces had been struck of eight-tenths of an obolus, of an obolus and a half, or of a drachma and a half. Aegium being originally an obscure village, could not be the first which coined money; so that Mr Pinkerton supposes the name ΑΙΤΕΙΩΝ to have stood for Aegialus, the ancient name of Sycon, a wealthy and powerful city; or rather Aegina, the mint of which was much celebrated, and perhaps the most ancient in Greece.

Other arguments in favour of these coins being derived from Aegina, are drawn from their weight as well as their workmanship, which are quite different from those bearing the name of Aegium at full length. The coinage of Aegina is known to have been different from that of the rest of Greece; inasmuch that its drachma was worth 10 Attic oboli, while the Attic drachma was valued only at five. Hence the drachmas of Aegina were named by the Greeks παχεῖα, or thick; a name very applicable to the coins in question. From these observations, our author is of opinion, that we may even distinguish the precise weight of the ancient coins of Aegina. According to the exact proportion, the drachma of this place should weigh exactly 110 grains; and one of them very much rubbed weighed above 90. The others of larger size, which seem to be didrachms of Aegina, weigh from 181 to 194 grains; but the latter being the only one he could meet with in good preservation, it was impossible to form any just medium. Even in those best preserved, he thinks that 10 grains may be allowed for a waste of the metal in so long a time as 2400 years, which would bring the drachma of Aegina near its proper standard. The obolus of Aegina was in proportion to its drachma of six oboli. It is the piece of 15½ grains, and 13 when very much rubbed. The hemiobolon is that of eight, but when rubbed it falls short of this weight.

The drachma is the most general denomination of the Greek money; it is the drachma, or eighth part of an ounce; which to this day is retained in the medical weights, the Grecian coins receiving their names from the weights they bore; though in some instances the weights received their appellations from the coins. The silver drachma, according to Mr Pinkerton, was about ninepence sterling; and he finds fault with those who make the drachma and denarius both equal to one another, the latter being no more than threepence. The didrachm of silver, according to the same calculation, was worth 18d.; but the tridrachm occurs very rarely: and Mr Pinkerton is even of opinion, that medallists give this name to the didrachm of Aegina. The largest of all the Grecian coins is the tetradrachm, which on the Aeginean standard is worth five shillings; but in those of the other states only four. There are, however, many subdivisions in the silver drachma; the highest being the triobolion or coin of four oboli; being in proportion to the drachma as our groat to a sixpence, weighing about 44 grains, and being in value about sixpence. The hemiobolion or triobolion comes next in value, weighing about 33 grains, and worth fourpence halfpenny. The silver diobolion, or third of the drachma, weighs about 22 grains, and is worth threepence. The obolus of silver weighs about 11½ grains, and is worth only three halfpence. There is likewise a hemiobolion in silver, or half the obolus, of five grains and a half, value three farthings: and another called tetraobolion dichalceos or quarter obolus, which is the most minute coin yet met with; and by reason of its extreme smallness, weighing only two grains and a quarter, is now very scarce; but there is one in the cabinet of Dr Hunter, and some more have been lately brought from Athens by Mr Stuart. Some of them are likewise met with at Tarentum. It would appear, however, that there were some still smaller, and of value only three-fourths of a farthing. None of these have been met with; and the smallness of the size renders it improbable that any will ever be met with; as the peasants, who commonly discover coins, would probably either not observe them at all, or if they did, would neglect them as things of no value.

Many different names have been imposed on the coins belonging to the different states of Greece: thus Koep, the maiden, was a name often applied to the tetradrachm, and which would seem to apply to those of Athens; though there are coins of other cities with the head of Proserpine, and the word Koep, to which it would appear more applicable in our author's opinion. Khaon, the bull, was the name of another coin, from its type. A Sicilian coin was named Damaegetos, from Gelen's wife. A tetradrachm was named Kepantakos, and had eight oboli or hemiobolions. The Tereus, so called from its country Troizene, had Pallas on one side and a trident on the reverse.

The hemiobolion was the πιλατος of Lacedemon; and Ancient Money. the καρυκες is supposed to have been equal to the Roman sextertius or quarter drachma. The cyzicopori were coins with the mystic chest or hamper of Bacchus upon them, out of which a serpent rises; and are much celebrated in antiquity. We are told by Livy, that Marcus Acilius, in his triumph over Antiochus and the Etruscans, carried off 248,000 of them; Cnecus Manlius Vullo in that over Gallo-Grecia had 250,000; and Lucius Emilius Regillus, in his naval triumph over the fleets of Antiochus, had 131,300. Cicero likewise mentions his being possessed of a vast sum in them. The most probable opinion concerning them seems to be, that they are all silver tetradrachms; such as belong to the cities of Apamea and Laodicea in Phrygia; Pergamus in Mytilene; Sardis and Tralles in Lydia; and Ephesus: but it is a mistake to ascribe any to Crete. Mr Pinkerton thinks it absurd to imagine that Crete, a small island, should strike such vast numbers of coins; though Cicero mentions his being in possession of an immense treasure in them at the time he was governor of Asia Minor. "It is most likely (says Mr Pinkerton), that his wealth should be in the coin of the country to which he belonged. But what had these triumphs or Cicero's government to do with Cretan money? But indeed the coins themselves, as above noticed, establish the fact."

Another set of coins famous in antiquity were those coins of Cyzicus in Mytilene, which were of gold; but they Cyzicus are now almost entirely vanished by being recoined in other forms. The Αγριανον νομισμα, or money of Agrigentum, who was made governor of Egypt by Cambyses, is made mention of by Hesychius; but none of them, as far as is known, have reached our times. They must have been marked with Persian characters, if with any. The coin of Queen Philistis is mentioned by the same writer, and many of these pieces are still extant; but we know not where this queen reigned, nor does there seem to be any method of finding it out. Mr Pinkerton inclines to believe, that the prefect over Sicily; and as a confirmation of that supposition, mentions some inscriptions of ΒΑΣΙΛΕΙΑΣ ΦΙΛΙΠΠΟΣ or the Gradini of the theatre at Syracuse; but which appear not older than the Roman times. Some authors are of opinion, that she reigned in Cosara or Malta; which our author thinks much more improbable.

The most particular attention with regard to the Athenian names and standard of coins is due to those of Athens; coins, and it is remarkable, that most of them which have reached us are of a very late period, with the names of magistrates inscribed upon them. Some of these bear the name of Mithridates; and few are older than the era of that prince; who, it is well known, took the city of Athens in his war with the Romans. I suspect (says Mr Pinkerton), that no Athenian coins of silver are posterior to Sylla's infamous destruction of that city; an event the more remarkable, as Sallust tells us, that Sylla was learned in Greek. Indeed Caligula, Nero, and most of the pests of society, have been learned men, in spite of a noted axiom of Ovid,

Sed ingenuas didicisse feliciter artes Emollit mores, nec finit effe feros.

It is still more remarkable, that the fabric of Athenian nian coins is almost universally very rude: a singular circumstance, if we reflect how much the arts flourished there. It can only be accounted for from the excellence of their artists being such as to occasion all the good ones to be called into other countries, and none but the bad left at home. In like manner, the coins struck at Rome in the imperial times are excellent, as being done by the best Greek artists; while those of Greece, though famous at that time for producing miraculous artists, are during that period commonly of very mean execution. The opulence of Athens in her days of glory was very great; owing in an eminent degree to her rich commerce with the kingdoms on the Euxine sea, carried on chiefly from Delos, which belonged to Athens, and was the grand centre of that trade." Hence it has become matter of surprise to Neumann, that when there are so many coins of Mycene, an island even proverbially poor, there should be none of Delos. But Mr Pinkerton accounts for this from Mycene's being a free state, and Delos subject to Athens. "It may be well supposed (says he), that Athens had a mint at Delos; and such Athenian coins as have symbols of Apollo, Diana, or Latona, were struck in this island."

The copper money of the Greeks is next in antiquity to the silver. Mr Pinkerton is of opinion, that it was not used at Athens till the 26th year of the Peloponnesian war; about 404 years before Christ, and 300 after silver was first coined there. The first copper coins were those of Gelo of Syracuse, about 490 B.C.

The chalcos of brass, of which eight went to the silver obolus, seems to have been the first kind of Greek coin. At first it was looked upon as of so little consequence, that it became proverbial; and to say that a thing was not worth a chalcos, was equivalent to saying that it was worth nothing. As the Greeks became poor, however, even this diminutive coin was subdivided into two, four, nay eight lepta or small coins; but our author censures very severely those who have given an account of those divisions. "Pollux, and Suidas copying from him (says he), tell us, that there were seven lepta to one chalcos; a number the most unlikely that can be, from its indivisibility and incapacity of proportion.

Pollux lived in the time of Commodus, so was too late to be of the smallest authority: Suidas is four or five centuries later, and out of the question. Pliny tells us, that there were ten chalci to the obolus; Diodorus and Cleopatra that there were six; Ifidorus says there were four: and if such writers differ about the larger denomination, we may well imagine that the smaller equally varied in different states; an idea supported by these undeniable witnesses, the coins which remain. Most of the Greek copper coin which has reached our times consists of chalci; the lepta being so small as to be much more liable to be lost." In Dr Hunter's cabinet, however, there are several of the dilepta of Athens: and from being stamped with the representation of two owls, seem to be the same with the silver diobolus: "a circumstance (says Mr Pinkerton), of itself sufficient to confute Pollux; for a dilepton can form no part of seven; a number indeed which never appeared in any coinage of the same metals, and is contradictory to common sense. It may be observed, that the whole brass coins of Athens published by Dr Combe are reducible to four sizes, which may be the lepton, dilepton, teiralepton or hemichalcos, and chalcos. The first is not above the size of one of King Lepton, James I.'s farthing tokens; the last about that of our dilepton, common farthing." The lepta was also called xiphoi, &c., as being change for the poor. The xiphoi, perhaps so called from the figure of a wolf upon it, was the coin of a particular state, and if of brass must have weighed three chalci. The other names of the copper coins of Greece are but little known. Lycurgus ordered iron money to be coined at Sparta; but perishable is this metal, that none of that kind of money has reached our times.

After the conquest of Greece by the Romans, most of the coins of that country diminished very much in their value, the gold coinage being totally discontinued: though some of the barbarous kings who used the Greek character were permitted to coin gold, but they used the Roman model; and the standard used by the few cities in Asia who spoke the Greek language in the times of the emperors is entirely unknown. Copper seems to have been the only metal coined at that time by the Greeks themselves; and that upon the Roman standard, then universal through the empire, that there might be no impediment to the circulation of currency. They retained, however, some of their own terms, using them along with those of the Romans. The assarion or assarium of Rome, the name of the diminished as, being 16 to the drachma or denarius, the obolus was so much diminished in value as to be struck in brass not much larger than the old chalcus, and valued at between two and three assaria; which was indeed its ancient rate as to the drachma. This appears from the copper coins of Chios, which have their names marked upon them. The brass obolus, at first equal in size to the Roman sestertius or large brass, lessens by degrees to about the size of a silver drachma. From the badness of the imperial coinage in Greece also, it appears that brass was very scarce in that country, as well as in all the cities using the Greek characters; being found mostly in the western countries of the Roman empire. The Era of the time of this declension in size of the Greek coins is declension by Mr Pinkerton supposed to have been from A.D. 150, the copper obolus, at first above the size of large brass, was used in Greece about the time of its first subjection to Rome; and that the lepta ceasing, the chalci came in their room, with the dichalcus and the hemibolion of brass.

With respect to the gold coins of the Greeks, Mr Gold coins Pinkerton is of opinion that none of that metal was of Greece, coined before the time of Philip of Macedon, as none have reached our times prior to the reign of that monarch. From a passage in Thucydides our author concludes, that in the beginning of the Peloponnesian war the Athenians had no gold coin. Mentioning the treasure in the Acropolis or citadel of Athens, at the commencement of that war, the historian mentions silver coin, and gold and silver in bullion; and had any of the gold been in coin, he would certainly have mentioned it. Philip began his reign about 68 years after the beginning of the Peloponnesian war; and we can scarce suppose that any city would have preceeded ceded the elegant and wealthy Athens in the coining of gold.

Notwithstanding, however, this deficiency of gold coin among the Greeks, it is certain that the coinage of gold had taken place in Sicily long before; as we have gold coins of Gelo about 491 B.C. of Hiero I., 478, and of Dionysius I. in 404, all using the Greek characters; though not to be ranked among the gold coins of Greece, as Philip caused his to be. Gold coins of Syracuse even appear of the third class of antiquity, or with an indented square, and a small figure in one of its segments. Gold coins are used in the cities of Brettium, Tarentum, and throughout Magna Graecia; also in Panticapaeum in Thrace, and likewise Eusa in that country; but not in Tuscany, as is commonly believed, though Neumann proves that they were struck by Brutus, and are unquestionably as ancient as the Greek coins. The Thebans and Athenians probably coined the first gold after Philip had set them the example, and when they were attempting to resist the projects of that enterprising monarch. The Aetolians probably coined their gold during the time of their greatest power, about a century after Philip, and when they were combating the power of Aratus and the Achaean league. "There is (says Mr Pinkerton) but one ἐπικοίνωνις of Thebes, much worn, in Dr Hunter's cabinet, and weighing but 59 grains; and perhaps not above two or three χεῖροι or gold didrachms of Athens in the world; one of which is also in the collection of Dr Hunter, and weighs 132½ grains. It appears to be more modern than the reign of Philip. That monarch having got possession of the mines of Philippi in Thrace, improved them so much, that they produced him annually above a thousand talents of gold, or 2,880,000l. of our money. From this gold the first coins named from the monarch, Philippus, were struck. They were marked with his portrait; and for many ages after were so numerous, that they were common in the Roman empire; whence the name Philippus became at length common to gold, silver, and at last even brass coins of their size. Even in the time of Philip gold was very scarce in Greece; but after the Phocians had plundered the temple of Delphos, this precious metal which had been valued as gems, and consecrated only to the decoration of the temples of the gods, began to be known among the Greeks. The comparative value of gold and silver, however, seem to have been at that time very different from what they are now. Herodotus values gold at 13 times its weight in silver; Plato in his Hipparchus at 12; and even the low value of 10 to 1 seems to have been the stated value in Greece, though in Rome the plenty of silver from the Spanish mines made the value of gold to be much higher; and there is no reason to think that it was ever valued in that city at less than 12 times its weight in silver. The Philippus χεῖροι, gold piece, or flater, is a didrachm, and is the most common of all the ancient coins. Mr Pinkerton is of opinion that it went for 20 silver drachms on its first appearance; but in latter times for 25 Greek drachmas or Roman denarii. There are proofs of the Philippus being didrachms, both from the writings of ancient authors and from numbers of the coins themselves, which remain to this day; and that the χεῖροι, or principal gold coin of Greece, was of the same weight, is also evident from ancient writings. It was anciently worth about 15s. but valuing gold now at the medium price of 4l. per ounce, it is worth about 20s. The ἐπικοίνωνις, or half the former coin, scarcely occurs of the coinage of Philip and Alexander, though it does of Hiero I. of Syracuse and of King Pyrrhus. It palled for ten silver drachmas, and was valued only at 7s. 6d. though now worth 10s. There was another division of this kind worth about 5s. There were besides some lesser divisions of gold coins, which could not be worth above two drachmas. These were coined in Cyrene; and there were besides several old gold coins of Asia Minor, the value of which is now unknown. Our author supposes that they were coined not with relation to their weight as parts of the drachma, but merely to make them correspond with too many silver pieces as was necessary. There are also larger coins than the χεῖροι, the ἐπικοίνωνις of Alexander and Lydius being double its value. Some others are met with of Lydius, Antiochus III. and some of the Egyptian monarchs, weighing four times the χεῖροι, and now worth about 4l. sterling. Some weigh even more; but this our author supposes owing to a difference in the purity of the gold.

In Rome, as well as in Greece, the money was at Roman first estimated by weight; and the first metal coined money, by that people was copper, silver being long unknown in Rome; nor is it certainly known that any silver has ever been found in the Italian mines. In Rome the first valuation of money was by the libra gravis argiri, or pound of heavy brass; and in the progress of their conquests, the little silver and gold that came in their way was regulated by the same standard, as appears from the story of Brennus. The weights made of the Rose of were the same with those which continue to this man pound, day. The pound consisted of 12 ounces of 458 grains each; but the pound by which the money was weighed appears to have consisted only of 420 grains to the ounce, or to have contained in all 5040 grams. This became the standard of copper; and when silver came to be coined, seven denarii went to the ounce as eight drachmas did in Greece. Gold was regulated by the scrupulum or scrupulus, the third part of a denarius, and by the larger weights just mentioned. The number 10 was at first used by the Romans in counting their money; but finding afterwards that a smaller number was more convenient, they divided it into quarters; and as the quarter of 10 is 2½, they for this reason bestowed upon it the name of sestertius or "half Sesterius," the third;" to express that it was two of any weights, measures, &c. and half a third; whence the sestertius came at last to be the grand estimate of Roman money. The as being at first the largest, and indeed the only Roman coin, the word sestertius means sestertius ar, or "two ases and an half." On the first coining of silver, the denarius of ten ases was struck in the most common and convenient denary division of money, or that by tens; the sestertius being of course two ases and an half. But the denarius being afterwards estimated at 16 ases, the name sestertius was still applied to a quarter of the denarius, though it now contained four ases. The term sestertius was applied to all sums not exceeding 1000 sestertii, or 8l. 6s. 8d.; but for greater sums the mode of the sestertius was likewise altered, though not to exclude the former. Very large sums Ancient sums of money were estimated by the hundred weight of brafs; for the Romans were at first unacquainted with the talent. The hundred weight, by way of eminence, was distinguished by the name of pondus, and felfertium pondus became a phrase for two hundred weight and an half. Mr Pinkerton is of opinion, that we may value the as libralis of ancient Rome at about eightpence English. Estimating the as therefore at a pound weight, the felfertium pondus was equal to 1000 felfertii, or 8l. 6s. 8d.; and by coincidence which our author supposes to have been the effect of design, as soon as the silver coinage appeared, the felfertium centum denariorum was always equal to 8l. 6s. 8d. also. The word felfertium itself, however, seems to have been unknown prior to the coinage of silver money at Rome: the pondera gravis eris being sufficient before that time for all the purposes of a state in which money was so scarce. But however this may be, the pondus or hundred weight of brafs was precisely worth 100 denarii, or a pound of silver.* As the great felfertium was always valued at 1000 of the smaller, or 8l. 6s. 8d. we never find one felfertium mentioned in authors, but two, three, or more; ten thousand of them being equal to 83,333l. 6s. 8d.

The states from which the Romans may be supposed first to have derived their coinage, were the Etruscans and the Greek colonies in Magna Graecia and Sicily. Joseph Scaliger, Gronovius, &c. contend that it was from the Sicilians that the Romans first derived their knowledge of money; but Mr Pinkerton argues that it was from the Etruscans. In confirmation of his opinion, he appeals to the state of the Roman territories in the time of Servius Tullius, who is looked upon to have been the first who coined money at Rome. At that time the whole Roman dominion did not extend beyond ten miles round the city; and was entirely surrounded by the Etruscan and Latin states; Cumae being the next Greek colony to it that was of any consequence, and which was in the neighbourhood of Naples, at about the distance of 150 miles. Our author asks, Is it reasonable to think that the Romans received the use of money from the Etruscans and Latins who were their neighbours, or from the Greeks, who were at a distance, and at that time, as far as appears from their history, absolutely unknown to them? "If this argument (adds he), is strong with regard to the nearest Grecian colonies, what must it be with respect to Sicily, an island 300 miles distant from Rome, where it was not known, at that time, if a boat went by land or water?" Arguments, however, for this opinion have been derived from the similarity between the Sicilian and Roman coins; which Mr Pinkerton now proceeds to examine. The Greek pound in Sicily was called λίρα, and consisted, like the Roman, of 12 στεράγματα, or ounces; and Mr Pinkerton grants that the Roman libra was derived from the Greek λίρα, but denies that the as, or libra, a coin, was from Sicilian model. The Sicilians had indeed a coin named λίρα; but it was of silver, and of equal value to the Αἰγύπτιον standard, ten of which went to the Sicilian διαλυτήριον. He differs from Gronovius, that the standard of Αἰγύπτιον was used at Corinth, and of course at Syracuse; and it appears from Aristotle, that the Sicilians had a talent or standard of their own. The Sicilian obolus or λίρα contained all fo 12 ounces or χαλκί, so named at first because they weighed an ounce weight; but the στεράγματα of Hiero weigh more than a Troy ounce; and the brafs coins of Agrigentum are marked with cyphers as far as six: the largest weighing only 186 grains, or about one-third of the primitive ounce. Our author denies that even the Roman denarius took its rise from the Sicilian διαλυτήριον, as many authors assert. Were this the case, it would have weighed 180 grains; whereas the Roman denarii are not above the third part of the quantity.

From all these considerations, our author is of opinion that the Sicilians borrowed the division of their Sicilian λίρα from the Etruscans, or possibly from the Romans themselves; which our author thinks is more probable than that the Romans had it from Sicily. The strongest argument, however, against the Roman coinage being borrowed from the Sicilian is, that though great numbers of Sicilian coins are to be found in the cabinets of medallists, yet none of them resemble the as libralis of the Romans in any degree. In most cabinets also there are Etruscan coins upon the exact scale of the as libralis, and several of its divisions; from whence Mr Pinkerton concludes, that "these, and these alone, must have afforded a pattern to the primitive Roman coinage." The Etruscans were a colony from Lydia, to which country Herodotus ascribes the first invention of coinage. "Those colonists (says Mr Pinkerton), upon looking round their settlements, and finding that no silver was to be had, and much less gold," supplied the mercantile medium with copper; to which the case of Sweden is very similar, which, as late as the last century, had copper coins of such magnitude, that wheelbarrows were used to carry off a sum not very considerable.

Some coins are found which exceed the as libralis in weight; and these are supposed to be prior to the time of Servius Tullius. Some of them are met with of 34 man coins, and of 53 Roman ounces; having upon one side the figure of a bull rudely impressed, and upon the other the bones of a fish. They are most commonly found at Tuder, or Tudertum, in Umbria; but they appear always broken at one end: so that Mr Pinkerton is of opinion that perhaps some might be struck of the decussis form, or weighing ten pounds. These pieces, in our author's opinion, make it evident, that the Romans derived their large brafs coins from the Etruscans and the neighbouring states: they are all cast in moulds; and the greater part of them appear much more ancient than the Roman ases, even such as are of the greatest antiquity.

Mr Pinkerton agrees with Sir Isaac Newton as to the time that Servius Tullius reigned in Rome, which he supposes to be about 460 B.C. His coinage seems to have been confined to the as, or piece of brafs having the impression of Janus on the one side, and the prow of a ship on the other; because Janus arrived in Italy by sea. Varro, however, informs us, that the very first coins of Tullius had the figure of a bull or other cattle upon them, like the Etruscan coins, of which they were imitations. Those with the figure of Janus and the prow of a ship upon them may be supposed first to have appeared about 400 B.C. but in a short time, various subdivisions of the as were coined. The Subdivided semis, or half, is commonly stamped with the head of Jupiter. Jupiter laureated; the triens or third, having four cyphers, as being originally of four ounces weight, has the head of Minerva; the quadrans or quarter, marked with three cyphers, has the head of Hercules wrapt in the lion's skin; the sextans or sixth, having only two cyphers, is marked with the head of Mercury with a cap and wings; while the uncia having only one cypher, is marked with the head of Rome. All these coins appear to have been cast in moulds, by a considerable number at a time; and in the British museum there are four of them all united together as taken out of the mould in which perhaps dozens were cast together. In process of time, however, the smaller divisions were struck instead of being cast; but the larger still continued to be cast until the as fell to two ounces. Even after this time it was still called libra, and accounted a pound of copper; though there were now larger denominations of it coined, such as the bissas or double as; treffris and quadrufliss of three and four ases; nay, as far as decussis or ten ases, marked X. Olivier mentions one in his own cabinet weighing upwards of 25 ounces, and cast when the as was about three ounces weight. There is likewise in the Museum Etruscum a decussis of 40 Roman ounces, cast when the as was at four ounces. There was likewise a curious decussis in the Jesuits library at Rome, for which an English medallist offered 20l.; but it was seized by the pope along with every other thing belonging to the society.

Mr Pinkerton contests the opinion of Pliny that the as continued of a pound weight till the end of the first Punic war. His opinion (he says), is confirmed by the coins which still remain; and it appears probable to him that the as decreased gradually in weight; and, from one or two of the pieces which still exist, he seems to think that the decrease was slow, as from a pound to eleven ounces, then to ten, nine, &c.; but neither the as nor its parts were ever correctly fixed. During the time of the second Punic war, when the Romans were sore pressed by Hannibal; the as was reduced to a single ounce. It is said to have taken place in the 215th year before our era, being about 36 years after the former change. This as libralis, with the face of Janus upon it, is the form most commonly met with previous to its being reduced to two ounces. Our author supposes that the as libralis continued for at least a century and a half after this coinage of Tullius, down to 300 B.C. about the year of Rome 452, between which and the 502nd year of Rome a gradual diminution of the as to two ounces must have taken place. The following table of the dates of the Roman coinage is given by Mr Pinkerton.

| As libralis with Janus and the prow of a ship | 400 | |---------------------------------------------|-----| | As of ten ounces | 300 | | Eight | 290 | | Six | 280 | | Four | 270 | | Three | 260 | | Two, according to Pliny | 250 | | One, according to the same author | 214 | | About 175 B.C., also, we are informed by Pliny, | |

that the as was reduced to half an ounce by the Papyrian law, at which it continued till the time of Pliny himself, and long after.

After the Romans began to have an intercourse with Greece, a variety of elegant figures appear upon the parts of the as, though not on the as itself till after the time of Sylla. Towards the latter end of the republic also, dupondii, or double ases, were coined, together with the sestertii aurei, which came in place of the quadruplex, when the denarius began to be reckoned at 16 ases; probably at the time the latter was reduced to half an ounce. In some instances it is to be observed, the Greek that the Romans accommodated their coins to the count-scale money where their army was stationed; whence we have so many coins marked as Roman, which have been coined in Magna Graecia and Sicily, and are evidently upon the Greek and not the Roman scale. In the latter part of the republican times, also, the types begin to vary; so that we have a bras coin supposed to be struck by Sextus Pompeius in Sicily, having upon it a double head of that warrior, representing a Janus. Mr Pinkerton supposes it to have been a dupondius; which indeed appears to be the case from the double head. This coin is of copper, and still weighs an ounce, notwithstanding its antiquity.

The largest imperial copper coin was the sestertius, of the value worth about twopence of our money. Mr Pinkerton censures severely the opinion of other medallists, all of whom lay that the sestertius was of silver. "In fact (says he), it would be as rational in any antiquary, a thousand years hence, to contend that the halfpenny and farthing are of silver, because they were so in the reign of Henry VIII." In confirmation of his own opinion, he quotes the following passage from Pliny: "The greatest glory of bras is now due to the Marian, called also that of Cordova. This, after the Livian, most absorbs the lapis calaminaris, and imitates the goodness of native orichalcum in our sestertii and dupondiarii, the ases being contented with their own copper." Gronovius confesses that he does not know what to make of this passage, and that it causes him hesitate in his opinion. The Livian mine mentioned here by Pliny, is supposed to have got its name from Livia the wife of Augustus; and it is probable that the pieces marked with her portrait, entitled Justitia, Salus, Virtus, &c. were dupondii from this very mine, the metal being exceedingly fine, and of the kind named Corinthian bras by the ancient medallists. "Perhaps (says Mr Pinkerton), the mine received its name from this very circumstance of her coins being struck in the metal taken from it."

No change took place in the Roman coinage from the time that the as fell to half an ounce to the days of Pliny: but Mr Pinkerton observes, that before the time of Julius Caesar yellow bras began to be used, and was always looked upon to be double the value of Cyprian or red copper. There are but few coins in large bras immediately before Julius Caesar, or even belonging to that emperor; but from the time of Augustus downward, the large coins are all found of bras, and not one of them copper. The largest of what are called the middle size are all of yellow bras; and the next size, which is the as, and weighs half an ounce, is universally copper. What the ancients named Ancient med orichalcum, or what we call brafs, was always looked upon to be greatly superior in value to the as; Cyprus. Procopius speaking of a statue of Justinian, tells us, that brafs inferior in colour to gold is almost equal in value to silver. The mines of native brafs were very few in number, and were owing entirely to the singular combination of copper and lapis calaminaris in the bowels of the earth, which very seldom occurs; and the ancients were far from being well acquainted with the method of combining these two bodies artificially; so that yellow brafs was always esteemed at double the value of copper; and hence, in the ancient coinages, the brafs and copper pieces were kept as distinct as those of gold and silver.

Mr Pinkerton challenges himself the discovery that the imperial festerius was of brafs; and is at considerable pains to bring proofs of it. Besides the testimony of Pliny, which of itself would be decisive, this is supported by the strongest collateral evidence of other authors. From a passage in Julius Africanus, who wrote the Tertius, or Treatise on Medicine, it appears that the nummus, or festerius, weighed an ounce, and of consequence that it could not be silver but brafs; and all the large imperial Roman coins weigh an ounce. We know not the age in which Julius Africanus lived; and as he makes the denarius to contain 16 ases, he must have been before the age of Gallienus, when it had 60. Gronovius supposes him to have been the same mentioned by Eusebius. This author speaks of a Julius Africanus who lived in the time of Hellogabalus, and whom Mr Pinkerton supposes to have been the same with him above-mentioned.

The festerius underwent no change till the time of Alexander Severus, when it was diminished by one-third of its weight. Trajan Decius was the first who coined double festerii, or quinarii, of brafs; but from the time of Trebonianus Gallus to that of Gallienus, when the first brafs ceased, the festerius does not weigh above the third part of an ounce; the larger coins are accounted double festerii; and after the time of Gallienus it totally vanishes. In the times of Valerian and Gallienus we find a new kind of coinage, mentioned by the name of denarii aurei, or Philippus aurei. Two sizes of denarii began to be used in the time of Caracalla; the larger of six festerii, or 24 assaria; the smaller of four festerii, or 16 assaria as usual. In the time of Pupienus, the latter was reduced to such a small size as not to weigh more than 36 grains; though in Caracalla's time it weighed 60. After the time of Gordian III., the smaller coin fell into disuse, as breeding confusion. The larger denarius of six festerii, though diminished at last to the size of the early denarius, still retained its value of six festerii, or 24 assaria. The Philippus aureus came at length in place of the festerius. It was also called denarius; from which we may learn not only their size, but that they were in value ten assaria as the first denarius. In the reign of Diocletian, the place of the festerius was supplied by the follis, that emperor having restored the silver coin to its purity, and likewise given this form to the copper; but it would seem that this restoration of the coinage only took place towards the end of his reign; whence we have but few of his silver coins, and still fewer of the follis, though the denarius aureus continue quite common down to the time of Constantine. The follis of Diocletian seems to have weighed above half an ounce; and Mr Pinkerton is of opinion, that Diocletian designed this coin to supply the place of the denarius aureus; which of course was worth ten assaria, and five of them went to the silver denarius. From this time the assarium diminishes to the size of 30 grains; and soon after the follis appeared, the denarius aureus was entirely dropped, the former having gradually supplied its place. Some mints appear to have retained the use of the denarius longer than others; and in some the change was preceded, and gradually brought in, by raising the follis with silver or tin, as the denarius had formerly been. Pieces of this kind occur in the times of Diocletian, Maximian I. and II. and Constantius I.; that is, for about ten years after the follis made its appearance. Some countries, however, retained the denarius aureus; others the follis; and some had a medium between the two, or the follis raised in imitation of the denarius.

Towards the end of the reign of Constantine I., a new coinage was introduced throughout the whole empire. The follis coined by this prince was of half an ounce weight; 24 of them going to the milliarenum. The word follis signifies also a purse, in which sense we sometimes find it mentioned in the Byzantine history. The common follis of silver, when it occurs by itself, means a purse of 250 milliarenes, as the festerius was 250 denarii; and by a law of Constantine I., every man paid to the state a follis or purse according to his income. The method of counting by purses continues in Turkey to this day.

The dupondius was only half the value of the festerius, or about one penny sterling; and before the pontificate of Julius Caesar, yellow brafs appeared it seems to have been struck upon copper, and double the size of the as. There are some of this coin, struck in the time of Julius Caesar, in yellow brafs, weighing half an ounce, with a head of Venus Victrix upon one side; on the reverse, a female figure, with serpents at her feet: while others have a Victory on the reverse, with Q. Oppius Pr. After the time of Augustus, the dupondius was struck in yellow brafs; which Pliny tells us was also the case in his time. The word dupondiarus seems to have been used by Pliny, and adopted, not to express that the coin was dupondius, but that it was of dupondial value. Neither was the former word confined to signify double weight, but was used also for double length or measure, as in the instance of dupondius pes, or two feet, &c. In the imperial times, therefore, dupondius was used, not to signify a coin of double the weight of the as, but of double the value. It was one of the most common of the Roman coins; and seems to have been very common even in Constantinople. In the time of Justinian, it seems there was a custom of nicknaming young students of the law dupondii, against which the emperor made a law; but it is not known what gave rise to the name. The dupondius, though of the same size with the as, is commonly of finer workmanship, the metal being greatly superior in value. It continues to be of yellow brafs, as well as the festerius, to the time of Gallienus; but the as is always in copper.

The imperial as, or assarium, was worth only a halfpenny. halfpenny. At first it weighed half an ounce, and was always of copper till the time of Gallienus, when it was made of brass, and weighed only the eighth part of an ounce. From the time of Gallienus to that of Diocletian, it continued to diminish still more, the size being then twenty to an ounce. This was the same with the lepta, or smallest coins but the nummus, which weighed only ten grains.

The parts of the as occur but seldom; which may, indeed, be well expected, considering the low value of it; though there still occur some of those called semis, triens, quadrans, sextans, and uncia, coined in the times of Nero and Domitian. There is no small brass from the time of Pertinax to that of Gallienus, excepting that of Trajan Decius; but in the time of Gallienus it becomes extremely common; and the coins of small brass, as well as the larger, are always marked S.C. such as want it being universally accounted forgeries, and were plated with silver, though the plating be now worn off. The small pieces struck for slaves during the time of the satura, must also be distinguished from the parts of the as. The S.C. upon these most probably signifies Saturni Confutto, and were struck in ridicule of the true coins, as the slaves on that occasion had every privilege of irony.

The sestertius diminishes from Pertinax to Gallienus so fast, that no parts of the as are struck, itself being so small. Trajan Decius, indeed, coined some small pieces, which went for the semis of the time. The small brass coins under Gallienus were called affaria, sixty of which went to the silver denarius. They are about the size of the denarius, and some of them occur in the coinage of Gallus and his family, of half that size, which appear to have been struck during the latter part of his reign, when the affarium was diminished to a still smaller size. It is probable, however, that some of these very small coins had been struck in all ages of the empire, in order to scatter among the people on solemn occasions. Mr Pinkerton is of opinion that they are the miliaria, though most other medallists think that they are medallions. "But if so (says our author), they were certainly called miliaria a non mitiendo; for it would be odd if fine medallions were scattered among the mob. It is a common custom just now to strike counters to scatter among the populace on such occasions, while medals are given to peers of the kingdom; and we may very justly reason from analogy on this occasion."

The affarian or lepton of the Constantinopolitan empire was, as we have already observed, one of the smallest coins known in antiquity, weighing no more than 20 grains; and the nummia were the very smallest which have reached our times, being only one half of the former. By reason of their extreme smallness, they are very scarce; but Mr Pinkerton informs us, that he has in his possession a fine one of Theodosius II., which has on it the emperor's head in profile. Theodosius P.F.A.V.; on the reverse a wreath, having in the centre VOT.XX.:MULT.XXX.

The principal coin of the lower empire was the follis, which was divided into an half and quarter, named bisseptem and tergat; the latter of which is shown by Du Cange to have been a small brass coin, as the other is supposed to have been by Mr Pinkerton.—Besides these, the follis was divided into eight oboli, 16

affaria or lepta, and 32 nummia, though in common computation it contained 40 of these last. This coin, notwithstanding so many divisions, was of no more value than a halfpenny.

Mr Pinkerton controverts an opinion, common among medallists, that the largest brass coin or follis of the lower empire had 40 small coins, expressed by the letter M upon it; the next had 30, expressed by the letter A; the half by the letter K; and the quarter marked I, which contained only 10. Mr Pinkerton informs us, that he has three coins of Anastasius, all marked M in large; one of them weighs more than half an ounce; the second 40 grains less; and the third of 160 grains, or one third of an ounce; but the size is so very unequal, that the last, which is very thick, does not appear above half the size of the first. There are pieces of Justinian which weigh a whole ounce; but the size of copper was increased as the silver became scarcer; and the value of the coinage cannot be deduced from the weight of the coins, as it is plain that our own coinage is not of half the value with regard to the metal. A great number of medallions were struck by Constantius II., but there is no other copper larger than the half ounce, excepting that of Anastasius, when the follis began to be struck larger. All medallists allow the others to be medallions.

The metal employed in these very small coins, though at first of brass, was always a base and refuse kind; but copper is generally made use of in the parts of the as from the earliest times to the latest; and if brass be sometimes employed, it is never such as appears in the sesterces and dupondiarii, which is very fine and beautiful, but only the refuse. "Yellow brass of the right sort (says Mr Pinkerton), seems totally to have ceased in the Roman coinage with the sesterces, under Gallienus, though a few small coins of very bad metal appear under that hue as late as Julian II."

Silver was coined in Rome only as late as the 48th year of the city, or 266 B.C. Varro indeed speaks of silver having been coined by Servius Tullius, and the libella having been once in silver; but Pliny's authority must be accounted of more weight than that of this author, as he mistakes the λευκα of Sicily for Roman coins, having been current at Rome during the time of the first Punic war. Even Pliny, according to our author, very frequently mistakes with regard to matters much antecedent to his own time; and among the moderns he criticizes severely Erasmus and Hume. "Erasmus (says he), who had been in England for some time, talks of leaden money being used here." Not even a leaden token was struck in the reign of Henry VIII.; yet his authority has been followed with due deference to so great a name; for how could Erasmus, who must have seen the matter with his own eyes, assert a direct falsehood? To give a later instance in a writer of reputation, Mr Hume, in Vol. VI. of his history, has these words, in treating of the reign of James I. "It appears that copper halfpence and farthings began to be coined in this reign. Tradesmen had commonly carried on their retail business by leaden tokens. The small silver penny was soon lost; and at this time was nowhere to be found." Copper halfpence and farthings were not struck till Charles II. 1672; there were small tokens for farthings struck in copper by James I. but not one for the halfpenny. The silver farthings had ceased with Edward VI. but the silver halfpence continued the sole coins till Charles II. It was by copper tokens that small business was carried on. The silver penny was much used till the end of the reign of George I.; and so far from being nowhere to be found, is superabundant of every reign since that period, not excepting even the present reign of George III. From these instances the reader may judge how strangely writers of all ages blunder, when treating a subject of which they are entirely ignorant."

The first silver denarii coined at Rome, are supposed by our author to have been those which are impressed with the ROMA; and he inclines to account those the most ancient which have a double female head on the one side, and on the reverse Jupiter in a car, with Victory holding the reins, and the word ROMA indented in a rude and singular manner. The double female head seems to denote Rome, in imitation of the Janus then upon the as. There are 15 of these in the cabinet of Dr Hunter; one of the largest weighs 98½ grains; and the rest, which seem to be of greatest antiquity, are of various weights between that and 84½; the smaller and more modern weigh 58 or 59 grams; but Mr Pinkerton is of opinion, that the large ones are of the very first Roman coinage, and struck during that interval of time between the coinage of the first silver denarius and the as of two ounces. He takes the indentation of the word ROMA to be a mark of great antiquity; such a mode being scarcely known anywhere else, except in Caulonia, Crotona, and other towns of Italy; all of them allowed to be struck at least 400 B.C. As these large coins are not double denarii, they must have been struck prior to the small ones; and Neumann has given an account of one of them recollected by Trajan, in which the indentation of ROMA is carefully preserved. The first denarius was in value 10 ases, when the as weighed three ounces; and allowing 90 grams at a medium for one of these large denarii, the proportion of copper to silver must have been as 1 to 160; but when the as fell to one ounce, the proportion was as 1 to 80; when it fell to half an ounce, so that 16 ases went to the denarius, the proportion was as 1 to 64, at which it remained. Copper with us, in coinage, is to silver as 1 to 40; but in actual value as 1 to 72.

At Rome the denarius was worth 8d.; the quinarius 4d.; and the sesterius, whether silver or brass, 2d. The denarius is the coin from which our penny is derived, and was the chief silver coin in Rome for 600 years. According to Celsus, seven denarii went to the Roman ounce, which in metals did not exceed 430 grams; but as all the denarii hitherto met with weigh at a medium only 60 grams, this would seem to make the Roman ounce only 420 grams; though perhaps this deficiency may be accounted for from the unavoidable waste of metal even in the best preserved of these coins. According to this proportion the Roman pound contained 84 denarii; but in tale there was a very considerable excess; for no fewer than 100 denarii went to the Roman pound. The Greek ounce appears to have been considerably larger than that of Rome, containing about 528 grams; yet notwithstanding this apparently great odds, the difference in the coins was so small, that the Greek money went current in Rome, and the Roman in Greece. The denarius at first went for 10 ases, and was marked X; it was afterwards raised to 16; which Mr Pinkerton supposes to have been about 175 B.C. Some are met with bearing the number XVI. nay, with every number up to CCCCLXXVI. These large numbers are supposed to have been mint-marks of some kind or other. After being raised to 16 ases, it continued at the same value till the time of Gallienus; so that till that time we are to look upon its constituent parts to be 16 ases or afferia, eight dupondii, four bras festerii, and two silver quinarii. Under the emperor Severus, however, or his successor Caracalla, denarii were struck of two sizes, one of them a third heavier than the common; which we must of consequence suppose to have borne a third more value. This large piece obtained the name of argentus, and argentus Philippus, or the "silver Philip;" the name of Philip having become common to almost every coin. The common denarii now began to be termed minutus and argentus Philippus minutuli, &c., to express their being smaller than the rest. Some have imagined that the large denarii were of the same value with the small, only of worse metal; but Mr Pinkerton observes, that among the few which have any difference of metal, the smallest are always the worst. The first mention of the minutus is in the time of Alexander Severus, who reduced the price of pork from eight minutus at Rome to two and to one. The minutus argentus of that age was about 40 grams; and from the badness of the metal was not worth above 4d. of our money. Thus the price of meat was by this prince reduced first to 8d. and then to 4d.

According to Zozimus and other writers, the purity of the Roman coin was restored by Aurelian; but Mr Pinkerton contests this opinion; thinking it more probable, that he only made the attempt without success; or that his reformation might be entirely confined to gold, on which there is an evident change after the time of this emperor. His successor Tacitus is said to have allowed no bras to be mixed with silver upon any account; yet the few coins of this emperor are very much alloyed. We are certain, however, that the emperor Diocletian restored the silver to its ancient purity; the denarii struck in his reign being very small indeed, but of fine silver as the most ancient coins of the empire. After Gordian III. the small denarius entirely vanished, while the large one was so much diminished, that it resembled the minutus, or small one of Caracalla, in size. Gallienus introduced the denarius æreus instead of the sesterius. The argentus, though reduced more than one third in size, contained five denarii æreus, the old standard of sesterius. According to the writers of this period, and some time afterwards, the denarius or argentus contained 60 afferia; whence it follows, that each denarius æreus had 10; and from this it probably had its name. The afferia are of the size of the argentus already mentioned; and show the copper to have retained nearly its old proportion of value to the silver, viz. 1 to 60.

A larger silver coin was introduced by Constantine I. who accommodated the new money to the pound of gold in such a manner, that 1000 of the former in tale were equal to the latter in value; so that this new piece from thence obtained the name of the milliarensis. millarenfs or "thousand." Its weight at a medium is 70 grains, or 70 to the pound of silver; but Mr Pinkerton is of opinion, that it might have contained 72 grains, of which two have now perished by the softness of the silver; that the pound contained 72; or that two of the number might be allowed for coinage; while the alloy alone would pay for coining gold. The code says, that 60 went to the pound; but the numbers of this are quite corrupt. The millarenfs was worth about a shilling sterling. The argentei or denarii, however, were still the most common currency; and having been originally rated at 100 to the pound of silver in tale, from thence began to be called centenionalces, or "hundreders." Those of Constantine I. and II. Constans, and Constantius, weigh from 50 grains down to 40; those of Julian and Jovian, from 40 to 30, and of the succeeding emperors from that time to Justinian, from 30 to 20. Under Heraclius they ceased entirely; and, from Justinian to their total abolition, had been brought down from 15 to 10 grains. A like decrease of weight took place in the millarenfs; those of Constantine and Constans being above 70 grains in weight; those of Arcadius not above 60; and the millarenfs of Justinian not more than 30 grams; but, from the weight of those in Dr Hunter's cabinet, Mr Pinkerton deduces the medium to have been exactly 70-71 grams. These coins were also called majorinae.

The smaller silver coins of Rome were, 1. The quinarius, at first called victoriatus, from the image of Victory on its reverse; and which it continued to bear from first to last. Its original value was five ases, but it was afterwards raised to eight, when the value of the denarius increased to 16. According to Pliny, it was first coined in consequence of the lex Clodia, about the 52nd year of Rome. Some are of opinion, that it was called sequens under the Constantinopolitan empire, because it was worth a sequens of gold, 144 of which went to the ounce; but this is denied by Mr Pinkerton, because, at the time that the word sequens first appears in history, the denarius did not weigh above 30 grams; and of consequence, as 25 must have gone to the gold solidus, of which there were five in the ounce, 130 denarii must have gone to the ounce of gold. He is therefore of opinion, that the word sequens was only another name for the denarius when much reduced in size; probably owing to the great scarcity of silver in Constantinople, though in the same city there was plenty of gold; and of consequence, the gold solidus was never diminished. "For Montefquieu (says our author) has well observed, that gold must be common where silver is rare. Hence gold was the common regulation of accounts in the Eastern empire." The sequens met with in ancient authors, according to Mr Pinkerton, was merely an improper name for the millarenfs; when, on account of the scarcity of silver, the denarius was reduced, and no millarenfs coined: so that the current millarenfs of former reigns happened to be double to the denarius or centenionalces. The quinarius diminishes in size along with the other coins: those of Augustus weighing 30 grams, of Severus 25, of Constantine I. 20, of Justinian 12, and of Heraclius only 5. A new silver coinage seems to have taken place after the days of this emperor; as the little we then meet with, which in the best cabinets scarce exceeds a dozen of coins, consists entirely of large unhappily pieces of coarse metal.

2. The consular denarius had also four silver sesterces, till the as fell to half an ounce, when it was thought the denarius proper to coin the sesterces in brass, as it continued to be ever afterwards. "The very last silver sesterces (says Mr Pinkerton) which appears, is one with a head of Mercury, and H. S.; on the reverse a caduceus P. SEPVLLIVS; who appears to be the P. SEPVLLIVS MACER of the denarii of Julius Caesar. If so, as is most probable, the sesterces was coined in silver down to Augustus; and it is of course not to be expected that any of brass can appear till Augustus, under whom they are actually quite common. I have indeed seen no coin which could be a consular brass sesterces; and though we have certainly brass dupondii of Caesar, yet it is reasonable to infer, that the brass sesterces was first coined by Augustus. Not one silver sesterces appears during the whole imperial period, yet we know that the sesterces was the most common of all silver coins. The consular sesterces of silver, marked H. S. are not uncommon, nor the quinarii; but the latter are very scarce of all the emperors, if we except one instance, the ASIA RECEPTA of Augustus.

"The Roman gold coinage was still later than that Roman of silver. Pliny tells us, that "gold was coined 600 years after silver; and the scuple went for 60 sesterces. It was afterwards thought proper to coin 40 pieces out of the pound of gold. And our princes have by degrees diminished their weight to 45 in the pound." This account is confirmed by the pieces which still remain; for we have that very coin weighing a scuple, which went for 20 sesterces. On one side is the head of Mars, and on the other an eagle; and it is marked xx. We have another coin of the same kind, but double, marked xxxx; and its triple, marked lxx or 60; the l being the old numeral character for 50." Mr Pinkerton, the discoverer of this, treats other medallists with great asperity. Savot and Hardouin are mentioned by name; the latter (he says) is "ignorant of common sense;" and neither he nor Savot could explain it but by reading backward; put the l for the Roman V, and thus making it xv. Other readings have been given by various medallists, but none have hit upon the true one excepting our author, though the coin itself led to it; being just three times the weight of that marked xx. We have likewise half the largest coin, which is marked xxx, and which weighs 26 grams; the smallest is only 17½; the xxxx weighs 34; and the lx or drachma 53. There is also the didrachm of this coinage, of 106 grams.

The aurei, or Roman gold coins, were at first 48 in number to 40, owing to an augmentation in the weight of each coin. In the time of Sylla, the aureus weighed no less than from 164 to 168 grams, and there were only 30 in the pound; but such confusion in the coinage was introduced by that conqueror, that no person could know exactly what he was worth. Till this time the aureus seems to have continued of the value of 30 silver denarii, about one pound sterling; for about that time it was enlarged a whole third, that it might still be equivalent to the full number of denarii. But after Sylla had taken Athens, and the arts and manners of Greece became objects of imitation to the Romans, the aureus fell to 40 in the pound, probably when Sylla had abdicated his dictatorship. Thus, being reduced near to the scale of the Greek ἀργυρεύς, it palled for 20 denarii, as the latter did for as many drachmas, being in currency 13s. 4d. sterling. "This (says Mr Pinkerton) is the more probable, because we know from Suetonius, that the great Cæsar brought from Gaul so much gold, that it fold for nine times its weight of silver; but the Gallic gold was of a very base sort."

In the time of Claudius, the aureus was valued at 100 sesterces, or 25 silver denarii, at which it continued till the time of Heliogabalus, when it fell to about 92 grains at a medium, or role in number to 55 in the pound. In the reign of Philip, during which the city completed its thousandth year, the aureus was coined of two or three sizes. There are impressed with a head of Rome on one side, and various figures on the other; but the workmanship is so rude, that they are supposed to have been struck in some of the more uncivilized provinces of the empire. The practice of having different gold coins, however, continued under Valerian, Gallienus, and his successors. In the time of Gallienus, they were of 30, 65, and from 86 to 93 grains; the double aurei being from 172 to 183½ grains; but the aureus properly so called was from 86 to 93; those of 30 and 32 being the trientes aurei of the Historia Auguflae Scriptores; while the larger, from 62 to 65, are to be accounted double trientes, and were perhaps called minuti aurei. The value of these different sizes of aurei is not known.

That Aurelian made some alteration in the coin is certain; but Mr Pinkerton supposes it to have been only in the gold; because under him and his successor Probus, the common aureus was of 100 grains, a size confined to those emperors: there are likewise halves of about 50 grains; and double aurei, commonly of very fine workmanship, of upwards of 200 grains. In the time of Gallienus, the precious metal was so common, that this emperor died in magnificence with Nero and Heliogabalus. Aurelian, who plundered the rich city of Palmyra, and thus became master of the treasures of the east, obtained such a profusion of gold, that he looked upon it to be produced by nature in greater plenty than silver. It is remarkable, that during this emperor's reign there was a rebellion among the money coiners, which could not be quelled but by the destruction of several thousands; which Mr Pinkerton attributes to his having ordered the gold to be restored to its former size, but to go for no more silver than it formerly did. "So very little silver (says he) occurs of this period, that it is plain no alteration in the silver produced the war with the moneyers; and in the bras he made no change; or if he had, it were strange that such commotions should arise about so trifling a metal. But if, as appears from the coins, he ordered the aureus, which had fallen to 80 grains, to be raised to about 100, it is no wonder that the contractors should be in an uproar; for a whole quarter of their coinage, amounting as would seem, to all their profits, was lost. Aurelian judged, that when he found gold so common in the east, it was equally so in the west; and that the moneyers must have made a most exorbitant profit; but his ideas on this subject were partial and unjust: and after his short reign, which did not exceed five months after the alteration, the gold returned to its former course; though a few pieces occur of Aurelian's standard, struck, as would seem, in the commencement of the reign of Probus his successor.

From this time to that of Constantine I. the aureus weighed between 70 and 80 grains; but in his reign it was changed for the solidus, of which fix went to the ounce of gold, which went for 14 millirenses, and 25 denarii as before; the value of silver being now to gold as 14 to 1. This new coin continued of the same value to the final downfall of the Constantinopolitan empire; gold being always very plentiful in that city, though silver became more and more scarce. The solidus was worth 12s. sterling. Here again our author most fervently criticizes Mr Clarke and Mr Raper: the former (he says) with respect to the value of gold in the time of Constantine I. "has left all his senses behind him. In page 267, he absurdly affirms, that 25 denarii went to the solidus in the time of Theodosius I. and proceeds with this deplorable error to the end of his work. He then tells us, that only 14 denarii went to the solidus under Constantine I. &c."

To Mr Raper, however, he is a little more merciful, as he owns, that "though he (Mr Raper) has strangely confounded the millirenses with the denarius, he has yet kept common sense for his guide." Mr Pinkerton, indeed, argues with great probability, "that had any change in the coinage taken place between the time of Constantine and Theodosius I. that is, in less than 50 years, the laws of that period, which are all in the Theodosian code, must have noticed it." To this and other arguments upon the subject, Mr Pinkerton adds the following observation upon the value of gold and silver: "As a flate advances to its height, gold increases in value; and as a flate declines, it decreases, providing the metals are kept on a par as to purity. Hence we may argue, that gold decreased in its relation to silver perhaps four or five centuries, furnished most European kingdoms with gold in coin, which otherwise would, from their want of arts and of intercourse with the east, then the grand seminary of that metal, have almost been ignorant of what gold was. These gold coins were called Byzants in Europe, because sent from Byzantium or Constantinople; and were solidi of the old scale, six to the ounce. In Byzantine writers, the solidus is also called nomisma, or "the coin;" crysmos, because of gold; hyperperos, from its being refined with fire, or from its being of bright gold flaming like fire. The solidi also, as the aurei formerly, received names from the princes whose portraits they bore; as Michelati, Manuelati. Solidus is a term used also for the aureus by Apuleius, who lived in the time of Antoninus the Philosopher; nay, as early as in the praetorian edicts of the time of Trajan. It was then a distinction from the semis or half. In the time of Valerian, when aurei of different sizes had been introduced, it became necessary to distinguish the particular aurei meant. Hence in the Imperial Rescripts, published by the Historia Auguflae Scriptores, Valerian uses the term Philippoeus nobri vulgus, for the common aurei. Aurelian uses the same term aurei Philippei, for the aurei which he had restored to their size in some degree. Gallienus uses aurei Valeriani for his father's coins. Aurei Antoniniani are likewise put by Valerian for coins of the early Antonini, of superior standard to any then used.

In the first gold coinage at Rome, the aureus was divided into four parts; the semifliss of 60 sestertii; the tremissis, or third, of 40; the fourth, the name of which is not mentioned, of 30; and the terpulum of 20. But in a short time all of these fell into disuse, except the semifliss or half, which is extremely scarce; so that it is probable that few have been struck. It is an erroneous opinion (according to Mr Pinkerton), that the semifliss was called a denarius aureus. The aureus itself indeed had this name; but the name of quinarius is applied to the semifliss with greater propriety than the former. Trientes, or tremisses of gold, are found of Valerian and his son Gallienus, and weigh about 30 grains. Those of Salonina the wife of Gallienus weigh 33 grains. Under the Constantinopolitan empire, tremisses again make their appearance; and from the time of Valentinian downwards, the thirds are the most common coins of gold, being worth about 4s. sterling. The semifliss is likewise mentioned, but none occur earlier than the time of Basiliscus. The gold tremisses was the pattern of the French and Spanish gold coins; as the silver denarius, in its diminished state, was of the Gothic and Saxon penny.

We shall close this account of the Roman money with some remarks concerning the mint, and method of coining. This at first seems to have been under the direction of the quaestor. About the time that silver was first coined in Rome, viz. about 266 B.C., the triumviri monetales were created. They were at first of senatorial rank, but were by Augustus chosen from among the equites; and the title of triumvir was continued till after the time of Caracalla; but under Aurelian there was probably but one master of the mint, called rationalis; and Mr Pinkerton is of opinion that the change took place under Gallienus. He seems also to have permitted the provincial cities to coin gold and silver, as well as to have altered the form of the mints in the capital, and to have ordered them all to strike money with Latin legends, and of the same forms; as in his time we first meet with coins with mint marks of cities and offices. The violent insurrection which took place in his reign has already been mentioned, as well as its probable cause; and Mr Gibbon has shown, that the concealed enemies of Aurelian took such advantage of this insurrection, that it cost 7000 of his best troops before it could be quelled. About this time the procurator monetarum seems to have succeeded the rationalis as director of the mint. In the colonies, the direction of the mint seems to have been given to the decemviri, whose names frequently occur on colonial coins; "which (says Mr Pinkerton), though generally of rude invention, and ruder execution, are yet often interesting and important."

The engraving of the ancient dies used in coining was a work of much genius and labour; and at Rome Greek artists were generally employed in it; but it has been thought a matter of great surprize, that scarcely any two ancient coins are to be found exactly the same. Hence some antiquaries have imagined, that only a single coin was thrown off from each die. M.

Beauvais informs us, that the only two Roman imperial coins of the first times which he had seen perfectly alike were those of the emperor Galba. It is, however, the opinion of the best judges, that a perfect similarity between two medals is a very great reason for supposing one of them to be forged. "It must also be observed (says Mr Pinkerton), that the differences in coins, apparently from the same die, are often so minute as to escape an eye not used to microscopic observations of this sort. But it would be surprising if any two ancient coins were now found struck with the same die; for out of each million issued, not above one has reached us. Dies soon give way by the violence of the work; and the ancients had no punchers nor matrices, but were forced to engrave many dies for the same coin. Even in our mint, upon sending for a threepence's worth of new halfpence, it will appear that three or four dies have been used. Sometimes the obverse of the die gives way, sometimes the reverse; but among us it is renewed by punchers, though with variations in the lettering or other minute strokes; while the ancients were forced to recur to another die differently engraved. The engravers of the die were called calatores; other officers employed in the mint were the spectatores, spectatores, or nummularii. The melters were styled fufarii, flatuarii, and flaturarii; those who adjusted the weight were called aquatores monetarii; those who put the pieces into the die suppositorii, and those who struck them malleatores. At the head of each office was an officer named primicerius, and the foreman was named optio et exactor."

In order to assist the high relief on the coins, the metal, after being melted and refined, was cast into bullets, as appears from the ancient coins not being cut or filed on the edges, but often cracked, and always rough and unequal. These bullets were then put into the die, and received the impression by repeated strokes of the hammer, though sometimes a machine appears to have been used for this purpose; for Boiterue informs us, that there was a picture of the Roman mintage in a grotto near Baiae, where a machine was represented holding up a large stone as if to let it fall suddenly, and strike the coin at once. None of the ancient money was cast in moulds, excepting the most ancient and very large Roman brats, commonly called weights, and other Italian pieces of that sort; all the rest being mere forgeries of ancient and modern times. Some Roman moulds which have been found are a proof of this; and from these some medallists have erroneously imagined that the ancients first cast their money in moulds, and then stamped it, in order to make the impression more clear and sharp.

The ancients had some knowledge of the method of creasing the edges of their coins, which they did by cutting out regular notches upon them; and of this kind we find some of the Syrian and ancient confular coins, with a few others. The former were cast in this shape, and then struck; but the latter were creased by incision, to prevent forgery, by showing the inside of the metal; however, the ancient forgers also found out a method of imitating this; for Mr Pinkerton informs us, that he had a Roman confular coin, of which the incisions, like the rest, were plated with silver over the copper. Sect. VI. Of the Preservation of Medals.

We now come to consider what it is that distinguishes one medal from another, and why some are so highly prized more than others. This, in general, besides its genuineness, consists in the high degree of preservation in which it is. This, by Mr Pinkerton, is called the conservation of medals, and is by him regarded as good and as perfect. In this, he says that a true judge is so nice, that he will reject even the rarest coins if in the least defaced either in the figures or legend. Some, however, are obliged to content themselves with those which are a little rubbed, while those of superior taste and abilities have in their cabinets only such as are in the very state in which they came from the mint; and such, he says, are the cabinets of Sir Robert Austen, and Mr Walpole, of Roman silver, at Strawberryhill. It is absolutely necessary, however, that a coin be in what is called good preservation; which in the Greek or Roman emperors, and the colonial coins, is supposed to be when the legends can be read with some difficulty; but when the conservation is perfect, and the coin just as it came from the mint, even the most common coins are valuable.

The fine rust, like varnish, which covers the surface of brails and copper coins, is found to be the best preserver of them; and is brought on by lying in a certain kind of soil. Gold cannot be contaminated but by iron mold, which happens when the coin lies in a soil impregnated with iron; but silver is susceptible of various kinds of rust, principally green and red; both of which yield to vinegar. In gold and silver coins the rust must be removed, as being prejudicial; but in brails and copper it is preservative and ornamental; a circumstance taken notice of by the ancients. "This fine rust (says Mr Pinkerton), which is indeed a natural varnish not imitable by the art of man, is sometimes a delicate blue, like that of a turquoise; sometimes of a bronze brown, equal to that observable in ancient statues of bronze, and so highly prized; and sometimes of an exquisite green, a little on the azure hue, which last is the most beautiful of all. It is also found of a fine purple, of olive, and of a cream colour or pale yellow: which last is exquisite, and shows the impression to be as much advantage as paper of cream colour, used in all great foreign presses, does copperplates and printing. The Neapolitan patina (the rust in question) is of a light green; and when free from excrement or blemish is very beautiful. Sometimes the purple patina gleams through an upper coat of another colour, with as fine effect as a variegated silk or gem. In a few instances a rust of a deeper green is found; and it is sometimes spotted with the red or bronze flake, which gives it quite the appearance of the East Indian stone called the bloodstone. These rusts are all, when the real product of time, as hard as the metal itself, and preserve it much better than any artificial varnish could have done; concealing at the same time not the most minute particle of the impression of the coin."

The value of medals is lowered when any of the letters of the legend are misplaced; as a suspicion of forgery is thus induced. Such is the case with many of those of Claudius Gothicus. The same, or even greater, diminution in value takes place in such coins as have not been well fixed in the die, which has occasioned their slipping under the strokes of the hammer, and thus made a double or triple image. Many coins of this kind are found in which the one side is perfectly well formed, but the other blundered in the manner just mentioned. Another blemish, but of smaller moment, and which to some may be rather a recommendation, is when the workmen through inattention have put another coin into the die without taking out the former. Thus the coin is convex on one side, and concave on the other, having the same figure upon both its sides.

The medals said by the judges in this science to be countermarked are very rare, and highly valued. They marked have a small stamp impressed upon them, in some an head, in others a few letters, such as Aug: N. Probus, &c., which marks are supposed to imply an alteration in the value of the coin; as was the case with the countermarked coins of Henry VIII. and Queen Mary of Scotland. Some have a small hole through them; sometimes with a little ring fastened in it, having been used as ornaments; but this makes no alteration in their value. Neither is it any diminution in the value of a coin that it is split at the edges; for coins of undoubted antiquity have often been found in this state, the cause of which has been already explained. On the contrary, this cracking is generally considered as a great merit; but Mr Pinkerton supposes that one of these cracked coins has given rise to an error with respect to the wife of Carausius who reigned for some time in Britain. The inscription is read Oriuna Aug: and there is a crack in the medal just before the O of oriuna. Without this crack Mr Pinkerton supposes that it would have been read Fortuna Aug.

Some particular soils have the property of giving silver a yellow colour as if it had been gilt. It naturally acquires a black colour through time, which any sulphurous vapour will bring on in a few minutes. From its being so susceptible of injuries, it was always mixed by the ancients with much alloy, in order to harden it. Hence the impressions of the ancient silver coins remain perfect to this day, while those of modern coins are obliterated in a few years. On this account Mr Pinkerton expresses a wish, that modern states would allow a much greater proportion of alloy in their silver coin than they usually do. As gold admits of no rust except that from iron above-mentioned, the coins of this metal are generally in perfect conservation, and fresh as from the mint.

To cleanse gold coins from this rust, it is best to steep them in aquafortis, which, though a very powerful solvent of other metals, has no effect upon gold. Silver may be cleansed by steeping for a day or two in vinegar, but more effectually by boiling in water with three parts of tartar and one of sea salt; on both these metals, however, the rust is always in spots, and never forms an entire incrustation as on brails or copper. The coins of these two metals must never be cleansed, as they would thus be rendered full of small holes eaten by the rust. Sometimes, however, they are found to totally obscured with rust, that nothing can be discovered upon them; in which case it is best to clear them with a graver; but it may also be done by boiling them for 24 hours in water with... How to distinguish true Medals from counterfeits.

The most difficult and the most important thing in the whole science of medals is the method of distinguishing the true from the counterfeit. The value put upon ancient coins made the forgery of them almost coeval with the science itself; and no laws inflict a punishment upon such forgers, men of great genius and abilities have undertaken the trade: but whether to the real detriment of the science or not, is a matter of some doubt; for if only exact copies of genuine medals are sold for the originals, the imposition may be deemed trifling: but the case must be accounted very different, if people take it upon them to forge medals which never existed. At first the forgeries were extremely grofs; and medals were forged How to di- of Priam, of Aristotle, Artemisia, Hannibal, and most gins with of the other illustrious personages of antiquity. Most of these were done in such a manner, that the fraud could easily be discovered; but others have imposed even upon very learned men. Mr Pinkerton mentions a remarkable medal of the emperor Heraclius, representing him in a chariot on the reverse, with Greek and Latin inscriptions, which Joseph Scaliger and Lipsius imagined to have been struck in his own time, but which was certainly issued in Italy in the 15th century. Other learned men (says our author) have been strangely misled, when speaking of coins; for to be learned in one subject excludes not grofs ignorance in others. Budaeus, de Arte, quotes a denarius of Cicero, M. Tull. Erasmus, in one of his Epistles, tells us with great gravity, that the gold coin of Brutus struck in Thrace, ΚΟΣΜΗ, bears the patriarch Noah coming out of the ark with his two sons, and takes the Roman eagle for the dove with the olive branch. Winkelman, in his letters informs us, that the small bras piece with Virgil's head, reverse ERO, is undoubtedly ancient Roman; and adds, that no knowledge of coins can be had out of Rome; but Winkelman, so conversant in statues, knew nothing of coins. It is from other artists and other productions that any danger of deceit arises. And there is no wonder that even the skilful are misled by such artists as have used this trade; for among them appear the names of Victor Gambello, Giovanni del Cavino, Coins called the Paduan, and his son Alessandro Baffiano, ged by ex-wife of Padua, Benvenuto Cellini, Alessandro cellent arti Greco, Leo Aretino, Jacobo da Frezzo, Federigo Bonzagna, and Giovanni Jacopo, his brother; Sebastiano Plumbo, Valerio de Vizenza, Gorlaeus, a German, Carteron of Holland, and others, all or most of them of the 16th century; and Cavino the Paduan, who is the most famous, lived in the middle of that century. The forgeries of Cavino are held in no little esteem, being of wonderful execution. His and those of Carteron are the most numerous, many of the other artists here mentioned not having forged above two or three coins. Later forgers were Dervici of Florence who confined himself to medallions, and Cogorner who gave coins of the 30 tyrants in small bras. The chief part of the forgeries of Greek medals which have come to my knowledge are of the first mentioned, and a very grofs kind, representing persons who could never appear upon coin, such as Priam, Æneas, Plato, Alcibiades, Artemisia, and others. The real Greek coins were very little known or valued till the works of Goltzius appeared, which were happily posterior to the era of the grand forgers. Why later forgers have seldom thought of counterfeiting them cannot be easily accounted for, if it is not owing to the masterly workmanship of the originals, which sets all imitation at defiance. Forgeries, however, of most ancient coins may be met with, and of the Greek among the rest.

"The forgeries are more conspicuous among the Roman forgeries than any other kind of coins; but we are yet more not to look upon all these as the work of modern confusions artists. On the contrary, we are assured that many of them were fabricated in the times of the Romans themselves, some of them being even held in more estimation than the genuine coins themselves, on account of How to distinguish true from counterfeits.

Caracalla is said to have coined money of copper and lead plated with silver; and plated coins, the work of ancient forgers, occur of many Greek cities and princes; nay, there are even forgeries of barbaric coins. "Some Roman coins (says Mr Pinkerton), are found of iron or lead plated with bras, perhaps trials of the skill of the forger. Iron is the most common; but one decursio of Nero is known of lead plated with copper. Neumann justly observes, that no historic faith can be put in plated coins, and that most faulty reverses, &c., arise from plated coins not being noticed as such. Even of the Roman consular coins of Brutus, not very many have ever been forged. The celebrated silver denarius of Brutus, with the cap of liberty and two daggers, is the chief instance of a consular coin of which a counterfeit is known. But it is easily rejected by this mark: in the true coin the cap of liberty is below the guard or hilt of the daggers; in the false, the top of it rises above that hilt."

The imperial series of medals is the grand object of modern medallie forgeries; and the deception was at first extended to the most eminent writers upon the subject. The counterfeits are by Mr Pinkerton divided into six classes.

I. Such as are known to be imitations, but valued on account of the artists by whom they are executed. In this class the medals of the Paduan rank highest; the others being so numerous, that a complete series of imperial medals of almost every kind, nay almost of every medallion, may be formed from among them. In France, particularly, by far the greater part of the cabinets are filled with counterfeits of this kind. They are distinguished from such as are genuine by the following marks: 1. The counterfeits are almost universally thinner. 2. They are never worn or damaged. 3. The letters are modern. 4. They are either deficient of varnish entirely, or have a false one, which is easily known by its being black, shining, and greasy, and very easily hurt with the touch of a needle, while the varnish of ancient medals is as hard as the metal itself. Instead of the greasy black varnish above mentioned, indeed, they have sometimes a light green one, spotted with a kind of iron marks, and is composed of sulphur, verdigris, and vinegar. It may frequently be distinguished by the hairstrokes of the pencil with which it was laid on being visible upon it. 5. The sides are either filed or too much smoothed by art, or bear the marks of a small hammer. 6. The counterfeits are always exactly circular, which is not the case with ancient medals, especially after the time of Trajan.

The Paduan forgeries may be distinguished from those of inferior artists by the following marks: 1. The former are seldom thinner than the ancient. 2. They very seldom appear as worn or damaged, but the others very frequently, especially in the reverse, and legend of the reverse, which sometimes, as in forged Othos, appear as half-consumed by time. 3. The letters in moulds taken from the antique coins have the rudeness of antiquity. 4. False varnish is commonly light green or black, and shines too much or too little. 5. The sides of forged coins are frequently quite smooth, and undistinguishable from the ancient, though to accomplish this requires but little art. 6. Counterfeit medals are frequently as irregular in their form as the genuine; but the Paduan are generally circular, though false coins have often little pieces cut off, in perfect imitation of the genuine. 7. In calf coins the letters do not go sharp down into the medal, and have no fixed outline; their minute angles, as well as those of the drapery, are commonly filled up, and have not the sharpness of the genuine kind. Where the letters or figures are faint, the coin is greatly to be suspected.

The letters form the great criterion of medals, the letters the ancient being very rude, but the modern otherwise; principal the reason of which, according to Cellini, is, that the criterion of ancients engraved all their matrices with the graver or burin, while the modern forgers strike theirs with a punch.

According to Vico, the false patina is green, black, Vico's rufset, brown, gray, and iron colour. The green is made of verdigris, the black is the smoke of fulphur, the gray is made of chalk steeped in urine, the coin being left for some days in the mixture. The rufset is next to the natural, by reason of its being a kind of froth which the fire forces from ancient coins; but when false, it shines too much. To make it they frequently took the large bras coins of the Ptolemies, which were often corroded, and made them red hot in the fire; put the coins upon them, and a fine patina adhered. Our author does not say in what manner the iron-coloured patina was made. "Sometimes (adds he) they take an old defaced coin, covered with real patina, and stamp it anew; but the patina is then too bright in the cavities, and too dull in the protuberances. The trial of bras coins with the tongue is not to be defiled; for if modern the patina tastes bitter or pungent, while if ancient it is quite tasteless."

Mr Pinkerton informs us, that all medallions from Julius Caesar to Adrian are much to be suspected of forgery; the true medals of the first 14 emperors being exceedingly valuable, and to be found only in the cabinets of princes.

II. The second class of counterfeit medals contains those cast from moulds taken from the Paduan forges, and others done by eminent masters. These are sometimes more difficult to be discovered than the former, because in casting them they can give any degree of thickness they please; and, filling the small fandholes with mastic, they retouch the letters with a graver, and cover the whole with varnish. The instructions already given for the former class, however, are also useful for those of the second, with this addition, that medals of this class are generally lighter than the genuine, because fire rarifies the metal in some degree, while that which is struck is rather condensed by the strokes. In gold and silver medals there cannot be any deception of this kind; because these metals admit not of patina, and consequently the varnish betrays the imposition. The marks of the file on the margin of those of the second class are a certain sign of forgery; though these do not always indicate the forgery to be of modern date, because the Romans often filed the edges of coins to accommodate them to the purposes of ornament, as quarter guineas are sometimes. How to distinguish true from counterfeits.

Medals cast in moulds from an antique.—In this mode some forgers, as Beauvais informs us, have been so very careful, that they would melt a common medal of the emperor whom they meant to counterfeit, lest the quality of the metal should betray them. "This (says Mr Pinkerton), has been done in the silver Septimius Severus, with the reverse of a triumphal arch, for which a common coin of the same prince has been melted; and in other instances. Putting metals in the fire or upon hot iron to cleanse them, gives them an appearance of being cast; for some spots of the metal being softer than the rest will run, which makes this one of the worst methods of cleaning medals.—The directions given for discovering the two former deceptions hold good also in this.

IV. Ancient medals retouched and altered.—This is a class of counterfeits more difficult to be discovered than any other. "The art (says Mr Pinkerton) exerted in this class is astonishing; and a connoisseur is the least apt to suspect it, because the coins themselves are in fact ancient. The acute minds of the Italian artists exerted themselves in this way, when the other forgeries became common and known. With graving tools they alter the portraits, the reverses, and the inscriptions themselves, in a surprising manner. Of a Claudius struck at Antioch they make an Otho; of a Faustina, a Titiana; of a Julia Severa, a Didia Clara; of a Macrinus, a Pelcennius, &c. Give them a Marcus Aurelius, he flirts up a Pertinax, by thickening the beard a little, and enlarging the nose. In short, wherever there is the least resemblance in persons, reverses, or legends, an artist may from a trivial medal generate a most scarce and valuable one. This fraud is distinguishable by the false varnish which sometimes marks it; but, above all, by the letters of the legend, which are always altered. Though this be sometimes done with an artifice almost miraculous, yet most commonly the characters straggle, are disunited, and not in a line."

In counterfeits of this kind sometimes the obverse is not touched, but the reverse made hollow, and filled with mastic coloured like the coin, and engraved with such device and legend as was most likely to bring a great price; others are only retouched in some minute parts, by which, however, the value of the coin is much diminished. "Against all these arts (says Mr Pinkerton), severe scrutiny must be made by the purchaser upon the medal itself; and the investigation and opinion of eminent antiquaries had upon its being altered, or genuine as it is issued from the mint.

V. Medals impressed with new devices, or foldered.—In the first article of this class the reverses have been totally filed off, and new ones impressed with a die and hammer. This is done by putting the face or obverse, whichever is not touched, upon different folds of pasteboard, afterwards applying the die and striking it with a hammer. The forgery in this class is very easily discovered, as the devices and inscriptions on the counterfeits are known not to exist on true medals: as the Pons Aelius on the reverse of Adrian; the Expeditio Judaica of the same emperor, &c. The difference of fabrication in the face or reverse will be discovered at the first glance by any person of skill.

The foldered medals consist of two halves belonging to different medals, faced through the middle and then joined with folder. This mode of counterfeiting is common in silver and brass coins. "They will take an Antoninus, for example, and saw off the reverse, then folder to the obverse which they have treated in the same manner. This makes a medal, which, from an unknowing purchaser, will bring a hundred times the price of the two coins which compose it. When the deceit is used in brass coins, they take care that the metals be of one hue; though indeed some pretenders in this way sometimes folder copper and brass together, which at once reveals the deceit. Medals which have a portrait on each side, and which are generally valuable, are the most liable to a suspicion of this fraud. To a very nice eye the minute ring of folder is always visible; and upon inserting a graver, the fabrication falls into halves."

In the same manner reverses are sometimes foldered to faces not originally belonging to them; as one mentioned by Pere Jobert, of Domitian, with an amphitheatre, a reverse of Titus joined to it. Another art is sometimes made use of in this kind of counterfeits, of which there is an instance of the temple of Janus upon Nero's medals; where the middle brass is taken off, and inserted in a cavity made in the middle of a large coin of that prince. In the coins of the lower empire, however, the reverses of medals are sometimes so connected with their obverses, that a suspicion of forgery sometimes occurs without any foundation. They are met with most commonly after the time of Gallienus, when such a number of usurpers arose, that it was difficult to obtain an exact portrait of their features; the coiners had not time, therefore, to strike a medal for these as they could have done for other emperors who reigned longer. Hence, on the reverse of a medal of Marius, who reigned only three days, there is PACATOR ORBIS, which shows that at that time they had reverses ready fabricated, to be applied as occasion might require.

VI. Plated medals, or those which have clefts.—It has already been remarked, that many true medals are dented, cracked in the edges; owing to the repeated strokes of the hammer, and the little degree of ductility which the metal possesses. This the forgers attempt to imitate by a file; but it is easy to distinguish between the natural and artificial cleft by means of a small needle. The natural cleft is wide at the extremity, and appears to have a kind of almost imperceptible filaments; the edges of the crack corresponding with each other in a manner which no art can imitate.

The plated medals which have been forged in ancient times were long supposed to be capable of resisting every effort of modern imitation; but of late years, "some ingenious rogues (says Mr Pinkerton), thought of piercing false medals of silver with a red-hot needle, which gave a blackness to the inside of the coin, and made it appear plated to an injudicious eye. This fraud is easily distinguished by scraping the inside of the metal." It is, however, very difficult to distinguish How to distinguish the forgeries of rude money when not cast; and our author gives no other direction than to consult a skilful medallist. Indeed, notwithstanding all the directions already given, this seems to be a resource which cannot by any means with safety be neglected.

A real and practical knowledge of coins "is only to be acquired (says he) by seeing a great number, and comparing the forged with the genuine." It cannot therefore be too much recommended to the young connoisseur, who wishes to acquire some knowledge in this way, to visit all the fairs and cabinets he can, and to look upon all ancient medals with a very microscopic eye. By these means only is to be acquired that ready knowledge which enables at first glance to pronounce upon a forgery, however ingenious. Nor let the science of medals be from this concluded to be uncertain; for no knowledge is more certain and immediate, when it is properly studied by examination of the real objects. A man who buys coins, trifling merely to his theoretic perusal of medallical books, will find himself woefully mistaken. He ought to study coins first, where only they can be studied, in themselves. Nor can it be matter of wonder or implication of caprice, that a medallist of skill should at one perception pronounce upon the veracity or falsehood of a medal; for the powers of the human eye, employed in certain lines of science, are amazing. Hence a student can distinguish a book among a thousand similar, and quite alike to every other eye; hence a shepherd can discern, &c.; hence the medallist can say in an instant, "this is a true coin, and this is a false," though to other people no distinction be perceptible."

Forgeries of modern coins and medals, Mr Pinkerton observes, are almost as numerous as of the ancient. The satiric coin of Louis XII., PERDAM BALYONIS NOMEN, is a remarkable instance: the false coin is larger than the true, and bears date 1512. The rude coins of the middle ages are very easily forged, and forgeries have accordingly become common. Forged coins of Alfred and other early princes of England have appeared, some of which have been done with great art. "The two noted English pennies of Rich. I., says our author, are of this stamp; and yet have imposed upon Messrs Folkes and Snelling, who have published them as genuine in the two best books upon English coins. But they were fabricated by a Mr White of Newgate-street, a noted collector, who contaminated another wife fair character by such practices. Such forgeries, though easy, require a skill in the history and coinage of the times, which luckily can hardly fall to the lot of a common Jew or mechanic forger. But the practice is detectable, were no gain proposed: and they who stoop to it must suppose, that to embarrass the path of any science with forgery and futility, implies no infamy. In forgeries of ancient coin, the fiction is perhaps sufficiently atoned for by the vast skill required; and the artist may plausibly allege, that his intention was not to deceive, but to excite his utmost powers, by an attempt to rival the ancient masters. But no possible apology can be made for forging the rude money of more modern times. The crime is certainly greater than that which leads the common coiner to the gallows; inasmuch as it is committed with more ease, and the profit is incomparably larger."

Sect. VIII. Of the Value of Medals.

All ancient coins and medals, though equally genuine, are not equally valuable. In medals as well as in everything else, the scarcity of a coin stamps a value upon it which cannot otherwise be derived from its intrinsic worth. There are four or five degrees of rarity reckoned up; the highest of which is called unique. The cause is generally ascribed to the smallness of number thrown off originally, or to their having been called in, and recoined in another form. To the former cause Mr Pinkerton ascribes the scarcity of the copper of Otho and the gold of Pescennius Niger; to the latter that of the coinage of Caligula; "though this last (says he) is not of singular rarity;" which shows that even the power of the Roman senate could not annihilate an established money; and that the first cause of rarity, arising from the small quantity originally struck, ought to be regarded as the principal."

In the ancient cities Mr Pinkerton ascribes the scarcity of coin to the poverty or smallness of the state; of medals but the scarcity of ancient regal and imperial coins arises principally from the shortness of the reign; and cities sometimes from the superabundance of money before, which rendered it almost unnecessary to coin any money during the reign of the prince. An example of this we have in the scarcity of the threepence of George III., which shows that shortness of reign does not always occasion a scarcity of coin; and thus the coins of Harold II., who did not reign a year, are very numerous, while those of Richard I., who reigned ten, are almost unique.

Sometimes the rarest coins lose their value, and become common. This our author ascribes to the high price given for them, which tempts the possessors to bring them to market; but chiefly to the discovering and sale of hoards of them. The former cause took place with very Queen Anne's farthings, some of which formerly sold at five guineas; nay, if we could believe the newspapers, one of them was some years ago sold for 90l. the latter with the coins of Canute, the Danish king of England; which were very rare till a hoard of them was discovered in the Orkneys. As discoveries of this kind, however, produce a temporary plenty, so when they are dispersed the former scarcity returns; while, on the other hand, some of the common coins become rare through the mere circumstance of neglect.

As double the number of copper coins of Greek silver coins cities are to be met with that there are of silver, the latter are of consequence much more esteemed: but the reverse is the case with those of the Greek princes. All the Greek civic coins of silver are very rare, excepting those of Athens, Corinth, Miletus, Dyrrhachium, Malia, Syracusa, and some others. Of the Greek monarchic coins, the most rare are the tetradrachms of the kings of Syria, the Ptolemies, the sovereigns of Macedon and Bithynia, excepting those of Alexander the Great and Lydius. Those of the kings of Cappadocia are of a small size, and scarce to be met with. Of those of Numidia and Mauritania, the coins of Juba, the father, are common; but those Value.

of the son, and nephew Ptolemy, scarce. Coins of the kings of Sicily, Parthia, and Judaea, are rare; the last very much so. We meet with no coins of the kings of Arabia and Comagene except in brats; those of the kings of Bosphorus are in electrum, and a few in brats, but all of them rare; as are likewise those of Philetis king of Pergamus, and of the kings of Pontus. In the year 1777, a coin of Mithridates sold for 26l. 5s. Didrachms of all kings and cities are scarce excepting those of Corinth and her colonies; but the gold coins of Philip of Macedon, Alexander the Great, and Lydiachus, as has already been observed, are common. The silver tetradrachms of all kings bear a very high price. The didrachm of Alexander the Great is one of the rarest of the smaller Greek silver coins; some of the other princes are not uncommon.

Greek copper coins.

In most cases the copper money of the Greek monarchs is scarce; but that of Hiero I. of Syracuse is uncommonly plenty, as well as that of several of the Ptolemies.

Roman con-

folar coins.

The most rare of the confular Roman coins are those restored by Trajan: of the others the gold confular coins are the most rare, and the silver the most common; excepting the coin of Brutus with the cap of liberty, already mentioned, with some others. Some of the Roman imperial coins are very scarce, particularly those of Otho in brats; nor indeed does he occur at all on any coin struck at Rome: but the reason of this may with great probability be supposed to have been the shortness of his reign. His portrait upon the brats coins of Egypt and Antioch is very bad; as well as almost all the other imperial coins of Greek cities. The best likeness is on his gold and silver coins; the latter of which are very common. The Greek and Egyptian coins are all of small or middling sizes, and have reverses of various kinds: those of Antioch have Latin legends, as well as most of the other imperial coins of Antioch. They have no other reverse but the SC in a wreath; excepting in one instance or two of the large and middle brats, where the inscriptions are in Greek. Latin coins of Otho in brats, with figures on the reverse, are certainly false; though in the cabinet of D'Ennery at Paris there was an Otho in middle brats restored by Titus, which was esteemed genuine by connoisseurs.

Leaden Roman coins.

The leaden coins of Rome are very scarce: Most of them are pieces struck or cast on occasion of the Saturnalia; others are tickets for festivals and exhibitions, both private and public. The common tickets for theatres were made of lead, as were the contorniati; perpetual tickets, like the English silver tickets for the opera. Leaden medallions are also found below the foundations of pillars and other public buildings, in order to perpetuate the memory of the founders. From the time of Augustus also we find that leaden seals were used. The work of Tocorini upon this subject, entitled Piombi Antiochici, is much recommended by Mr Pinkerton.

Of coins blundered in the mintage.

The Roman coins, which have been blundered in the manner formerly mentioned, are very rare, and undeservingly valued by the connoisseurs. The blunders in the legends of these coins, which in all probability are the mere effects of accident, have been so far mistaken by some medallists, that they have given rise to imaginary emperors who never existed. A coin of Purchafe, Faustina, which has on the reverse SOUSTI. S. C. puzzled all the German antiquaries, till at last Klotz gave it the following facetious interpretation: Sine omni utilitate seclamini tantas ineptias.

The heptarchic coins of England are generally rare, Heptarchic except those called /year, which are very common, as coins of Alfred which bear his bust are scarce, and his other money much more so. Those of Hardyknot are so rare, that it was even denied that they had an existence; but Mr Pinkerton informs us, that there are three in the British museum, upon all of which the name HARDCANUT is quite legible. No English coins of King John are to be met with, though there are some Irish ones; and only French coins of Richard I. "Leake (says Mr Pinkerton), made a strange blunder in ascribing coins of different kings with two faces, and otherwise spoiled in the stamping, to this prince; in which, as usual, he has been followed by a misled number."

Coins of Alexander II. of Scotland are rather scarce, Scottish but those of Alexander III. are more plentiful. Those coins of John Baliol are rare, and none of Edward Baliol are to be found.

Sect. IX. Of the Purchase of Medals.

Medals are to be had at the shops of goldsmiths and silversmiths, with those who deal in curiosities, &c. But in great cities there are professed dealers in them. The best method of purchasing medals, however, is that of buying whole cabinets, which are every year exposed to auction in London. In these the rare medals are sold by themselves; but the common ones are put up in large lots, so that the dealers commonly purchase them. Mr Pinkerton thinks it would be better that medals were sold one by one; because a lot is often valued and purchased for the sake of a single coin; while the others separately would sell for perhaps four times the price of the whole lot. "If any man of common sense and honesty (says Mr Pinkerton), were to take up the trade of selling coins in London, he would make a fortune in a short time. This profitable business is now in the hands of one or two dealers, who ruin their own interest by making an elegant study a trade of knavery and imposition. If they buy 300 coins for 10s. they will ask 3s. for one of the worst of them! nay, sell forged coins as true to the ignorant. The simpletons complain of want of business. A knave is always a fool."

The gold coins of Carthage, Cyrene, and Syracuse, Price of are worth about twice their intrinsic value as metal; gold coins but the other gold civic coins from 5l. to 30l. each. of Carthage, &c. The only gold coins of Athens certainly known to exist are two lately procured by the king. One of these remains in possession of his majesty, but the other was given by the queen to Dr Hunter. There was another in the British museum, but suspected not to be genuine. Dr Hunter's coin, then, if sold, would bear the highest price that could be expected for a coin.

The silver coins of Syracuse, Dyrrhachium, Malta-Of silver lia, Athens, and a few other places, are common; the coins drachmas and coins of lesser size are worth about five Purchase five shillings; the didrachms, tetradrachms, &c., from five to ten, according to their size and beauty; the largest, as might naturally be expected, being more valuable than the small ones. The tetradrachms, when of cities whose coins are common, are worth from 7s. 6d. to 1l. 1s.; but it is impossible to put a value upon the rare civic coins; ten guineas have been given for a single one.

Greek copper coins are common, and are almost all of that kind called small bras; the middle size being scarce, and the largest in the ages prior to the Roman emperors extremely so. The common Greek coins of bras bring from 3d. to 18d. according to their preservation; but when of cities, whose coins are rare, much higher prices are given. "The want of a few cities, however (says Mr Pinkerton), is not thought to injure a collection; as indeed new names are discovered every dozen of years, so that no effortment can be perfect. To this it is owing that the rarity of the Grecian civic coins is not much attended to."

The gold coins of Philip and Alexander the Great being very common, bear but from five to ten shillings above their intrinsic value; but those of the other princes, being rare, sell from 3l. to 30l. each, or even more.

The tetradrachms are the dearest of the silver monarchic money, selling from five to ten shillings; and if very rare, from 3l. to 30l. Half these prices may be obtained for the drachmas, and the other denominations in proportion.

Greek copper coins are for the most part scarcer than the silver, except the Syro-Grecian, which are common, and almost all of the size called small bras. "They ought (says Mr Pinkerton), to bear a high price; but the metal and similarity to the copper civic coins, which are common, keep their actual purchase moderate, if the seller is not well instructed, and the buyer able and willing to pay the price of rarity."

The name of weights given to the ancient Roman aes is, according to our author, exceedingly improper; as that people had weights of lead and brass fides, without the least appearance of a portrait upon them. These denote the weight by a certain number of knobs; and have likewise small fleurettes engraved upon them. According to Mr Pinkerton, whenever we meet with a piece of metal flamped on both fides with busts and figures, we may lay it down as a certain rule that it is a coin; but when slightly ornamented and marked upon one side only, we may with equal certainty conclude it to be a weight.

The ancient Roman aes are worth from 2s. to 2l. according to the singularity of their devices. Confucian gold coins are worth from 1l. to 5l. Pompey with his sons 2l. and the two Bruti 2l. The silver coins are universally worth from a shilling to half a crown, excepting that of the cap of liberty and a few others, which, if genuine, will bring from 10s. to 3l. The confucian copper bears an equal price with the silver, but is more rare; the confucian silver coins restored by Trajan are worth 20s. each.

With regard to the Roman imperial coins, it is to be observed, that some of those which belong to princes whose coins are numerous, may yet be rendered extremely valuable by uncommon reverses. Mr Pinkerton particularly points out that of Augustus, with the arrangement C. Marius Trogus, which is worth three guineas, though the silver coins of that prince in general are not worth above a shilling. In like manner, the common gold coins of Trajan are not worth above twenty shillings; while those with Basilica Ulpia, Forum Trajani, Divi Nerva et Trajanus, Pater, Divi Nerva et Platinus Aug. Profectio Aug. Regina Affigata, Rex Parthus, and some others, bear from three to six pounds. The ticket medals belong to the Roman senate, and are worth from three to ten shillings. The forged coins and medallions of the Paduan sell from one to three shillings each.

Of the coins of other nations, those of Hilderic Barbaric king of the Vandals are in silver, and worth 10s. coins. The small bras of Athanaric, 3s.; the gold of Theodoric 2l.; the second bras of Theodahat 5s.; the second bras of Badueta rare, and worth 10s.; the third bras, 3s. The British coins are very rare, and worth from ten shillings to two guineas each, sometimes much more. Medals with unknown characters are always scarce and dear. Saxon pennies of the heptarchy are rare, and worth from ten shillings to ten pounds, according to their scarcity and preservation. The coins of the English kings are common; those of Edward the Confessor, in particular; others are rare, and worth from ten shillings to two guineas, while two of Hardyknotte are worth no less than ten guineas. The gold medals of Henry, in 1345, and the coronation of Edward, are worth 20l. each; the Mary of Trezzo, 3l.; Simon's head of Thurloe in gold is worth 12l.; his oval medal in gold upon Blake's naval victory at sea is worth 30l.; and his trial piece, if brought to a sale, would, in Mr Pinkerton's opinion, bring a still higher price. The medals of Queen Anne, which are intrinsically worth about two guineas and a half, sell for about 3l. each; the silver, of the size of a crown piece, sell for 10s. and the copper from five to ten shillings. Daffier's copper pieces fell from two to five shillings, and a few bear a higher price.

The Scottish gold coins sell higher than the English, but the others are on a par. The shilling of Mary of Scotland, with the bust is rare, and sells for no less than 3l.; the half 3l.; and the royal 5l. 5s. The French tell-toon of Francis and Mary brings 10l. 10s. and the Scottish one of Mary and Henry would bring 50l. as would also the medal of James IV. The coronation medal of Francis and Mary is worth 20l. Briot's coronation medal sold in 1755 only for two guineas at Dr Mead's sale; but would now bring 20l. if sold according to rarity.

The English coins struck in Ireland are of much the same price with those of the native country; but the coins struck St Patrick's halfpence and farthings are rather scarce, in Ireland, and the rare crown of white metal is worth 4l. The gun-money of James II. and all other Irish coins are very common.

Sect. X. Arrangement of Medals, with the Instruction to be derived from them.

Having thus given a full account of everything in general relative to medals, we must now come to some particulars respecting their arrangement, and the entertain- tainment which a medallist may expect from the trouble and expense he is at in making a collection.

It has already been observed, that one of the principal uses of medals is the elucidation of ancient history. Hence the arrangement of his medals is the first thing that must occur in the formation of a cabinet. The most ancient medals with which we are acquainted are those of Alexander I. of Macedon, who began to reign about 351 years before Christ. The series ought of consequence to begin with him, and to be succeeded by the medals of Sicily, Caria, Cyprus, Heraclea, and Pontus. Then follow Egypt, Syria, the Cimmerian Bosphorus, Thrace, Bithynia, Parthia, Armenia, Damascus, Cappadocia, Paphlagonia, Pergamus, Galatia, Cilicia, Sparta, Peonia, Epirus, Illyricum, Gaul, and the Alps, including the space of time from Alexander the Great to the birth of Christ, and which is to be accounted the third medallic series of ancient monarchs. The last series goes down to the fourth century, including some of the monarchs of Thrace, Bosphorus, and Parthia, with those of Comagene, Edessa or Oghouse, Mauritania, and Judaea. A most distinct series is formed by the Roman emperors, from Julius Caesar to the destruction of Rome by the Goths; nay, for a much longer period, were it not that towards the latter part of it the coins become so barbarous as to destroy the beauty of the collection. Many series may be formed of modern potentates.

By means of medals we can with great certainty determine the various ornaments worn by ancient princes as badges of distinction. The Grecian kings have generally the diadem, without any other ornament; and though in general the side of the face is presented to view, yet in some very ancient Greek and Roman coinage, full faces of excellent workmanship are met with. On several coins also two or three faces are to be seen, and these are always accounted very valuable.

The diadem, which was no more than a ribbon tied round the head with a floating knot behind, adorns all the Grecian princes from first to last, and is almost an infallible mark of sovereign power. In the Roman coinage it is seen in conjunction with Numa and Ancus, but never afterwards till the time of Licinius, the colleague of Constantine. Diocletian, indeed, according to Mr Gibbon, first wore the diadem, but his portrait upon coins is never adorned with it. So great an aversion had the Romans to kingly power, that they rather allowed their emperors to assume the radiated crown, the symbol of divinity, than to wear a diadem; but, after the time of Constantine, it becomes common. The radiated crown appears first on the posthumous coins of Augustus as a mark of deification, but in somewhat more than a century became common.

The laurel crown, at first a badge of conquest, was afterwards permitted by the senate to be worn by Julius Caesar, in order to hide the baldness of his head. From him all the emperors appear with it on their medals, even to our own times. It is the lower empire the crown is sometimes held by a hand above the head, as a mark of piety. Besides these, the naval, mural, and civic crowns appear on the medals both of emperors and other eminent men, to denote their great achievements. The laurel crown is also sometimes worn by the Greek princes. The Arsacidæ of Parthia wear a kind of fall round the head, with their hair in rows of curls like a wig. The Armenian kings have the tiara, a kind of cap which was esteemed the badge of imperial power in the east. Conical caps are seen on the medals of Xerxes, a petty prince of Armenia, and Juba the father, the former having a diadem around it.

The impious vanity of Alexander and his successors in affuming divine honours is manifest on their medals, where various symbols of divinity are met with. Some of them have an horn behind their ear, either to denote their strength, or that they were the successors of seers. Alexander, to whom this badge might be applied as the son of Jupiter Ammon. This, however, Mr Pinkerton observes, is the only one of these symbols which certainly denotes an earthly sovereign, it being doubted whether the rest are not all figures of gods. According to Eckhart, even the horn and diadem belong to Bacchus, who invented the latter to cure his headaches; and, according to the same author, the only monarch who appears on coins with the horn is Lydiachus. We are informed, however, by Plutarch, that Pyrrhus had a crest of goats' horns to his helmet; and the goat, we know, was a symbol of Macedon. Perhaps the successors of Alexander wore this badge of the horn in consequence. The helmet likewise frequently appears on the heads of sovereigns, and Constantine I. has helmets of various forms curiously ornamented.

The diadem is worn by most of the Greek queens, by Orodelitis, daughter of Lycomedes, king of Bithynia; and though the Roman empresses never appear with it, yet this is more than compensated by the variety of their headdresses. Sometimes the bust of an empress is supported by a crescent, to imply that she was the moon, as her husband was the sun of the state. The toga, or veil drawn over the face, at first implied that the person was invested with the pontifical office; and accordingly we find it on the busts of Julius Caesar, while pontifex maximus. It likewise implies the augurship, the augurs having a particular kind of gown called lana, with which they covered their heads when observing an omen. In latter times this implies only consecration, and is common in coins of empresses. It is first met with on the coins of Claudius Gothicus as the mark of consecration of an emperor. The nimbus, or glory, now appropriated to saints, has been already mentioned. It is as ancient as Augustus, but is not to be met with on many of the imperial medals, even after it began to be appropriated to them. There is a curious coin, which has upon the reverse of the common piece, with the head of Rome, Urbs Roma, in large bras, Constantine I. sitting amid Victories and genii, with a triple crown upon his head for Europe, Asia, and Africa, with the legend SECURITAS ROMÆ.

In general only the bust is given upon medals, though sometimes half the body or more; in which latter case the hands often appear with ensigns of majesty in them; such as the globe, said to have been introduced by Augustus as a symbol of universal dominion; the sceptre, sometimes confounded with the consular staff; a roll of parchment, the symbol of legislative Medals likewise afford a good number of portraits of illustrious men; but they cannot easily be arranged in chronological order, so that a series of them is not to be expected. It is likewise vain to attempt the formation of a series of gods and goddesses to be found on ancient coins. Mr Pinkerton thinks it much better to arrange them under the several cities or kings whose names they bear. A collection of the portraits of illustrious men may likewise be formed from medals of modern date.

The reverses of ancient Greek and Roman coins afford an infinite variety of instruction and amusement. They contain figures of deities at full length, with their attributes and symbols, public symbols and diversions, plants, animals, &c., &c., and in short almost every object of nature or art. Some have the portrait of the queen, son, or daughter of the prince whose image appears on the face obverse; and these are esteemed highly by antiquaries, not only because every coin stamped with portraits on both sides is accounted valuable, but because they render it certain that the person represented on the reverse was the wife, son, or daughter of him who appears on the obverse; by which means they assist greatly in the adjusting of a series. Some, however, with two portraits are common, as Augustus, the reverse of Caligula; and Marcus Aurelius, reverse of Antoninus Pius.

We find more art and design in the reverses of the Roman medals than of the Greek; but on the other hand, the latter have more exquisite relief and workmanship. The very ancient coins have no reverses, excepting a rude mark struck into the metal, resembling that of an instrument with four blunt points on which the coin was struck; and was owing to its having been fixed by such an instrument on that side to receive the impression upon the other. To this succeeds the image of a dolphin, or some small animal, in one of the departments of the rude mark, or in a hollow square; and this again is succeeded by a more perfect image, without any mark of the hollow square. Some of the Greek coins are hollow in the reverse, as those of Caulonia, Crotona, Metapontum, and some other ancient cities of Magna Graecia. About 500 B.C., perfect reverses appear on the Greek coins, of exquisite relief and workmanship. "The very muscles of men and animals (says Mr Pinkerton), are seen, and will bear inspection with the largest magnifier as ancient gems. The ancients certainly had not eyes different from ours; and it is clear that they must have magnified objects. A drop of water forms a microscope; and it is probable this was the only one of the ancients. To Greek artists we are indebted for the beauty of the Roman imperial coins; and these are so highly finished, that on some reverses, as that of Nero's decurion, the adventus and progressio of various emperors, the fundator pacis of Severus, the features of the emperor, riding or walking, are as exact as on the obverse. But though the best Greek artists were called to Rome, yet the Greek coins under the Roman emperors are sometimes well executed, and always full of variety and curiosity. No Roman or Etruscan coins have been found of the globular form, or indented on the reverse like the early Greek. The first Greek are small pieces of silver, while the Roman are large masses of copper. The former are struck; the latter cast in moulds. The reverses of the Roman coins are very uniform, the prow of a ship, a car, or the like, till about the year 100 B.C., when various reverses appear on their conular coins in all metals. The variety and beauty of the Roman imperial reverses are well known. The medalist much values those which have a number of figures; as the Puella Faustinae, of Faustina, a gold coin no larger than a sixpence, which has 12 figures; that of Trajan, regna affigentia, has four; the congiarium of Nerva five; the allocution of Trajan seven; of Hadrian ten; of Probus 12. Some Roman medals have small figures on both sides, as the Apollini faneto of Julian II. Such have not received any peculiar name among the medalists. Others have only a reverse, as the noted Spintriae, which have numerals I., II., &c., on the obverse."

The names of the deities represented on the reverses of Greek coins are never expressed; perhaps, as Mr Pinkerton supposes, out of piety, a symbolical representation of their attributes being all that they thought proper to delineate; but the Roman coins always express the name, frequently with an adjunct, as Veneri Victori, &c. In others, the name of the emperor or empress is added; as Pudicitiae Augustae, round an image of modesty; Virtus Augusti, a legend for an image of virtue.

The principal symbols of the divine attributes to be met with on the Greek medals are as follows:

1. Jupiter is known on the coins of Alexander the Great by his eagle and thunderbolts; but when the figure occurs only on the obverses of coins, he is distinguished by a laurel crown, and placid bearded countenance. Jupiter Ammon is known by the ram's horn twisting round his ear; a symbol of power and strength, assumed by some of the successors of Alexander the Great, particularly by Lycurgus.

2. Neptune is known by his trident, dolphin, or being drawn by sea horses; but he is seldom met with on the Grecian coins.

3. Apollo is distinguished by an harp, branch of laurel, or tripod; and sometimes by a bow and arrows. In the character of the sun, his head is surrounded with rays; but when the bull only occurs, he has a fair young face, and is crowned with laurel. He is frequent on the coins of the Syrian princes.

4. Mars is distinguished by his armour, and sometimes by a trophy on his shoulders. His head is armed with a helmet, and has a ferocious countenance.

5. Mercury is represented as a youth, with a small cap on his head, wings behind his ears and on his feet. He is known by the cap, which resembles a small hat, and the wings. He appears also with the caduceus, or wand twined with serpents, and the marufipium, or purse, which he holds in his hand.

6. Asclepius is known by his bushy beard, and his leaning on a club with a serpent twisted round it. He sometimes occurs with his wife Hygeia or Health, with their son Telephorus or Convalescence between them.

7. Bacchus is known by his crown of ivy or vine, his diadem and horn, with a tiger and satyrs around him.

8. The figure of Hercules is common on the coins of Alexander the Great, and has frequently been mistaken for that of the prince himself. He appears sometimes as a youth and sometimes with a beard. He is known by the club, lion's skin, and remarkable apparent strength; sometimes he has a cup in his hand; and a poplar tree, as a symbol of vigour, is sometimes added to the portrait.

9. The Egyptian Serapis is known by his bushy beard, and a miter upon his head.

10. Apis is delineated in the form of a bull, with a flower of the lotos, the water lily of the Nile, supposed by Macrobius to be a symbol of creation; and Jamblichus tells us, that Osiris was thought to have his throne in it.

11. Harpocrates, the god of Silence, appears with his finger on his mouth; sometimes with the sistrum in his left hand; a symbol common to most of the Egyptian deities.

12. Canopus, another Egyptian deity, appears in the shape of a human head placed on a kind of pitcher. "This deified pitcher (says Mr Pinkerton), seems to refer to an anecdote of ancient superstition, which, I believe, is recorded by Plutarch. It seems some Persian and Egyptian priests had a contest which of their deities had the superiority. The Egyptian said, that a single vase, sacred to Serapis, would extinguish the whole power of the Persian deity of fire. The experiment was tried; and the wily Egyptian, boring holes in the vase and stopping them with wax, afterwards filled the vase with water; which, seeping through the holes as the wax melted, extinguished the Persian deity. Hence the vase was deified."

13. The Holy Senate and Holy People, appear frequently on the Greek imperial coins, sometimes represented as old men with beards, at others as youths.

The goddesses represented on medals are,

1. Juno, represented by a beautiful young woman, sometimes with a diadem, sometimes without any badge, which is reckoned a sufficient distinction, as the other goddesses all wear badges. Sometimes she appears as the goddess of marriage; and is then veiled to the middle, and sometimes to the toes. She is known by the peacock, a bird sacred to her from the fable of Argus.

2. Minerva is very common on the coins of Alexander the Great; and her bust has been mistaken by the celebrated painter Le Brun for the hero himself. She is very easily distinguished by the helmet. Her symbols are, her armour; the spear in her right hand, and the aegis, with a Medusa's head, in her left; an owl commonly standing by her.

3. Diana of Ephesus is commonly represented on the Greek imperial coins; and appears with a great number of breasts, supposed to denote universal Nature. She is supported by two deer, and carries a pannier of fruit upon her head. The bust of this goddess is known by the crescent on her brow, and sometimes by the bow and quiver at her side.

4. Venus is known by an apple, the prize of beauty, in her hand. Sometimes she is distinguished only by her total want of drapery; but is always to be known by her extraordinary beauty, and is sometimes adorned with pearls about the neck.

5. Cupid is sometimes met with on the Syrian coins, and is known by his infancy and wings.

6. Cybele is known by a turreted crown and lion; or is seen in a chariot drawn by lions.

7. Ceres is known by her garland of wheat, and is common on the Sicilian coins; that island being remarkable for its fertility. Sometimes she has two serpents by her, and is sometimes drawn in a chariot by them. She carries in her hands the torches with which she is fabled to have gone in search of her daughter Proserpine.

8. Proserpine herself is sometimes met with on coins, with the name of nea, or the girl.

9. The Egyptian Isis has a bud or flower on her head; a symbol of the perpetual bloom of the inhabitants of heaven. She carries also a sistrum in her hand.

10. The Sidonian Altarite appears on a globe supported on a chariot with two wheels, and drawn by two horses.

These are the deities most commonly represented on the Greek coins. The more uncommon are, Saturn with his scythe, or with a hook on the Heraclian coins; Vulcan with his tongs on the reverse of a coin of Thyatira, represented at work in the presence of Minerva. Adranus, a Sicilian god, is sometimes represented on coins with a dog. Anubis, an Egyptian deity, has a dog's head. Atis is known by his Phrygian bonnet; Caflor and Pollux by a star on the head of each; Dis, by his old face, dishevelled hair and beard, and a hook; Flora by her crown of flowers; Nemesis by her wheel; and Pan by his horns and ears belonging to some kind of beast.

There are likewise to be found on medals many different symbols by themselves; of the most remarkable of which we shall give the following table, with their significations:

| Symbols | Signification | |---------|---------------| | 1. Vases with sprigs | Solemn games. | | 2. Small chest or hamper, with a serpent leaping out | Mystical rites of Bacchus. | | 3. Anchor on Seleucian medals | Coin struck at Antioch, where an anchor was dug up. | | 4. Apollo on Syrian coins, on an inverted hamper | Covered tripod. | | 5. Bee | Aristeus the son of Apollo. | | 6. Laurel | Apollo. | | 7. Reed | A river. | | 8. Ivy and grapes | Bacchus. | | 9. Poppy | Ceres and Proserpine. | | 10. Corn | Ceres. | | 11. Owl and olive | Minerva. | | 12. Dove | Venus. |

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**Table of symbols**

| Symbol | Signification | |--------|---------------| | 1. Vases with sprigs | Solemn games. | | 2. Small chest or hamper, with a serpent leaping out | Mystical rites of Bacchus. | | 3. Anchor on Seleucian medals | Coin struck at Antioch, where an anchor was dug up. | | 4. Apollo on Syrian coins, on an inverted hamper | Covered tripod. | | 5. Bee | Aristeus the son of Apollo. | | 6. Laurel | Apollo. | | 7. Reed | A river. | | 8. Ivy and grapes | Bacchus. | | 9. Poppy | Ceres and Proserpine. | | 10. Corn | Ceres. | | 11. Owl and olive | Minerva. | | 12. Dove | Venus. |

The legends put upon medals are designed as explanations of them; but as the compass of even the largest coins does not admit of any great length of inscription, it has always been found necessary to use abbreviations; and in readily deciphering these lies a medal's considerable part of the difficulty of the science. This, however, is greater in the Roman than in the Greek medals; for the Greeks commonly insert as much of the word as is sufficient to enable us easily to understand its meaning; but it is common for those who attempt to explain letters that do not often occur, to fall into very ridiculous errors. Of this Mr Pinkerton gives a most remarkable instance in Fortunius Licetius, a learned man, who finding upon a coin of Adrianus the letters, Π. Δ. Δ., signifying the 14th year of that emperor's reign, imagined that they signified Lucernas invenit Delta; "Delta invented lanthorns;" and thence ascribed the origin of lanthorns to the Egyptians. Tables explaining the meaning of the abbreviations found upon medals have been published by Patin, Uralius, and others.

Sect. XI. Of Medallions, Medalets, &c.

Besides the ordinary coins of the ancients, which passed in common circulation through the country, there were others of a larger size, which are now termed medallions. These were struck on the commencement of the reign of a new emperor and other solemn occasions: frequently also, by the Greeks in particular, as monuments of gratitude or of flattery. Sometimes they were mere trial or pattern pieces; and those abound after the time of Maximian, with the words Tres Monetae on the reverse. The common opinion is, that all the Roman pieces of gold exceeding the denarius aureus, all in silver exceeding the denarius, and all in brads exceeding the sestertius, went under the denomination of medallions: but Mr Pinkerton thinks that many of these large pieces went in circulation, though not very commonly, as our five and two guinea pieces, silver crowns, &c. do in this country. The finest medallions were presented by the mint masters to the emperor, and by the emperor to his friends, as specimens of fine workmanship. The best we have at present are of brads, and many of them composed of two sorts of metal; the centre being copper, with a ring of brads around it, or the contrary; and the inscription is sometimes confined to one of the metals, sometimes not. There is a remarkable difference between the Greek and Roman medallions in point of thickness; the latter being frequently three or four lines thick, while the other seldom exceed one. Very few medallions, however, were struck by the Greeks before the time of the Roman emperors; but the Greek medallions of the emperors are more numerous than

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(a) This appears on the early coins of Byzantium, with the legend BYZANTIN. ΣΩΤ. "the preserver of Byzantium." The reason of this was, that when Philip of Macedon besieged the city, and was about to storm it in a cloudy night, the moon shone out on a sudden and discovered him; by which means the inhabitants had time to collect their forces and repulse him. The Turks on entering Constantinople, found this badge in many places; and suspecting some magical power in it, assumed the symbol, and its power, to themselves; so that the crescent is now the chief Turkish ensign. thole of the Romans themselves. All these pieces, however, are of such high price that few private persons are able to purchase them. In the last century Christina queen of Sweden procured about 300. In the king of France's collection there are 1200; a number formerly supposed not to exist; and Dr Hunter's collection contains about 400, exclusive of the Egyptian.

Besides these large pieces, there are smaller ones, of a size somewhat larger than our half-crowns; and by Italian medallists are called medaglioni cini, or small medallions. They are still scarcer than the large kind.

There is still a third kind, which have almost escaped the notice of medallists, viz. the small coins or millia scattered among the people on solemn occasions; such as those struck for the slaves on account of the saturnalia; counters for gaming; tickets for baths and feasts; tokens in copper and in lead, &c. These are distinguished by Mr Pinkerton by the name of medalets. Many, or perhaps almost all, of those struck for the saturnalia were satirical; as the slaves had then a license to ridicule not only their masters but any person whatever. Mr Pinkerton mentions one of the most common pieces of this kind, which has on the reverse the head of an old woman veiled, with a laurel crown; the reverse only s. c. within a wreath. Baudelot is of opinion that it is the head of Acca Laurentia, the nurse of Romulus, to whom a festival was ordained. "Perhaps (says Mr Pinkerton), it was struck in ridicule of Julius Caesar; for the manner of the laurel crown, and its high appearance over the head, perfectly resemble that of Julius on his coins." Some have a ship upon one side; on the reverse T, or a crois, which was the image of Priapus; and occasioned many false invectives against the first Christians, who paid such respect to the crois. Some pieces have the heads of the emperors upon one side; on the reverse only numerals, III. IV. V. &c. and the noted spintriai of Tacitus. Both these kinds appear tickets for the baths, as the number seems to denote the particular bath. Some have the head of a girl, with a veil used at the baths in her hand. The spintriai are so immodest, that few will bear mention. But some are merely ludicrous; as one which has an ass with a bell about his neck, and a folder riding him; another with two figures hoisting a woman in a basket into the air. Of those that will just bear mention, is a man with titles around him, as chief of the games; and a woman in ridicule of the modest bath-girl above mentioned. There is also one marked XIX., on which appears an imperator triumphing in a car: this car is placed on the back of a camel; and behind the imperator is a monkey mimicking him.

A fourth class of medals are called contorniati from the Italian contorniato, "encircled;" because of the hollow circle which commonly runs around them. They are distinguished from medallions by their thinness, faint relief, reverses sometimes in relief, sometimes hollow; and in general by the inferiority in their workmanship. The opinions of medallists concerning these pieces are very various; some suppose them to have been struck by Gallicius to the memory of illustrious men and celebrated athletes, at the time that he caused all the consecration coins of his predecessors to be restored; others ascribe their invention to Greece, &c. but Mr Pinkerton is of opinion that they were only tickets for places at public games. Many of them, notwithstanding their inferior workmanship, are very valuable on account of their preserving the portraits of some illustrious authors of antiquity, nowhere else to be found. Much dependence, however, cannot be put on the portraits of Greek authors and eminent men found upon some of them; for though we know that the busts of Sallust, Horace, &c. must have been struck when their persons were fresh in the memory of the artists, yet it was otherwise with Homer, Solon, Pythagoras, &c. which are to be found on some of them. Even these, however, are valuable, as being ancient and perhaps traditional portraits of these great men. The last whose portraits are supposed to have been delineated in this way, are Apollonius Tyaneus who flourished in the time of Domitian, and Apuleius in that of Marcus Antoninus. Mr Pinkerton thinks it a confirmation of his opinion concerning these medals, that the reverses always contain some device alluding to public games, as that of a charioteer driving a chariot, &c.

Sect. XII. Directions for making Cabinets.

We must now proceed to the last part of our subject, viz. that of giving directions for the formation of cabinets. As we have already seen that the formation of any one must be attended with very considerable expense, it is necessary for every one who attempts this to proportion the cabinet to his own circumstances. There are, properly speaking, three kinds of cabinets. 1. Those meant to contain a coin of every sort that has been issued from the mint in every age and country; but this, which may be called the large and complete cabinet, is not to be purchased by private persons. That of Dr Hunter already mentioned is perhaps one of the best private cabinets ever known; and cost £2,000, but as many duplicates were sold as cost £200, by which means the expense was reduced to £1,800. The vast collection made by the king of France cost upwards of £10,000. 2. The smaller cabinet may be supposed to consist only of middle and small Roman brats, English pennies, groats, &c. with a few medals of the more valuable kind, and may be supposed to incur an expense of from £200. to £100. 3. The smallest kind is called a cabinet of medals, and does not consist of above £50 at most of various kinds; and consequently the expense must depend on the pleasure of the proprietor.

In the formation of the grand cabinet, it must be observed that the Greek medals of every denomination do not admit of any arrangement by the metals like the Romans; nor any regular series of this kind being met with even in the most opulent cabinets. Hence in all collections the civic coins are ranged according to an alphabetical order; and the monarchic in a chronological one. The same rule is to be observed in the Roman consular medals; they are ranged, like the coins of the Greek cities, in an alphabetical series of the families. The Roman imperial coins are only

Directions only those capable of being arranged according to sizes for making and metals. Even from this must be excepted the Cabinets minimi, or very smallest coins; which are so scarce, that the only regular series of them in the world is that belonging to the king of Spain, which was formed by a most skilful French medallist, and consists of all the metals. The arrangement of a grand cabinet, according to Mr Pinkerton, is as follows.

"I. The coins of cities and of free states in alphabetical order: whether using Greek, Roman, Punic, Etruscan, or Spanish characters.

"II. Kings in chronological series, both as to foundation of empire and seniority of reign.

"III. Heroes, heroines, founders of empires, and cities.

"IV. Other illustrious persons.

"V. Roman aces.

"VI. Coins of families, commonly called consular.

"VII. Imperial medallions.

"VIII. Imperial gold.

"IX. Imperial minimi of all metals.

"X. Imperial silver.

"XI. Imperial first brats.

"XII. Second brats.

"XIII. Third brats.

"XIV. Colonial coins, which are all of brats.

"XV. Greek cities under the emperors, of all metals and sizes. In a smaller cabinet they may be put with the Roman, according to their metal and size. Those without the emperor's head go to class I., though struck in Roman times.

"XVI. Egyptian coins struck under the Roman emperors, of all metals and sizes. They are mostly of a base metal called by the French patin; it is a kind of pot-metal or brittle brats.

"XVII. Contorniati, or ticket medals.

"XVIII. Coins of Gothic princes, &c., inscribed with Roman characters.

"XIX. Coins of southern nations using uncommon alphabets; as the Persian, Punic, Etruscan, and Spanish.

"XX. Coins of northern nations using uncommon characters, as the Runic and German.

"In the modern part no series can be formed of copper that will go back above two centuries; but sequences (chronological series) of gold and silver may be arranged of all the different empires, kingdoms, and states, as far as their several coining will allow. Those of England and France will be the most perfect. Modern silver is commonly arranged in three sequences; the dollar, the groat, and the penny sizes. The medals of each modern country ought of course to be separated; though it is best to arrange each set in chronological order, let their size of metal be what they will. It may be remarked here, that our modern medals, of the size of a tea-saucer, are only so many monuments of barbarism. The ancient medallions are almost universally but little larger than our crown-piece, though three or four of them may extend to about two inches diameter, but very many modern medals to four inches and more. A large medal always declares an ignorant prince or an ignorant artist. Into the size of a crown-piece the ancients threw more miracles in this way than will ever appear in these monstrous productions."

Vol.XIII. Part I.

These directions will likewise apply to the formation of a cabinet of the second kind: but if the collector means to form a series of large Roman brats, he will find the coins of four or five emperors to scarce as not to be attainable in that series, even at any price. He must therefore supply their places with middle brats, as is allowed with regard to Otto, even in the best cabinets; there not being above three coins of that emperor in large brats known in the world: whereas of the middle brats, two or three hundred may exist. For this reason Mr Pinkerton concludes, that in cabinets of the second class, the collector may mingle the large and second brats together as he thinks proper, in order to save expense; though it would not do so well to unite such disproportionate sizes as the large and small. "In the small sequence, however (says he), there can be no harm in his mixing gold, silver, and brats, as chance or curiosity may lead him to purchase any of these metals. And though your starched bigotted medallist may sneer because such a sequence would controvert his formal and narrow way of thinking, common sense will authorize us to laugh at the pedant in our turn, and to pronounce such a series more various, rich, and interesting, than if the collector had arranged only one metal, and rejected a curious article because he did not collect gold or silver. In like manner, if, in the modern part of the smaller cabinet, any coin of a series is of high price, or of bad impression, there can be no impropriety in putting another of the same reign, which is cheaper, or better executed, though of a different denomination or of a little larger size. In short, the collector has no rules but in the Greek cities and Roman families, to observe alphabetical order and chronology in every thing else.

TABLES OF ANCIENT COINS.

The most ancient coins, according to Froelich, are distinguished by the following marks, which he accounts infallible. 1. Their oval circumference, and globulous swelling shape. 2. Antiquity of alphabet. 3. The characters being retrograde, or the first division of the legend in the common style, while the next is retrograde. 4. The indented square already described. 5. The simple structure of the mintage. 6. Some of the very old coins are hollowed on the reverse, with the image impressed on the front. 7. The dyes, symbols, &c., frequently of the rudest design and execution.

TABLE I. ANCIENT GREEK COINS.

1. Those without impression. 2. With one or more hollow indented marks on one side, and an impression in relief on the other.—Of Chalcedon on the Hellefoint, Lebos, Abdera in Thrace, Acanthus in Macedon, those said to belong to Egius in Achaia. This class continues from about 900 to 700 B.C. 3. With an indented square divided into segments, having a small figure in one of them; the rest blank, with a figure in relief on the obverse.—Of Syracuse and other places adjacent.—Continue from 700 to 600 B.C. 4. Coins hollow on the reverse, with figures in relief on the obverse.—Of Caulonia, Crotona, Metapontum, &c. Supposed by some to be a local coinage of Magna Graecia; but probably of equal antiquity with the former.

5. Coins in which a square die is used on one or both sides.—Of Athens, Cyrene, Argos, &c.—Of Alexander I. and Archelaus I. of Macedon. Diffused in the reign of the latter about 420 B.C.

6. Complete coins, both in obverse and reverse, occur first in Sicily in the time of Gelo, about 491 B.C.

7. Coins of Alexander the Great and his successors. About the time of this hero the Greek coins began to attain to perfection, and were struck of uncommon beauty. It is remarkable, that on the coins of this monarch his own image seldom occurs. The only one yet found of Alexander with his portrait upon it, and struck during his reign, is a silver hemidrachm in Dr Hunter's cabinet, which is represented Plate CCCXXXI. No. 3. After his death many coins bear his portrait. Trebellius Pollio informs us, that some coins, particularly those of Alexander, used to be worn as amulets; and many medals are met with in cabinets, bored seemingly with that intention.

8. Coins of the Successors of Alexander.—Those of the Syrian monarchs almost equi the coins of Alexander himself in beauty. Those of Antiochus VI. are supposed to be the most perfect patterns of male beauty to be met with anywhere. The Egyptian Ptolemies are somewhat inferior.

9. The coins of the Arsacidæ of Parthia done by Greek workmen.

10. The Greek imperial coins, being such as have the head of an emperor or empress: such as have not these imperfections being clasped with the civic coins, though struck under the Roman power. None of the imperial coins occur in gold. Of silver there are those of Antioch, Tyre, Sidon, Tarsus, Berytus, Caesarea. Egyptian silver coins of base metal. Syrian silver coins, which sometimes bear on the reverse the club of Hercules, or the Tyrian shell-fish. Those of Sidon bear the image of the goddess Astarte, or her chariot. Those of Caesarea in Cappadocia of better work than the Syrian Lycian coins of good workmanship: on the reverse two harps and an owl fitting upon them. Silver coins of Gelon in Sarmatia resembling the Syrian. The situation of this town is very much unknown. It seems to have been situated on the north of the Euxine sea, where some Sarmatic or Slavonic tribes were mingled with the Scythians or Goths. The Greek imperial brats coins are very numerous. A series of almost all the emperors may be had from those of Antioch, with a Latin legend on the obverse and Greek on the reverse. Those of Bithynia and Phrygia remarkable for good workmanship. The coins of Tarsus remarkable for their curious views of objects, almost in perspective. The Egyptian coins, from the time of Augustus to Nero, are worse executed than afterwards. From Nero to Commodus they are frequently of admirable workmanship, and in a peculiar style, distinct both from the Greek and Roman. From the time of Commodus they decline, and are lost after the reign of Constantius I. The Egyptian brats coins of the Roman period are likewise of excellent workmanship, especially in the time of Antoninus Pius.

**Table II. Roman Coins.**

I. The consular coins, called also the coins of families, and arranged alphabetically in cabinets, according to the names of the families which appear on them. They are,

1. **Brass Coins.**—These consist chiefly of large pieces of rude workmanship without any interesting imagery. In cabinets they are generally kept in boxes apart by themselves. The as bears the head of Janus; the semis of Jupiter with S; the triens of Minerva with four cyphers; the quadrans of Hercules with three cyphers; the sextans of Mercury with two cyphers; and the uncia bears the head of Rome with one cypher. In all these pieces the prow of a ship is constantly the figure on the reverse, with very few exceptions. Sometimes indeed they have a shell, two heads of barley, a frog, an anchor, or a dog, on the reverse. About the time of Julius Caesar both the obverses and the reverses of the coins began to be altered.

2. **Silver.**—Of this the denarius was the first and principal coin. It was stamped originally with X, denoting that the value was ten ases. On the reverse was Caius and Pollux, or a chariot of Victory. Afterwards the busts of various deities make their appearance; and in the seventh century of Rome the portraits of illustrious persons deceased are met with; but till the time of Julius Caesar no figure of any living person is to be met with; Julius himself being the first who assumed that honour. The workmanship on the best and worst silver is much the same. The reverses are very curious, and point out many remarkable events in Roman history; but none of these occur till about a century before the Christian era. The large denarii, with Roma, are the most ancient; and some of these bear the Pelasgic A, not the Roman. The silver sestertii have a head of Mercury, with a caduceus on the reverse. The quinarii have always a head of Jupiter, with a Victory on the reverse.

3. **Gold.**—Most of these are of great value. The number of these exceeds not 100; those of brass 200; and of silver 2000. The aureus is the general gold coin; but two or three gold sestertii of families likewise occur.

II. Roman imperial coins.

1. **Brass.**—This is of three sizes; large, middle, and small. The first forms a most beautiful series, but very expensive. The various colours of the patina have the finest effect. It is the most important of all the Roman coins, and exceeds even the gold in value.

The middle brass is next in value to the former; and in it are many rare and curious coins, particularly interesting to Britons, as elucidating the history of the island. Of these are the triumphal arch of Claudius; the Exerc. Britannicus of Adrian; the coins of Antoninus Pius, Commodus, Severus, with a Victory, Victoria Britan.; but especially those personifying the country Britannia. "The number of Roman coins relating to Britain (says Mr Pinkerton) is remarkable; more than 20 having been struck at various times; while those personifying Italy, Gaul, Spain, Spain, and other regions of the empire, exceed not four or five at most for each country." Only one country vies with Britain, and that is Dacia on the extreme north east of the empire, as Britain on the extreme north-west. No doubt this circumstance of remoteness in these two countries recommended them to this particular attention; as more expressive of the Roman power.

The small brass series abounds also with curious coins. They are scarce till the time of Valerian and Gallienus, but very common afterwards. Mr Pinkerton recommends, therefore, to form a series in silver as well as brass; both being the cheapest of all the Roman coins. "In this series (says he), it is a common fault to arrange many coins which have been plated with gold or silver, the forgeries of ancient times, but which time has worn off either wholly or in part." All real brass coins have the s.c. till the time of Gallienus; as the senate alone had the power of striking brass, while the emperor himself had that of gold and silver. When the s.c. therefore, is wanting, the coin was certainly once plated; as, in general, the different type and fabric, being those of gold and silver, sufficiently show themselves. With Pertinax, A.D. 192, there is a temporary cessation of small brass; nor after him do any princes occur in that series till Valerian, A.D. 254, excepting Trajanus Decius, A.D. 250 only. After Valerian the series is continuous and common. The brass coinage gradually declined in size from the time of Severus; so that parts of the as could not be struck, or at least it was held unnecessary to strike them. Trajanus Decius attempted in vain to restore the coinage; and Valerian and Gallienus were forced to issue denarii scrii and small auriarii. The series of large and of middle brass are of two fixed and known sizes; the former about that of our crown, the latter of the half crown; though after Severus they gradually lessen. But the small brass takes in all parts of the as; and every brass coin not larger than our shilling belongs to this series. The minims, indeed, or very smallest, it is proper to keep apart. The coins of Julius Caesar in this size are of peculiarly fine workmanship. They bear his portrait reverse of Augustus, or the reverse a crocodile.

There are several with Mark Antony, and some with Cleopatra; but the more common pieces are those with only numerals on the obverse, which go the length of XIII; probably tickets for the baths. A great many occur in the time of Nero; of which Mr Pinkerton particularizes one which has "on the reverse a table ornamented with griffins and other devices. Upon it is placed a wreath of laurel, and a beautiful vale, of which the embossed human figures are so minute, and finished so surprisingly, as to stamp these coins the most exquisite productions of the ancient mint." From the time of Nero to that of Vespasian no small brass occurs: but there are many of this emperor and of his son Titus; while Domitian has as many as Nero, and Domitia his wife has almost as many. Succeeding emperors to the time of Pertinax have also many brass coins; but from his time to that of Valerian there are no real small brass, excepting those of Trajanus Decius. After Gallienus there are a great many coins of this kind; and Mr Pinkerton mentions one in Dr Hunter's cabinet, of an unknown person named Nigrianus. The coin seems to have been struck at Carthage; and our author concludes that he was an African usurper, father to Nigrianus.

2. Silver.—This series is very complete, and the cheapest of any; especially as the small brass becomes a fine supplement to it; the latter being had in plenty when the silver became scarce, and the silver being plentiful when the brass is scarce.

3. Gold.—The Roman imperial gold coins form a series of great beauty and perfection; but on account of their great price, are beyond the purchase of private persons.

4. The colonial coins occur only in brass; none, excepting that of Nemausus, having a right to coin silver. They begin in Spain with Julius Caesar and Antony, and cease with Caligula, who took away the privilege of coining from the Spanish colonies. The most beautiful are those of Corinth. The other remarkable colonial coins are those of Emerita, Illice, Terraco, Caesandra, Babba, Berytus, Caesarea, Patrae, Emilia, Heliopolis or Balbec, Ptolemais, Sidon, Tyre, Deultum, Dium, Troas, Rhenaina, Neapolis of Samaria, which bears a representation of Mount Gerizzim with the temple on it, Hippo in Africa, &c. On many of these coins we meet with fine representations of temples, triumphal arches, gods, goddesses, and illustrious persons. But coins with these representations are by no means common; the colonial coins till the time of Trajan bearing only a plough, or some other simple badge of a colony. Camelodunum is the only colony in Britain of which we have any coins.

5. The minims.—This includes the smallest coins of all denominations, most of which do not exceed the size of a silver penny. They are the most curious of all; but no series of them was ever formed by any person except the abbé Rothelin, whose collection formed of all metals passed to the queen of Spain. The reason of the scarcity of these small coins is probably their diminutive size; by reason of which they are mostly lost.

It is surprising that numbers of Roman coins are found through all countries once subject to that powerful people. Some have been met with in the Orkneys, and many in the most remote parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa, known to the ancients.

Table III. Coins of other ancient Nations.

1. The Lydians appear to have invented coinage; though, perhaps, this honour may be disputed with them by the Greeks.

2. The Assyrians, Medes, Babylonians, Phoenicians, and Egyptians, had no coins. In the mouths of the mummies are only thin, unstamped, and round pieces of gold, to pay Charon's fare.

3. No Indian or Chinese coins are to be met with till a very late period; and even then so rude as scarce to be worth notice. Voltaire mentions a collection of ancient Chinese and Indian coins made by the emperor of China in 1700; but Mr Pinkerton supposes it to have consisted only of the Greek and Roman money which had been introduced into these countries.

4. The Lydian coins have no legends; so that mere conjecture only determines the ancient coins of electrum and Ancient Coins.

and silver found in Asia, and different from the Persian, to belong to Lydia. Croesus coined gold into a form which he called staters; and Mr. Pinkerton mentions a very ancient gold coin in Dr Hunter's cabinet, which he supposes to have been one of these. It has a globous figure, with indented marks on one side, and on the other a man kneeling, with a fish held out in the left hand, and a sword depending in the right. It weighs four drachms; which Josephus tells us was the weight of the Lydian gold coins. In the same collection are other gold coins little inferior in antiquity; the most ancient of which, our author supposes, may have been coined by the cities of Asia Minor, as coinage passed through them to Greece. They are admirable workmanship, and as much superior to the best Sicilian coins, as the latter are to all the rest in the world. These gold coins are all extremely pale; owing to the want of knowledge in refining gold.

5. Persian coins.—These were first struck by Darius Hyrcan, whence they had the name of darics. They are of gold, and generally have the figure of an archer: they weigh about four drachms; and some occur with the indented mark on one side, while others have figures upon both. The silver coins have generally a king in a chariot of two horses, with a charioteer, and sometimes another figure on foot behind, on the obverse; while the reverse presents a ship, sometimes a ram, bull, or other animal. The gold coins, which only had the title of darics, are extremely scarce, having been melted down, as is supposed, and recoinied by Alexander the Great on his conquest of Asia.

There is a second series of Persian coins beginning with Artaxares, or Artaxerxes, who overthrew the Parthian monarchy about the year 210. These are large and thin, with the king's bust on one side and the altar of Mithras on the other; generally with a human figure on each side. These coins continue till the year 636, when Persia was conquered by the Saracens. These have only Persian letters upon them, which have never been explained by any antiquaries. Mr Pinkerton says that they seem to partake of the ancient Greek, Gothic, and Alanic.

6. The Hebrew shekels, originally didrachms, but after the time of the Maccabees tetradrachms, are almost all forgeries of modern Jews, as well as the brafs coins with Samaritan characters upon them. They have all a sprig upon one side and a vase on the other. Mr Pinkerton says, that the admission of one of them into a cabinet would almost be a disgrace to it.

7. Phoenician and Punic coins are very interesting on account of the great power and wealth of these nations. The alphabets have been cleared by their relation to the Hebrew and Syriac languages.

8. The coins of Palmyra come under the same denomination with the former, Palmyra being a Syrian city.

9. The Etruscan coins have the characters of that nation, which have been explained by their affinity to the Pelasgic, or oldest Greek and Latin.

10. The Spanish coins are inscribed with two or three alphabets allied to the old Greek or Punic; but the inscriptions have not been sufficiently explained.

11. Gaulish coins.—These are numerous; but the most ancient have no legends; and even after the Greek letters were introduced into Gaul by a colony at Marfelles, the legends are very difficult to be explained.

12. British coins.—From a passage in Caesar's Commentaries, it has been inferred that the Britons used some kind of coins even in his time. Mr Pinkerton informs us, that some rude coins of copper very much mingled with tin are frequently found in England; which, he supposes, may be some of the ancient British money. They are of the size of a didrachm, the common form of the nummus aureus among the ancients. After the time of Caesar, coinage increased among the Britons; and there are many found of Cunobelinus mentioned in the Roman history. Most of these have on one side CUNO, with an ear of wheat, a horse, a kind of head of Janus, or other symbol; and have frequently also the letters CAMU, supposed to mean Camelodunum. Sometimes the word TASCIA occurs; the meaning of which has not yet been explained.

13. Gothic coins of France, Italy, and Spain, to the time of Charles the Great. These have the Roman characters upon them. The Italian coins are mostly of the size of small brafs; and in this way we meet with coins of Athalaric, Theodahat, Wittigez, and other Gothic princes. Many others occur, the inscriptions of which, though meant for Roman, are so perverted as to be illegible.

Table IV. Modern Coins.

1. Of Japan.—These are thin plates of gold and silver, of an oval figure, with small marks or figures stamped on them.

2. China.—These are only copper, about the size of a farthing, with a square hole in the middle to put them on strings. The inscriptions on them do not express the name of the sovereign, but the year of his reign; as the happy year, the illustrious year, &c.

3. The Tartarian coins are rude, having only inscriptions upon them; and they are all posterior to the time of Jenghiz khan.

4. Coins of Thibet, Pegu, and Siam, are much the same, presenting only inscriptions without any figures. They are all of late date.

5. India.—Some old coins have been found in the neighbourhood of Calcutta, of gold, silver, copper, and tin, all mixed together. These have commonly a warrior with a sword on one side, and an Indian female idol on the other, of the same form with the celebrated sculptures in the island of Elephanta; but it is impossible to tell what antiquity they are of. The modern coins are the pagoda of gold, worth little more than six shillings; the rouppee of silver upwards of two shillings; and the cash, of copper. There is a remarkable set of rouppees, which show the twelve signs; a lion on one, a bull on another, &c., but the occasion on which they were struck is unknown. The other coins of India have generally Persian inscriptions upon them.

6. Persia.—The Peric coins since its conquest by the Arabs continue on the Arabian model.

7. Arabia.—Some coins of the petty princes of Arabia are met with as old as the imperial ages of Rome; but till the time of Haroun Alraflhid, no regular Modern coinage appears in the vast empire of the Saracens. Even then the reverse has only an inscription, and the obverse is copied from any Greek or Syrian coin which happened to fall in the moneyer's way. The later Arabian coins are mostly silver, with the name and titles of the prince on one side, and some inscription from the Koran on the other. The more modern coins of this country are in the shape of a fishhook, with Arabic inscriptions.

8. Turkey.—No regular coinage was formed by the Turks till they became masters of Constantinople. They resemble those of Persia and Arabia, having merely inscriptions on both sides.

9. The coins of the African states, at least such as profess the Mohammedan religion, have merely inscriptions without any figures; those of the internal parts are unknown; and no coinage was used among the Mexicans and Peruvians, the only civilized nations in America; but La Hontan mentions an American savage who had a square medal of copper depending from his neck. Mr Pinkerton supposes it to have come from Japan.

10. Modern Italic coins. Besides the Gothic princes mentioned in the former table, the archbishops of Ravenna coined money with the inscription Felix Ravenna, &c. The Lombards issued no coins, but there are some still extant of Charlemagne. The following list shows the origin of the coinage in various Italian states.

Rome.—Papal coinage originates with Hadrian I. Size of silver pennies, with the Pope's name on one side, and Scos Petrus on the other. No coins appear from 975 to 1099, excepting of Leo IX. In 1323 appear pennies of the senate and people of Rome, with Peter on the one side and Paul on the other. There are groats of Clement V. with his portrait three quarters length; but the side-head begins with Sixtus V. in 1470. Gold was first coined by John XXII. in 1316. The coins of Alexander VI., Julius II., and Leo X. are remarkable for beauty and elegance.

Milan.—Coinage began with Charlemagne. The first coin of the family of Visconti occurs in 1330 under Azo. The first florins with Louis XII.

Naples.—Coinage begins in 840 and 880, with Duke Sergius and Bishop Athanasius. The next coins are of Roger of Sicily, and Roger II. in 1130, William I., II., and Tancred. Naples and Sicily were subdued in 1194 by the emperor of Germany; in 1255 Manfred appears; in 1266 Charles of Provence; and others till John in 1414; after which follow the house of Arragon, and later kings.

Venice begins in the 10th century. The first coins are silver pennies marked Veneti. Then follow the coins of Henrico Dandulo in 1192, of Ziani in 1255, &c. Gold was first coined at Venice in 1283, and copper in 1471; but the silver groats are as old as 1192.

Florence.—Silver was coined here in the 12th century, or before; but in 1252 the first gold coins struck in Europe after the 8th century made their appearance, and were named florins from the flower of the lily upon them. They were imitated by the popes, by France, and England. They have on one side St John the Baptist standing, on the other a large fleur de lis, and it is not doubted that the French fleurs de lis took their origin from these coins. They weigh a drachm, and are no less than 24 carats fine, according to Italian writers, and are worth about 12 shillings.

Geneva first began to coin money in 1129, under the government of Conrad. Those of the dukes of Savoy began in the same century.

Aquitania. Coins were issued from this city by the patriarchs from 1204 to 1440.

Ferrara. Coins of the marquises from 1340.

11. French coins. During the race of Clovis, from 490 till 751, the coins are chiefly gold trientes, with some solidi and semissis. The former are of good workmanship, with the heads of kings. The reverse has a crois, with the name of the town where they were struck.

The coins of the second race begin with Pepin in 751, and continue till Hugh Capet in 987. The coins of the first race are elegant, but those of the second entirely the reverse, being almost all silver pennies, and seldom bearing the portrait of the king. Those of Charlemagne have only Carolus in the field; while the reverse bears R. F., or some such inscription; though one piece struck at Rome has a rude bust of him. The coins of Louis le Debonnaire are better done.

The third race begins with Hugh Capet in 987, and extends to this time. The coinage did not begin to improve till 1226 under St Louis, when the groat appears. Its name in Italian is groto, in French grois, in English groat, or great coin; so called from its size in comparison with the penny; and it passed from Italy to France, to Germany, and to England. After the conquest of France by the English, base coins of many kinds were introduced; and in the year 1574, in the time of Henry III., copper was first introduced into the French coinage. Besides these, the other remarkable coins of France are, the blancs or billon groats, first issued in 1348; the ecus a la couronne, or crowns of gold, so called from the crown on one side, and begun by Charles VI. in 1384; those of Ann of Bretagne in 1498; the tefton, or piece with the king's head, of Louis XII.; the Henri of Henry II., with Gaul sitting in armour, and a Victory in her hand. There are many coins of Cardinal Bourbon, elected king in 1589; and in 1642, Louis XIV. takes the title of Catalonian Princeps. The first louis d'or made its appearance in 1640; but such was the poverty of France, if we believe certain authors, that in 1719 the duke of Orleans regent struck copper for silver.

12. Spanish coins. The most early series of these coins is almost entirely of trientes, finely done. On one side they have the head of the king with his name, and on the other a crois, with the name of the town, commonly in Bética, or the fourth part of Spain, where there were a great many Roman colonies, and which was fertile to a proverb. The Moorish coins of Spain, like those of the rest of the Mohammedan states, present us only with insipid inscriptions on both sides. Indeed the Mohammedan religion, by its absolute refusal to allow the representation of any living creature, has prevented the progress of coinage in any degree throughout those regions which it has overpread. The inscriptions on the ancient Spanish coins are in the Cufic or old Arabic characters.

13. Portugal. No description of the coins of this kingdom has yet appeared.

14. Germany. No account of the German coins has been published; though it is well known that not only the emperors, but many of the cities, particularly those called Hansa-towns, issued money; and many of the coins issued by the cities were superior in elegance even to those issued by the emperors.

15. Denmark. Here the coinage begins with Canute the Great in 1014. The pieces are at first extremely rude, ornamented only with rings and Runic characters. These are succeeded by copper pieces, some of which have a cross, others a pastoral staff, on one side, with the letter A on the other. Later coins have strokes IIII, &c., all round them; but those of Harold, Hardicanute, and Magnus Bonus, in 1041, are of neat workmanship, and have the portraits of the princes at half length. The coins of Nicolas, or Niel, as he is called by the Danes, are rude, as well as those of Waldemar I. and the celebrated Margaret. In 1376 Olaf caused money to be struck with a grinning full face, with a crowned O upon the other side.

"The Swedes (says Mr Pinkerton) took these coins extremely ill, as they thought they grinned at them."

Silver was first coined in Denmark by Philippa queen of Eric, and daughter to Henry IV. of England.

16. Sweden. The coinage of this kingdom began in 818 under Biorino, on the plan of Charlemagne. The coins are marked with a cross. Next follow those of Olaf in 1019; which Mr Pinkerton supposes to have been the first true Swedish coins; and that the art of coinage first passed from England into Denmark in the time of Canute the Great, and from Denmark into Sweden. These coins were struck on the English model. During the time that Sweden was subject to Denmark, or miserably harassed by the Danes, the coins of both kingdoms were the same; but after the time of Gustavus Vasa many elegant pieces appear. In 1634, dollars were coined with the portrait of Gustavus Adolphus, who was killed two years before: on the reverse they have the arms of Sweden, with the chemical marks of mercury and sulphur. In 1716, 1717, and 1718, Charles XII. being in extreme want of money, issued small copper coins with Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, &c., upon them, to go for dollars; and on account of this scheme, Baron Goertz, the suggestor of it, was brought to the block.

17. Norway. The coins of this country begin with Olaf in 1006; after which time there are various coins of other princes; but copper was not coined till the year 1343.

Besides the coins already mentioned, there are ecclesiastic coins of France, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, &c. Those of Denmark and Sweden are numerous, but the Norwegian coins of this denomination are rare. Mr Pinkerton describes a silver one in his possession as having arms and a mitre, with the inscription on one side, Sanctus Olaws Rex Norvegy; on the reverse, Olaws Dei Gra. Arcep. Nid'sen, meaning Nidrosiensis, or archbishop of Nidros, now Drontheim.

18. Bohemia. The coinage of this kingdom appears at a very early date, viz. in the year 929, under Duke Boleslaus I. These coins are followed by others of Boleslaus II. and Emma his wife in 970; of Boleslaus III. in 1002; Jaromir in 1020; Udalrich in 1030; and other princes. The bracteate money of Ottocar I. was coined in 1197.

19. Poland. The coinage of this country is nearly as ancient as that of Bohemia. The coins are on the German model, but no particular account of them has been published.

20. Russia. None of the Russian money appears to be more ancient than the 13th century. The first are the kopkeks or silver pennies, which have upon them rude figures of animals on one side, and a man standing with a bow or spear on the other. There are likewise coins of Mofcow struck by Aribozotes the architect in 1482. The roubles or dollars and their allies. There are some of the impostor Demetrius in 1605, which are very scarce.

21. Prussia. The first Prussian coins were struck at Culm by the Teutonic knights in 1230. They were silver pennies, and upon the German plan. In the next century were struck shillings, groats, and schots; the last were the largest, and are extremely rare. They have the Prussian shield, an eagle surmounting a cross, with a rose-shaped border, MONETA DOMINORUM PRUSSIAE: on the reverse is a cross fleur-de-lis, within a border of a similar kind, having the inscription HONOR MAGISTRI, JUSTITIAM DILIGET.—Gold coins were struck in the same century. In the time of Copernicus the money was so debased, that 12 or 13 marks were worth but one of pure silver.

22. England. The English coins are of various kinds.

1st. Heptarchie. These are only of two sorts, viz. the fleatta or penny of silver, and the flyca of copper. Few of the pennies appear till after the year 700; though some are met with which bear the name of Ethelbert I. king of Kent, as old as 560. At first they had only rude figures of serpents, but in latter times legends were likewise added. Most of these pennies have pagan symbols upon them. The flyca was only coined in Northumberland, and was a very small piece, about the value of half a farthing.

2nd. Coins of the chief monarchs of England. Mr Pinkerton denies that an end was put to the heptarchy by Egbert in 832, as is commonly supposed; though he owns that he was chief monarch of the country, as several others had been before him. Edgar, who reigned in 959, according to him, was the first king of England; and the coins of the chief monarchs form almost a complete series from the time of Egbert to Edgar. The only chief monarch of whom there are no coins is Ethelbald, who reigned in 857. Most of these coins bear rude portraits; but the reverses are sometimes curious and interesting. Some have views of cathedrals and other buildings; particularly one of Edward the Elder in 900; which has the cathedral of York with three rows of windows, round arched as the other Saxon and Norman buildings: the Gothic arch being quite unknown till after the 12th century. Some coins of Anlaf king of Northumberland have the famous raven, the Danish ensign: and those of other princes have frequently very curious reverses.

3rd. Ecclesiastic coins appear of the archbishops of Canterbury, Wulfred in 804, Ceolnoth in 830, and Plegmund in 889.

4th. Coins of the kings of England. The silver penny, which had begun during the heptarchy, continued to be the general coin after the kingdom had been united under one head; and extends in a continued series from Egbert almost to the present reign. The only kings wanting are Edmund Ironside, Richard I., and John. At first the penny weighed 22½ grains; but towards the close of the reign of Edward III. it fell to 18 grams; and in that of Edward IV. to 12. In the time of Edward VI. it was diminished to 8 grams; and in Queen Elizabeth's reign to 7½; at which it still continues.

Halfpennies and farthings were first struck in silver by Edward I. in 1280; the former continued to the time of the commonwealth, but the latter ceased with Edward VI. The groat was introduced by Edward III. in 1354, and continues to this day, though not in common circulation. The half-groat or two-pence is of the same date, and also continues to the present time.

Shillings were first coined by Henry VII. in 1503. At first it was called teloon, from the teote, tete, or head of the king upon it; the name shilling being derived from the German schilling; under which appellation coins had been struck at Hamburgh in 1407. The crown was first coined in its present form by Henry VIII. Formerly it had appeared only in gold, whence the phrase of crowns of gold; though these indeed were the largest gold coins known for a long time in France and other countries on the continent, being worth about 10s. sterling. They had their name from the crown stamped on one side, and were first coined by Charles VI. in 1384, and continued till the time of Louis XIV. The half-crown, sixpence, and threepence, were coined by Edward VI. In 1558 Queen Elizabeth coined three halfpenny, and in 1561 three farthing pieces; but they were discontinued in 1582. From the year 1601 to the present time the coins of England remain the same.

Gold was coined in England by Henry III. in 1257; the piece was called a gold penny, and was larger than the silver one; and the execution is by no means bad for the time. The series of gold coinage, however, commences properly from Edward III. In 1344, this monarch first struck florins, in imitation of those in Italy; and it is remarkable, that though these coins at the time they were first issued bore only five shillings value, they are now intrinsically worth 19½; so much has the value of gold increased since that time. The half and quarter florin were struck at the same time, but only the last has been found. The florin, however, being found inconvenient, gave place to the noble of 6s. 8d. value, and exactly half a mark. The latter had its name from being a limited sum in accounts; and was eight ounces in weight, two thirds of the money pound. It is sometimes also called solidus, as being one half of the commercial pound of 16 ounces. The noble had its name from the nobility of the metal; the gold of which it was coined being of the finest sort. Sometimes it was called rofe noble, from both sides being impaled in an undulating circle. It continued with the half and quarter noble to be the only gold coin till the angels of Edward IV. appeared in 1465. These had their name from being stamped with the image of Michael and the dragon. The angels of 3s. 4d. value were substituted in their place. In 1527 Henry VIII. added to the gold coined the crown and half-crown at their present value; and the same year he gave sovereigns of 2½s. 6½l. and ryals of 1½s. 3½d. angels at 7½. 6½d. and nobles at their old value of 6s. 8½d. In 1546 he caused sovereigns to be coined of the value of 2½s. and half-sovereigns in proportion. His gold crown is about the size of our threepence, and the half-crown of sixpence, but thin. All his coins, however, gold as well as silver, are much debased; and it was not without much labour and trouble that Edward VI. brought it back to its former standard. On the union of the two crowns, James gave the sovereign the name of unite; the value continuing of 2½s. as before. He coined also rofe-ryals of 3½s. value, spurials of 1½s. angels of 1½s. and angelets of ½s. Under the commonwealth, the sovereign got the name of the twenty-shilling piece, and continued current till the coinage of guineas. These were so called from their being coined of Guinea gold, and were at first only to go for 2½s. though by an universal but tacit consent they always passed for 2½s. Half-guineas, double guineas, and five guinea pieces, were also coined during the same reign; which still continue, though the two latter are not in common circulation. Quarter guineas were coined by George I. and likewise by his present majesty; but they were found too troublesome on account of their small size, that they were stopped within a year or two, when received at the bank of England, and thus are not to be met with at present. A few pieces of ½s. value have likewise been coined, and are known by the lion above the helmet; but none have been issued. In 1688 the guinea rose to 2½s. 6½d. and continued to increase in value till 1696, when it was as high as 3½s.; but after the recoinage in 1697 and 1698 it fell by degrees, and in 1717 was at its old standard of 2½s. and at that time silver was fixed at its present standard value, viz. as 1 to 15½ in weight.

Though the first money coined in Britain, as we have already observed, was copper, yet, excepting the Northumbrian sycas, no copper coin was found in England from the time of the Saxon conquest till the year 1672. An aversion to a copper coinage it seems was prevalent throughout the nation; and Queen Elizabeth, who without hesitation used base money for Ireland, yet scrupled at coining copper for England. This want of small coin occasioned such an increase of private tokens for halfpennies and farthings, that it became a serious object to government; and in 1594 a copper coinage was seriously thought of. This year a small copper coin was struck about the size of a silver twopence, with the queen's monogram on one side, and a rofe on the other; the running legend on both sides being THE PLEDGE OF A HALFPENNY. Of this there are patterns both in copper and silver, but both of them soon fell into disuse. On the 19th of May 1613, King James by royal proclamation issued farthing tokens. They are generally of the same size with the two pence, with two sceptres in falier surmounted with a crown, and the harp upon the other; with an intention, as it would seem, that if they were refused in England they might pass in Ireland. In 1635 Charles I. coined those with the roe instead of the harp; but the circulation of these was entirely stopped by the vast number of counterfeits which appeared, and by the king's death in 1648. After this the private tokens began again to be circulated, till put a stop to by the coinage of farthings in 1672. The workmanship of the tokens is quite contemptible. In 1672 the halfpence as well as the farthings which had been struck two years before began to circulate. They were of pure Swedish copper, the dies engraved by Roettier; and they continued till the year 1684, when some disputes arose about the copper lately obtained from the English mines. Tin farthings were coined with a flud of copper in the centre, and inscribed round the edge as the crown pieces, with NUMMORUM FAMULUS. In 1685 or 1686, halfpence of the same kind were coined; and the tin coinage continued till the year 1692, to the value of more than 65,000l.; but next year the tin was all called in by government, and the copper coinage recommenced. The farthings of Queen Anne are all trial pieces, excepting those of 1714, the last year of her reign. "They are (says Mr Pinkerton) of exquisite workmanship, exceeding most copper coins either ancient or modern, and will do honour to the engraver Mr Cracker to the end of time." The one, whose reverse is Peace in a car, Pax Missa Per Orbem, is the most esteemed; and next to it the Britannia under a portal. The other halfpence and farthings are less valuable.

23. Scotland. Silver pennies of Alexander I. who reigned in 1107, are believed to exist; and there certainly are some of Alexander II. in 1214. There are likewise coins of David in 1124; but perhaps none of Malcom IV. his successor, whose reign was very short. There are many coins of William I. in 1165; and a large hoard of his pennies was found at Inverness in 1780.

The money of Scotland continued to be of the same value with that of England till the country was drained by the vast ransoms of David II. after which it became necessary to reduce its size; and so much did this diminution affect England, that Edward III. found himself obliged to lessen the English coin also. The diminution of the Scottish coin, however, continued still to go on until it became impracticable to keep par with that of England. In the first year of Robert III. it passed only for one half of its nominal value in England: in 1393, Richard II. ordered it only to go for the weight of the genuine metal it contained. In 1600 it had sunk to such a degree as to pass only for a twelfth part of the English money, and continued at that low ebb till the coinage of Scotland was entirely cancelled by the union of the two kingdoms.

Of silver coins we have only pennies till the year 1293, when Edward I. having coined halfpence and farthings, Alexander III. of Scotland coined also halfpence, of which we have a few, but no farthings are to be met with; but there are silver farthings of Robert I. and David II. The latter introduced the groat and half-groat, which completed the set of Scottish silver. It continued unaltered till the time of Queen Mary, when they all ceased to be coined in Modern silver, on account of the high price of that metal. In 1553 shillings were first coined, with the bust of the queen on one side and the arms of France and Scotland on the other. The silver crown was first coined in 1565, which went for 30s. Scots; lesser pieces of 20s. and 10s. having likewise been struck, and marks of silver, worth 3s. 4d. English, were also coined about the same time. These coins have upon them the marks xxx. xx. x. to denote their value. They are commonly called Cruickstone dollars, from the palm-tree upon them, mistaken for a remarkable view at Cruickstone near Glasgow, where Henry Darnly resided. It is described, however, in the act as a palm, with a "shell padoc" (a tortoise) crawling up. This alludes to Darnly's marriage with the queen, as the motto from Propertius DAT GLORIA VIRES also implies. The motto NEMO ME IMPUNE LACESSET first appears on the Scottish coins in 1578, and the invention is given to the celebrated Buchanan. In 1582, the crown of an ounce weight went for 40s. Scots, and was accordingly marked XL.; in 1597 the mark was L., the Scottish money being then only one-tenth of the English: the mark was LX in 1601, the value being then reduced to one twelfth, at which it has ever since continued. In the time of Charles I. half marks, 40 and 20 penny pieces, were coined. In 1675, the Scottish dollars first appeared, in value 50s. Scots, with halves and quarters of proportional value. In 1686, James VII. coined 60s. 40s. 20s. 10s. and 5s. pieces; but only those of 40s. and 10s. are known, with these numbers under the bust. At the union of the kingdoms, all the Scottish coins were called in, and recoloured at Edinburgh, with the mark E under the bust to distinguish it: since which there has been no coinage in Scotland. The Scottish silver coins are in general equal, if not superior, in the workmanship to the English.

Gold was first issued by Robert II. about 30 years after Edward III. of England had coined the same metal in that country. The pieces were at first called St Andrews, from the figure of that tutelar saint upon the crofs, and who appears on the obverse with the arms of Scotland, and on the reverse a lion in a shield. The Lion was another name for the largest gold coin in Scotland, from the arms of the kingdom upon it. The next was the unicorn, under James III.; which were followed by the bonnet-pieces of James V. These last are of admirable workmanship, being almost equal to the ancient coins in this respect. In imitation of the French, the monarch we speak of diminished the size of the coin without lessening its weight; an improvement not adopted by the English for a whole century. The last gold coined in Scotland was the pittole and half-pittole, of twelve and six pounds Scots. These coins have the sun under the head. The gold coins of Scotland fell in the same proportion with the silver.

The copper coinage of Scotland is of more early date than that of England. It was preceded by money of billon, or copper washed with silver, called black money. James III. first coined black farthings in 1466; and this is recorded by historians as one of his greatest faults. This kind of coinage, however, continued as late as the reign of James VI. In his time the true copper coinage began; but as the value of Scottish money had now declined almost to the utmost, the pieces suddenly assumed a form almost resembling that of the French coins. The bolofo called from Bothwell the mintmaster, being equal in size to the hard, and worth two pennies Scottish, was struck. The billon coin, formerly called bas piece, and worth five pennies Scots, was now coined in copper, and termed the baw-bee. Thus it corresponded with the French half sol and English halfpenny, the Scots penny being now equivalent to the French denier. Some pieces named Atkinson's were coined by James VI. in 1582, when the Scottish money was to the English as 1 to 8; but on its being still farther reduced, they went for 8 pennies, a third more than the value of the baw-bee. Besides these there were the hardie and plack, the former being worth three and the latter four pennies Scots. This coinage continued through the reigns of Charles I. and II., but Scottish coins of the former are, perhaps, the rarest of any.

24. Ireland. The first coins introduced into this kingdom seem to have been those of the Danes, and which have only a number of strokes around them instead of letters. In the tenth century, however, this coinage had been considerably improved; and in 930 and 994 there are pennies struck in Dublin, with the inscription on Dufli or Dyfli, Dublin or Duflin being the Danish name of that city. There are likewise coins of the Irish princes themselves, and of the English monarchs, struck in Ireland as early as the ninth century; and it is asserted by some, that Ireland even in these days had been conquered by England; of which indeed, these coins seem to be a proof. None of the Irish coins of Henry II. are to be met with, but we have some of the coins of John; and from his time to that of Henry V., the Irish coins are known by a triangle enclosing the king's head, which appears also upon the coins of other nations at this period. The harp does not appear upon the Irish coins till the time of Henry VIII. Till the time of this monarch, the English and Irish coins are the same; but the same debasement of the coin which at that time took place in England extended also to Ireland; but in 1601 copper halfpence and farthings were coined also for this kingdom. These circulated in Ireland when James VI. issued his farthing-tokens of copper, the latter being of two sizes, that if they failed in England they might be sent to Ireland as pennies and halfpence. In 1635 a mint was established in Dublin by Charles I., but it was stopped by the Irish massacre, and the many disturbances which followed; since which time the scheme has not been resumed. After the massacre, St Patrick's halfpence and farthings were coined by the Papists, bearing the legends Floreat Rex, and on the reverse Ecce Grex; or the farthing Quiescat Plenus. Copper tokens were struck by towns and tradesmen, as in England and Scotland. In 1682, halfpence and farthings were issued by authority, with the harp and date. In 1689, James II., having invaded Ireland, instituted a mint, and coined threepence and half-crowns of all the refuse metal he could find, particularly some brass guns were employed, whence the coinage is commonly called gun-money. Even this metal, however, soon became so scarce, that a diminution in its size is quite apparent from June 1689 to July 1690; and as the month of their mintage is marked upon them, this decrease is easily perceived. In March 1690, pennies of lead mixed with tin were issued; and on the 15th of June the same year, crowns of white metal were coined; but these are now very scarce. In 1722, the patent for coining halfpence and farthings was given to William Wood, which excited much discontent in Ireland. From the small size allowed by the patent to these pieces, it was supposed that the patentee would have gained £10,000, but as he caused them to be struck of a size still smaller, his gains were estimated at £100,000. The coins, however, are of admirable workmanship, and very fine copper, bearing the best portrait of King George I. to be found anywhere. Sir Isaac Newton, at that time at the head of the mint, declared that they were superior to the English coins in everything except the size. In 1737 the Irish halfpence and farthings, with the harp on the reverse, were coined, and continue to the present time. In 1760, there was such a scarcity of copper coin, that some private persons applied for leave to coin halfpence, which appeared with a very bad portrait of George II., and the words Voce Populi around it. No gold or silver has been coined in Ireland since the massacre of 1641.

Table V. Modern Medals, properly so called.

1. Scottish medals. These take the lead in the present article, the first modern medals of gold being those of David II., struck between the years 1330 and 1370. Only two of them are known to exist; one in the collection of Mr Barker of Birmingham, and the other in that of Dr Hunter. In 1487, there is a medal of James III., sent to the shrine of St Ambroise in France. It is described as of two inches and a third in diameter; the weight near two ounces; having on the obverse a beardless king, with long hair, sitting on a throne, holding in one hand a naked sword; in the other a shield, with the Scottish arms. On the borders of the canopy above the throne is an inscription in Gothic letters, IN MI DEFEN, being corrupt French for In my defense; a common motto in the Scottish arms. Above the canopy is VILLA BERWICH: the reverse bears St Andrew and his cross, SALVUM FAC POPULUM TUUM DOMINE. There is also a medal of James IV., in the collar of St Michael, having on the reverse a Doric pillar surmounted by a young Janus, standing on a hill, beyond which is the sea, and land on either side. This, however, is by some suspected to be a forgery.

The most remarkable Scottish medals are those of the unfortunate Mary. The first is properly French, having been issued at her coronation as queen of France, along with her husband King Francis II. On the obverse of this piece there are portraits of Francis and Mary, face to face, with three legends around them, the outermost containing their titles; the middle one the following sentence: HORA NONA DOMINUS J. H. S. EXPIRATI NELLI CLAMANS; the innermost the name of the city (Paris). On the reverse are the arms of France and Scotland. Fine teelons were also coined upon the same plan, and are now so rare that Dr Hunter gave ten guineas for one which which is in his collection. The same portraits appear on the fine crown of Mary and Henry, in 1565, which is so rare as to be esteemed a medal of the highest value; and Mr Pinkerton imagines, that if offered to sale it would bring 40 or 50 guineas.

Another remarkable medal of Mary represents her full faced, and weeping, with the inscription, O God grant patience in that I suffer wrong. The reverse has in the centre, Quo can compare with me in grief, I die and dar nocht seek relief; with this legend around, Hourt not the (figure of a heart) quhais joy thou art. There are also many counters of this unfortunate princess, being thin silver pieces of the size of a shilling. "They all appear (says Mr Pinkerton) to have been done in France by the direction of Mary, who was fond of devices. Her cruel captivity could not debar her from intercourse with her friends in France, who must with pleasure have executed her orders, as affording her a little consolation."

The coronation medal of Charles I. struck at Edinburgh for his inauguration, June 18, 1663, is remarkable as being the only one ever coined of Scottish gold, and the first in Britain struck with a legend on the edge. With respect to the workmanship, it is inferior to Simon's. Of these medals only three are known to exist, of which one is in the Museum. It is not uncommon in silver; in which case it sometimes wants the legend on the edge.

2. Italian medals. These appear in the 15th century, and from that time successively in most European countries. Vittore Pisano, a painter of Verona, is celebrated as the restorer of the art, but it remains to be accounted for how the medals of King David, already mentioned, came to exist so long before. Mr Pinkerton considers this artist rather as an inventor than a restorer, his medals having no resemblance to the ancient coins, as being large, and all cast. They were first modelled in wax, then a mould taken from the model in fine sand and other ingredients. After a good cast was procured, it was touched up, and made a model for the rest. These medals of Pisano, are almost always inscribed Opus Pifani Pictoris. The portraits of a great number of illustrious men were done by him in this manner; and in the British Museum is a large brass medal of Pisano by himself.—Other artists were Boldu, Marecotto, Matthaeus de Paffus, Sperandes, Mifaldone, &c. Towards the end of the century, however, the medals began to assume a more elegant appearance; and the papal ones are not only the most elegant but the most ancient series of all the modern medals. The improvement began in the reign of Alexander VI. so famous for his own crimes, and those of his nephew Cesar Borgia. His successors, Julius II. Leo X. Hadrian VI. and Clement VII., had many of their medals designed by Raphael, Julio Romano, and other eminent painters, and the engraving executed by artists of equal merit. Among these were the celebrated Cellini, and the noted Paduan forgers of Roman coins, Cavino and Baffiano. In 1644, Cormanni, a medallist artist, was imprisoned on account of a piece which represented the Pope upon one side, and Olympia Maidalchina, the relation of his holiness, on the other. The unfortunate Cormanni poisoned himself. About this time the family of the Hamerani, originally from Germany, began to engrave the papal medals; which they did with surprising merit for several generations. Each of the daughters did a fine medal, as we are informed by Venuti.

Besides the papal medals, many have been issued by the various states of Italy. There are medals of Frederic II. of Sicily in 1501, of several Venetian generals in 1509, of Alfonso duke of Ferrara in 1511, and of the celebrated Andrew Doria in 1528.

3. French medals. Till the reign of Louis XIV., the medals of this country are neither fine nor numerous; but this monarch exceeds all modern princes in this way. Many of his pieces are well designed and executed, though objectionable on account of their falsehood.

4. Danish medals. These appear of Christian II. in 1516, of Frederic and Sophia in 1532, of Frederic I. and Christian III. in bonnets worn in the 16th century. The elephant of the house of Oldenburg is frequent upon Danish medals.

5. Swedish medals. These begin with Gustavus Vasa; and several of Christina are likewise to be met with. There are also some curious ones of Charles XII.

6. Dutch medals. These begin in 1566; and many of them are remarkable for maps and plans, which must be very interesting to posterity. "Had the Greeks and Romans (says Mr Pinkerton) given us maps and plans, what a fine system of ancient geography and topography a cabinet of medals must have been!"

7. Medals of Spain, Portugal, and Germany. The Spanish medals began with Gondalo in 1503, many of which are curious and interesting. Under Charles V., there are many curious Spanish medals; but those of Germany begin with Frederic in 1453. They are extremely numerous; as we may easily suppose from the greatness of the empire, and the various states which compose it. There is a famous medal of Sebastian king of Portugal, famous for his unfortunate expedition into Africa in 1578; with his bust, full face, and three quarters in length. On the reverse is a shell-fish in the sea, with the moon and seven stars, bearing the inscription SERENA CALSA FAVENT. There is also a curious lozenge-shaped coin of the same with the arms of Portugal, and the king's name and title: On the reverse is a crois with the inscription IN HOC SIGNO VINCES, 1578.

8. Satiric medals. These began almost as soon as the knowledge of the art of coining medals was revived. They seem to have been almost unknown to the ancients. One indeed of the emperor Gallienus is supposed to have been satiric. It has on the front the emperor's bust, with the inscription GALLIENÆ AUG.; the reverse is Peace in a car, PAX UBIQUE; but this has been proved to be only a blundered coin. Some other ancient medals, however, are not liable to this objection. The first modern satiric medal published was that of Frederic king of Sicily in 1501, against his antagonist Ferdinand king of Spain. It has on one side the head of Ferdinand, with the inscription FERDINANDUS R. AR. VETUS VULPES ORBIS; on the reverse, a wolf carrying off a sheep, JVCVM MEVM SVAVE EST ET ONVS MEVM LEVE. Many others have been struck, of which the wit would now perhaps be difficult. difficult to be found out: but of all nations the Dutch have most distinguished themselves in this way; and paid very dear for their conduct, as they brought upon themselves by one or two satiric medals the whole power of France under Louis XIV.

9. English medals. The first of these is in the duke of Devonshire's collection. It is of a large size, and done on the plan of the early Italian medals. It has on the reverse the arms of Kendal, with the inscription TEMPORIS OBSIDIONIS TURCORUM, MCCCCLXXX. On the other side is a portrait with IO KENDAL RHODI TYRCVPPELLERIVS. It was found last century in Knareborough forest; but Mr Pinkerton has no doubt of its having been done in Italy. The next is that of Henry VIII. in 1545, and is of gold, larger than the crown-piece, with the king's head upon the obverse, and three legends within each other, including his titles, &c. The reverse contains two inscriptions, declaring him to be the head of the church; the one in Hebrew, the other in Greek. It was imitated exactly by Edward VI. whose coronation medal is the first we have. There are two medals of Philip and Mary, whose execution is tolerably good; but those of Elizabeth are very poor. There are good medals of James I. and his queen; with a fine one of Charles I. and Henrietta, though the workmanship is much inferior to the antique. There are many good medals of Charles, with various devices upon their reverses.

Under the commonwealth the celebrated Simon produced medals which are deservedly reckoned the most admirable pieces of modern workmanship. There are many good medals of Charles II., James II., and William III. Some are also found of James after his abdication. Some fine gold, silver, and copper medals, were issued in the time of Queen Anne; the two last affording a series of all the great actions of the duke of Marlborough. About the year 1740, a series of medals was engraved in London by Daffier, a native of Geneva, containing all the kings of England; being 36 in number. They are done upon fine copper, and executed with great taste. There are besides many medals of private persons in England; so that it may justly be said, that this country for medals exceeds almost every other in Europe.

To this account of modern coins and medals we shall add that of another set called siege pieces, and which were issued during the time of a siege in cases of urgent necessity. These were formed of any kind of metal; sometimes of no metal; and Patin mentions a remarkable one struck at Leyden in 1574, when the place was besieged by the Spaniards. It was of thick paper or pasteboard, having a lion rampant, with this inscription, FVGNO PRO PATRIA, 1574; and on the reverse, LVGDVNUM BATAVORVM. There are various siege-pieces of Charles I. both in gold and silver, some of the latter being of the value of 20 shillings.

The nummi bracteati are a species of modern coins somewhat between counters and money; and have their name from the word BRACTEA, a spangle or thin bit of metal. They are commonly little thin plates of silver, stamped as would seem with wooden dies up-

on one side only, with the rude impression of various figures and inscriptions. Most of them are ecclesiastic, and were struck in Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and a few in Poland. They continued to be in use in Germany till the end of the 15th century; and some are still used in Switzerland at this day.

Table of Abbreviations used in the Legends of Medals; from Mr Pinkerton.

GREEK COINS.

A.

A. Athens, Argos, Aulus, Asylum; primi or first; as Εφεσιον Α. Ατιας, " Ephesians, first people of Asia."

A. Abassus, Abdera, Abydos on Hellefpon

AB. Abydos in Egypt

ABY. Abydos on Hellefpon

A. Athens

AIG. Aegina

AIΩΣΠΟ. Aigospotamos

AIA. Aelius, Elia Capitolina

AIN. Anos

AK.—AKPATAN. Agri-

gentum

AKI. Acilium

AKT. Actium

AΛΕ. Alexandria

AM. Amyntas

AMB. Ambracia

AMΦ. Amphilochia

ΑΝΘ. Anabatetos, Proconsul

ANTIΣ. Antissa

ANA. Anaactoria

ANTI. Antium

AN. Ancyrta

ANT. Antoninus, Antioch

AE. Axus in Crete

AON. Aonia

AOYE. Avenio, Pell.

AP. Appius

APA. Apamea

APO. Apollonia

APTA. Aptara

AP. Aradus, Harma

APGE. Argennos

APΓ. Argos

API. Ariana

APIM. Ariminum

APΣΙ. Arfinoe

APY. Aryca

APX. Αγριαγετος or Αγριος, high priest or magistrate

ΑΣΤΑΡΧ. Astarchus, presidents of the games of Asia (B)

AΣ. Asylum

A. Σ. Πρωτοι Συμβολη, First of Syria

ΑΣΚ. Ascalon

AT. Atabyrium

ATAR. Atarnae

AYΓ. Augustus

ΑΥΡΗΔ. Aurelius

ΑΥ ΑΥΤ. Αυτοκρατος Emperor

AYTON. Autonomos, enjoying their own laws

ΑΦΙ. Aphyta

ΑΦΡ. Africanus

AX. Achail

B.

Β. Βουλης, Council; Berytus; Bithynia

ΒΑΓΗΔΑΟ. Bagadaonia

ΒΑΛ. Valerius

ΒΗ. Berytus

ΒΙΤΟΝ. Bitontum

ΒΟΙ. Boeotia

ΒΡΥΝ. Brundufium

ΒΥ. Byzantium

Γ.

Γ. ΓΡ. ΓΡΑΜ. Grammaticus, or keeper of the records

Γ. Gaius, or Caius

ΓΑ. Gallus, Gallerius, Galienus

Γ. Γραμμευς, Illustrious

ΓΕΑ. Gelas

ΓΕΡ. Germanicus

ΓΝ. Gneius

ΓΟΡΤΥ. Gortyna

ΓΡΑ. Gravifex

Δ.

Δ. Decimus, Dymae

ΔΑΚ. Dacicus

ΔΑΜ. Damascus

ΔΑΡ. Dardanum

ΔΗ. Δημος, the people

ΔΗΜΑΡΧ. ΞΕΩΣ. with Tribunitian power

ΔΕ. Decelia

ΔΕΚ. Decius

(B) There were also Syriarchæ, Lyciarchæ, Galatarchæ, Bithyniarchæ, Cappadociarchæ, &c. Morel. Spec.

Abbreviations.

ΔΕΡ. Derbe in Lycaonia ΑΗ. Delos ΔΙ. Diospolis ΔΡΕ. Drepanum ΔΥΡ. Dyrrhachium

E.

Ε. Εύγεια Ε. ΕΡΕΣ. Erebus ΕΛΕΥ. Eleusis ΕΛΕΥΘΕΡΙΑ, Free ΕΠΙ. Epidaeus ΕΡΙ. Eriza in Caria ΕΡΧ. Erchia ΕΡΓ. Erythrae ΕΤ. ΕΤΟΣ. Year ΕΤ. ΕΤΕΝΑ in Pamphylia ΕΧ. ΕΧΩΝ, Power ΕΥ. ΕΥΒΟΙΑ. Euboea ΕΥΣ. Ευστοχία, Pious ΕΥΤ. Ευτυχία, Happy ΕΦ. ΕΦΕΣ. Ephesus

Z.

ΖΑ. Zacynthus ΖΑΝΚΑ. Zanclae, Messana anciently so called

H.

Η. Eilium ΗΓ. Ηγεμόνας, President ΗΡΑΚ. Heraclea

Θ.

ΘΑ. Thasus ΘΕ. Θεσπρία ΘΕΣ. Θεσσαλονίκη ΘΕ. ΘΕΒΑ. Thebae

I.

Ι. ΙΕΡ. Ιερός, Sacred ΙΕΡΑΠ. Hyerapytha ΙΚΑΡ. Hiccara ΙΛΙ. Ilium ΙΟΥ. Julius, a city, or Julius ΙΟΥΛ. Julia ΙΠΑ. Hippana ΙΡ. Irene Inf. Pellerin.

Σ. Ifus, Ithaca

K.

Κ. Caius; Quintus Κ. ΚΑΙΣ. Caesar Κ. Κ. Κοινοί Κιλικίας, Community of Cilicia ΚΑΙΑ. Caesius ΚΑΛ. Chalcedon ΚΑΛΛΙ. Callipolis ΚΑΜΑ. Camara ΚΑΝ. Canata ΚΑΠ. Capua ΚΑΠΠ. Cappadocia ΚΑΡ. Carrhae ΚΑΡΤ. Carthago ΚΑΤ. Caulonia ΚΕ. Ceos ΚΕΦ. Cephalædis ΚΙ. Cianus, Cibaeum ΚΙΑ. Ciblani ΚΑ. Κλεονα, Claudius ΚΛΑ. Clazomene

ΚΝΙ. Cnidus ΚΟ. Corinth ΚΟΙΝ. Κοινόν, Community ΚΟΛ. Κολοφών, Colony, Colophon ΚΟΜ. Commodus ΚΟΡ. Corcyra ΚΡ. Κράγους in Lycia ΚΡΑ. Cranos ΚΡΗ. Crete ΚΤΗ. Ctenemene, Pell. ΚΥ. Cuma, Cydonium, Cydon ΚΥΘ. Cythnus ΚΥΠ. Cyprus ΚΥΡ. Cyrene

Α.

Α. or Λ. Αυγούστου, Year Α. Lucius ΑΑ. Lacedemon ΑΑΜ. Lamea; Lampscus ΑΔΡ. Larilla ΑΡ. Larinum ΑΕ. ΑΕΤ. Leucas ΑΕΩΝ. Leontium ΑΗΜ. Lemnos ΑΠ. Lipara ΑΙΓΙ. Liviolis ΑΟ. ΑΟΚ. Locri ΑΟΡ. Longone ΑΥΓ. ΑΥΚ. Lyctus

M.

M. Marcus, Malea, Megalopolis, Mazaka MA. Maronea, Massilia, Macedonia ΜΑΓ. Magnesia ΜΑΚΡΟ. Macrocephali ΜΑΜ. Mamertini ΜΑΣ. Massilia ΜΑΖ. Mazara ΜΕ. Menelaus, on Syrian regal coins ΜΕΝΕΚ. Menecrates ΜΕ. ΜΕΓ. Megara, Megalopolis, Melite ΜΕΓ. ΜΕΓΑΛΗ, Great ΜΕΣ. Messana ΜΕΤΑ. Metapontum Μ. ΜΗΤΡΟ. Metropolis ΜΙ. Miletus ΜΚ. Maïska of Cappadocia, on coins of Mithridates VI. ΜΟΡ. Morgantia ΜΥ. Mycenæ ΜΥΡ. Myrlea ΜΥΤΙ. Mytilene Ν. Naupactos ΝΑΞ. Naxos ΝΑΤΑΡΧ. Ναυαρχίδαι, enjoying a sea port ΝΕ. Νέμεα Ν. ΝΕΩΚ. Neocori

ΝΕΟΠ. Neopolis ΝΕΡ. Nerva ΝΙΚ. Niceum, Nicomedia ΝΥΞ. Νύξι, on coins of Scythopolis, Pell.

O.

ΟΙ. Οἰθαῖ ΟΝ. Οὖτος, Being ΟΠΕΑ. Opelius ΟΠ. Opus ΟΡΤ. Orycus ΟΡΧ. Orchomenus ΟΡΠ. or ΥΠ. Οὐρανός or Υπετετες, Coniul ΟΥΕΡ. Verus ΟΥΗ. Verus ΟΥΕΣΠ. Vespasianus ΟΥΙΤΕΛ. Vitellius ΟΦΡ. Ophrynium

Π.

Π. ΠΑΣΣ, Πασσ, upon Π. ΠΟΠΛ. Publius Π. ΠΑ. Paphos or Paros ΠΑΙΣ. Paestum ΠΑΝ. Panormus ΠΑΡ. Paropinum ΠΑΡΙ. Paros ΠΑΡΟ. Parthicus ΠΕ. Perinthus ΠΕΑ. Pella ΠΕΡ. Pergus ΠΕΡΤ. Pertinax ΠΕΣΚ. Pefcennius Π. ΠΗ. Pelusium ΠΙΝ. Pinamytæ ΠΛΑ. Plateæ ΠΟ. Pontus ΠΟΑΥ. Polyrhenum ΠΟΣ. Posidonia ΠΡΑΣ. Praffus Π. ΠΡΥ. Πρυτανεύς, Praefect ΠΡ. ΠΡΕΣ. Πρεσβεύς, Legate ΠΡΟ. Proconnesus ΠΡΟΠΙ. Προπίτης, Curator Π. ΠΡΩΤ. Πρωτος, First ΠΤ. Ptolemais ΠΥ. Pylos

R.

ΡΟ. Rhodes

Σ.

Σ.ΣΑ. Salamis, Samos, Syria

Greek Numerals.

A. 1. 1. 10. Ρ. 100. Β. 2. 2. 20. Σ. or C 200. Γ. 3. 3. 30. Τ. 300. Δ. 4. 4. 40. Υ. 400. Ε. 5. 5. 50. Φ. 500. ζ. or ξ. 6. 6. 60. Χ. 600. Ζ. 7. 7. 70. Ψ. 700. Η. 8. 8. 80. Ω. 800. Θ. 9. q or χ 90. ρ. 900.

Example.

Examples. I is io; add A to I, and IA makes II; so IB, 12; II, 13, &c. K is 20, KA, 21, &c. PIA makes IIII. The English word AIR marks the grand initial numerals. On coins the numerals are often placed in retrograde order; which makes no difference in the value, as every letter is appropriated to its number. Thus TAI or FAT imply the same, 333. But this advantage being unknown to the Roman numerals and Arabic cyphers, is apt to puzzle the beginner.

ROMAN COINS.

A A. AULUS: in the exergue it implies the first mint, as ANT. A. coined at Antioch in the first mint A. A. A. F. F. Auro, Argento, Ære, Flando, Feriundo A. or AN. Annus A. A. Apollo Augusti A. F. A. N. Auli filius, Auli nepos ABN. Abnepos ACT. Actiacus, or Actium AD. FRV. ENV. Ad fruges emundas ADIAB. Adiabenicus ADOPT. Adoptatus ADQ. Adquifta ADV. Adventus AED. Ædes AED. P. Ædilitia potestate AED. S. Ædes sacræ AED. CVR. Ædilis Curulis AED. PL. Ædilis Plebis AEL. Ælius AEM. or AIMIL. Æmilius AET. Æternitas AFR. Africa, or Africanus ALBIN. ALBINUS ALIM. ITAL. Alimenta Italica ANN. AVG. Annona Augufti A. N. F. F. Annum Novum Faufum Felicem ANIC. Anicius ANN. DCCCLXXXIII. NAT. VRE. P. CIR. CON. Anno 864 Natali Urbis Populo Circenses confiftuti ANT. AVG. Antonius Augur ANT. Antonius, or Antoninus AP. Appius A. P. F. Argento Publico Feriundo A. POP. FRVG. AC. A Populo Fruges Acceptae AQ. or AQI. Aquilius

CORN. Cornelius CVR. X. F. Curavit Denarium Faefendum D. D. Decimus, Divus, Deignatus DAC. Dacicus D. F. Dacia felix D. M. Diis Manibus DES. OF DESIG. Deignatus DICT. Dictator DOMIT. Domitianus D. N. Dominus noster DID. Didius D. P. Di Penates DV. Divus

E. EID. MAR. Idus Martiae EX. CONS. D. Ex Consensu Decurionum EX. S. C. Ex Senatus Consulto EQ. ORDIN. Equeftris Ordinis EX. A. PV. Ex Argento, or Auctoritate Publica EXER. Exercitus ETR. Etruscus F. F. Filius, or Filia, or Felix, or Faciundum, or Fecit FEL. Felix FELIC. Felicitas FL. Flavius FLAM. Flamen FORT. RED. Fortune Reduci FOVRI. Fourius for Furius FONT. Fontenius FRVGIF. Frugiferæ (Cereri) FVL. Fulvius FVLG. Fulgerator G. G. Gneius, Genius, Gaudium GA. Gaditanus G. D. Germanicus Dacicus GEN. Genius GERM. Germanicus GL. E. R. Gloria Exercitus Romani GL. P. R. Gloria Populi Romani GOTH. Gothicus G. P. R. Genio Populi Romani G. T. A. Genius Tutelaris Ægypti, or Africæ H. HEL. Helvius HEL. Heliopolis HER. Herennius, or Herennia

MO. Honos HS. Seftertius I. I. Imperator, Jovi, Julius IAN. CLV. Janum clufit for clauft IMP. Imperator IMPP. Imperatores I. S. M. R. Juno Solpita, Mater or Magna Regina IT. Italia, Iterum ITE. Iterum IVL. Julius or Julia IVST. Juftus I-I. S. SACR. Jovi Optimo, Maximo, Sacrum II. VIR. Duumvir III. VIR. R. P. C. Triumvir Reipublice Conftituen- dae III. VIR. A. P. F. Quatuorvir, or Quatuorviri, Auro, or Argento, or Ære, Publico Feriundo IVN. Junior L. L. Lucius LAT. Latinus LEG. PROPR. Legatus Propraetoris LEG. I. &c. Legio Prima, &c. LEP. Lepidus LENT. CVR. X. P. Lentulus Curavit Denarium Faciundum LIBERO P. Libero Patri LIB. PVF. Libertas Publica LIC. Licinius L. S. DEN. Lucius Sicinius Dentatus LVC. Lucifera LVD. CIR. Ludi Circenses LVD. EQ. Ludi Equeftries LVD. SAEC. F. Ludos Saeculares Fecit M. M. Marcus, or Marius MAR. CL. Marcellus Clo- dius M. F. Marci Filius M. OTACIL. Marcia Ota- cilia MAG. or MAGN. Magnus MAC. Macellum MAX. Maximus MAR. Martia (aqua) MAX. VLT. Marti Ultori