or MEDALION, a medal of an extraordinary size, supposed to be anciently struck by the emperors for their friends, and for foreign princes and ambassadors. But, that the smallness of their number might not endanger the loss of the devices they bore, the Romans generally took care to stamp the subject of them upon their ordinary coins. Medallions, in respect of the other coins, were the same as modern medals in respect of modern money; they were exempted from all commerce, and had no other value than what was set upon them by the fancy of the owner. Medallions are so scarce that a set cannot be made of them, even though the metals and sizes should be mixed promiscuously.