EEPOKT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1914. 35 



tion with them is displayed a very large and fine set of papal medals, 

 dating from 1192 to 1910. The coinage of the Netherlands, Norway, 

 Poland, Portugal, Roumania and Russia follows, and of the coins 

 and medals. of Spain there is an exceptionally interesting series, in- 

 cluding a large number of pieces struck for circulation in the Span- 

 ish-American countries. The European collection ends with some 

 excellent examples of early and recent coins and medals of Sweden 

 and Switzerland. Its greatest desideratum is of ancient Greek and 

 Roman coins. 



The Asiatic and African countries whose coinage is shown are 

 China, Japan, Persia, Siam, Abyssinia, Algeria, Liberia, Morocco 

 and Turkey. The Chinese representation is the largest, numbering 

 over 2,000 pieces and covering the period from about TOO years B. C. 

 to the present time. The bulk of this collection was a bequest from 

 the late George B. Glover, and many modern copper pieces have 

 been added by Mr. N. Gist Gee, of Soochow University, China. The 

 Japanese series is also important ; beginning with the sixteenth cen- 

 tury, it is brought down to the latter part of the nineteenth century. 



Postal tokens. — At the beginning of 1908 the subject of postage 

 stamps was illustrated in the Museum by only a small miscellaneous 

 collection of domestic and foreign issues numbering about 2,500 

 pieces, and it is interesting to note that the principal contributor had 

 been Mrs. Spencer F. Baird. In the year named, however, through 

 the munificence of Mr. David Cromwell, of New York, the Museum 

 received an exceptionally fine series of about 20,000 specimens repre- 

 senting the United States and nearly all foreign countries. These 

 stamps were almost without exception well preserved, uncanceled 

 copies, which had been assembled by the collector with much care 

 and at great pains, and were therefore especially suitable for public 

 exhibition. Though lacking in many important particulars, this 

 collection was installed as a unit in a series of cases designed for the 

 display of manuscripts but well adapted to this purpose, which are 

 located in the smaller hall of history, as already explained. 



In 1912 the Museum obtained by transfer the more essential parts 

 of the large exhibition of the Post Office Department, comprising as 

 its most valuable and important feature the stamps, stamped enve- 

 lopes, and postal cards of all the nations of the world, to the number 

 of nearly 200,000, and since then there has been a constant accretion 

 from the same source. The original collection consisted primarily 

 of a large cabinet with sliding frames, in which the main series of 

 stamps had been installed, including those printed for the United 

 States b}^ private firms from 1817, the date of the first Government 

 issue, until 1891, when the work was taken up by the Bureau of 

 Engraving and Printing, and the subsequent issues from this bureau ; 



