portant for a better knowledsie of ancient metallurirical 

 and striking techniques, and they are being continued 

 and expanded in our research laboratory. "' 



A systematic study was started in 1965 in coopera- 

 tion with Mr. Maurice Salmon of the Smitlisonian's 

 Conservation Research Laboratory on the use oi 

 X-ray diffraction methods in the identification of 

 various kinds of metal working. Thus it was possible 

 to distinguish between nickel coins struck on plan- 

 chets cut from rolled metal and coins struck on plan- 

 chets produced through powder metallurgy. 



In another instance two ancient Greek silver staters 

 Irom Acgina, supposedly struck in the 6th century 

 B.C., were examined and proved tu ije modern 

 counterfeits. Subjected to X-ray-dilTraction examina- 

 tion one coin showed a general imiformity of metal 

 structure which led to the conclusion that it was cast. 

 It was even possible to ascertain that the metal was 

 chilled rapidly, being cast in a rather cold mold. The 

 X-ra>-di (Traction patterns obtained from the second 

 coin also indicated casting, but using an unevenly 

 heated mold, whicli let one side of the coin cool more 

 slowlv than the other. 



NEW HORIZONS 



The future development of the national numis- 

 matic collections will continue along lines stemming 

 from a fundamental recognition that our foremost 

 dut\' is the search into the history of all lorms ol 

 money, attempting to explain their origin, their e\o- 

 lution, their extrinsic appearance as well as their 

 intrinsic ciualities, their relations to economics, to 

 social and cultural history, as well as to the history ol 

 art. Parallel with this is tlie search into the \arious 

 aspects and developments of medallic art. 



Fig. 57. — Pattern .Silver Ruble of Tsar Alex- 

 ander I of Russia, 1807. 



We expect numismatics truly to broaden its scope 

 more and more from a science which virtually re- 

 stricted itself to metallic forms of currency or coins to 

 a science concerned with the meaning and back- 

 ground of all forms of money, including primitive 

 media of exchange, money substitutes, and docu- 

 ments of value. 



A continuous reappraisal of tiie scope of numis- 

 matics will be essential. In order to be able to design 



"- V. C)i.,mn-.StkK..\nf.lli, ".\n .Application of l*li\<i<s in 

 .Ancient Numismatics, " American Journal nf Aulia'ulnr\ fl'Mih), 

 ^ol. 70, no. 2, p. 18,"). 



and project plans for the futur; we should consider. 

 for instance, that at this time, in 1966, the amount of 

 metallic currency' in circ.ilation in the United States 

 does not exceed 3 '^ billion dollars compared with 

 41 billion dollars in paper currency. These amounts 

 are, in turn, dwarfed by the sums of money trans- 

 ferred in 1965 by the intermediary of checks. Tlie 

 Federal Reserve banks alone handled in that year 

 492 million Government checks for nearly 135 billion 

 dollars. They also handled 4 bilhon 601 million other 

 checks amounting to about 1 trillion 631 billion dol- 

 lars. A multiple of this amount was transferred during 

 the same period by other banks. This gives us a better 

 perspective of the relatively limited role of hard 

 currency in inodern money transactions. The ever 

 increasing use of checking accounts will lead to 



f^jf 



Fit;. 58.— H.^LF-OuNCE AND '2-Olince Gold 

 liiKENS issued in 1853 by the "Kangaroo 

 OfFicc" in Victoria, .Australia. Only two other 

 specimens arc known to exist. 



PAPER ?,\: HISTORY Oi THE NATloNAI, NUMISMATIC COLLECTIONS 



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