was added to an carlii-r bequest from Sir Robert 

 Cotton which had l^een donated to the state in 1710. 

 Both formed the nucleus of what was to become the 

 most famous coin collection in the world.'* This 

 collection and others, such as the substantial bequest 



of Dr. William Hunter to the University of Glasgow '"' 

 or the coins of Dr. Richard Mead (which were listed 

 in a sale catalog, Museum Mcadianum, 1755), of John 

 Swinton, and of Horace \Val|)oIc, helped place Eng- 

 land among the leading nations in numismatics. 



EARLY NINETEENTH CENTURY 



The turbulence and insecurity created by the French 

 Revolution and the Napoleonic wars left little leisure 

 and understanding for any kind of diversion, and, as 

 a result, coin collecting declined for a brief period of 

 the new century in many European countries. Vet, 

 from this dormant situation an awakening soon came, 

 generated in France by Napoleon's own grandiose 

 plans. Deliberate jjursuit of ancient ideals and art 

 concepts, as conveyed in the art of David and Canova, 

 combined with a strong feeling for national grandeur, 

 found expression in inrmmerable medals which were 

 struck during Napoleon's time. 



Numismatic literature in the subsequent years 

 clearly reflected these tendencies. Two imposing 

 works of French medallic art, Michel Hennin's two- 

 volume Histoire numismatique de la revolution Jrangaise 

 (1826) and the twenty-volume Tresor de numismatique 

 et de glyplique (1834-1858), both devoted largely to 

 the Revolution and to Napoleon, were published 

 within these decades. Related to such works was 

 Gerard \an Loon's Histoire metallique des XVII provinces 

 des Pajs-Bas, which had been published almost a 

 century earlier (1732-1737) and now was reedited in 

 the early 1800s. 



A remarkable figure in numismatics at the turn of 

 the century was the Frenchman Theodore-Edme 

 Mionnet (1770-1842), who joined the Cabinet des 

 Medailles in 1795. Strongly influenced by the clas- 

 sical tendencies of his age, he pursued ideals of dissemi- 

 nating knowledge of ancient coins among wider circles 

 as well as a.ssisting artists in their work by giving them 

 the opportunity to obtain relief reproductions of 

 artistic coins. His sulj)hur-paste copies of the latter 

 found a wide acceptance; at the same time, he pub- 

 lished descriptions of the type, history, and rarity of 

 these coins. Eventually the publications grew into 

 a considerable work, Description des medailles antiques 

 grecques et romaines avec leur degre de rarete et lew estima- 



Fig. q8. — Theodore-Edme Mion.net (1770- 

 1842) of the Cabinet des Medailles, Paris 



(photo courtesy Bibliotheque Nationale). 



tion, [iublished between 1806 and 1813 in si.x volumes 

 with an additional volume of plates. The Supplement, 

 in nine volumes, was issued between 1819 and 1837. 

 In this largest publication (up to that time) on Greek 

 coins, Mionnet succeeded in describing over 52,000 

 pieces. Although the work is not flawless and its 

 scholarly standards are lowered by a continuous pre- 

 occupation with establishing the commercial \alue of 

 coins, it still remains, through its wealth of informa- 

 tion, an invaluable reference. 



Mionnet's contemporary, the Italian Abbot 

 Domenico .Sestini (1750-1832), a well-known traveler 



"» Mattisgly, 'British Museum" (1949); Walker, "Early 

 History of Department of Coins and Medals" (1953); Boulton, 

 The Romame of the Brilisti Musfum (n.d.). 



'<" For the history of the Glasgow collections, sec M.\c- 

 donai.d's catalog Greek Coins in the Hunlerian Coltection, vol. 1, 

 pp. ix-lxvi; for an earlier catalog, see Combe, Nummorum 

 velerum (1782). 



34 



BULLETIN 229: CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 



