A Lecture on Coins, read at a Meeting of the Cotteswold Club, 
February 28rd, 1888. By the Rev. A. Winnineron-InGRam. 
The science of Numismatics is one which opens to the 
enquiring mind a field of study, which yields to none of the 
sister sciences in interest or instruction. 
In a cabinet of coins we have a miniature history of the 
countries in which they were current, and in it we may trace 
the development of those countries in the different branches 
of art. 
With regard to English coins we may trace the progress of 
the fine arts in design and in sculpture from their infancy, from 
the rude money of the Ancient British and of the Early Saxons, 
improving under the enterprising and ingenious Normans, and 
then after some centuries of repose receiving a new impulse 
under the hands of that patron of the arts, Henry VII ; and 
then we behold them gradually developing themselves till they 
reach their climax through the genius of that admirable artist 
Pistrucci, in the reign of King George IV. 
Nor is the interest of Numismatics confined to the pictorial 
representation, for we find also a manifest and gradual im- 
provement in the form of the letter used in. the legend, 
and in the different manner of spelling the names of towns 
and of cities where the royal mint was established; in a 
commercial point of view, too, we see the relative values of 
metals at various periods, and the alloys to which resort has 
been had. We have also along with the head of the monarch, 
his name, titles, etc., and in many instances the circumstances 
under which they were struck ; the various modifications of the 
crown, and of the regal costume; and the changes which the 
revolutions of the empire have caused, displayed in the royal 
arms. In fact, what is there that is interesting to the his- 
torian, the biographer, or the antiquary, which is not to be 
found on coins ? 
