143 . 



uription — " atque hujus quidem typum sculptor Christianus, rudis 

 " IlebraBarum litterar im, absente autore, incidit." This is plainly 

 arguing in a circle, nor does the invention of the deputy engraver 

 make it to be entirely logical. I shall here observe, that the convert- 

 ed Jews of Wagenseil are contemporary with the Crusaders; so that 

 his argument is not supported by the authority of Alstedius. 



I have yet to notice more particularly his assertion, that such me- 

 dals were so common in Germany, that they were every whei-e to 

 be found suspended to the necks of children. But it is to be remark- 

 ed, that this observation applies to a specimen which differs from 

 that before us ; and he admits, that another of these medals, (similar 

 to the rest with regard to the subject matter,) was as rare, as any that 

 the writers, who mention them, declare them all to be. How one 

 specimen, therefore, happens to be so very common, requires some 

 explanation ; both to prevent the assertion from proving too much, 

 and to reconcile it to the testimony of others, as well as to probabi- 

 lity. What was considered as exceedingly rare by Theseus Am- 

 brosius, and by writers cotemporary with Wagenseil, could not, in 

 fact, have come to be so common in his time. I therefore conjec- 

 ture, first, that of the medal, concerning which this author thus 

 speaks, there were most probably both originals, and a second or 

 counterfeit edition; and, secondly, that the abundance, which he 

 describes, applies to the latter alone. We cannot, by any other sup- 

 position, account for so great a plenty succeeding to a rarity so consi- 

 derable ; and the author of the anonymous work of the " Knowledge of 

 " Medals"*, affords us information, which seems to prove this position 



* This book is, I believe, a translation from Jobert, and the work alluded to by Pinkerton. 

 See his Preface. 



