60 BRITISH AND ROMANO-BRITISH COINS. 



We may now pass without a break in time, and possibly 

 without regret, to the monetary system imposed by Rome upon 

 this country for three centuries and a-half, a system which 

 produced the wonderful array of portraits and historical data 

 which have been unequalled in any other age, and to which the 

 words " Show us the coinage of a nation and we will write its 

 history " seem especially applicable. 



Before entering upon the details of the second portion of 

 these notes I would point out, in explanation of the limited 

 number of specimens upon the table, that the British section of 

 the Roman coinage, attractive though it is in interest, is a small 

 one numerically, and represents only a fractional part of the 

 Imperial series. The opportunities of studying the subject on 

 the spot are many; in 1672 Rich. Blome, when describing 

 Dorchester, mentions the " great quantities of Roman coyns 

 there often digged up," and more than 200 years later the soil 

 is still yielding an apparently undiminished supply. 



That section of the Imperial coinage which is directly 

 connected with our island may be placed in three classes : 



A. Those coins on which the reverse types and legends 

 commemorate successes of the Roman arms in Britain, but 

 which were probably struck in Rome. 1 The issue of these 

 historical devices, often of great beauty, unfortunately ceased 

 after the death of Caracalla in A.D. 217. 



B. Those bearing letters in the exergue (such as PLN, &c.), 

 which indicate that the coin was struck at one or other of the 

 mints set up by the conquerors in their British province. The 

 reigns of Constantine I., the members of his family, and their 

 colleagues furnish the bulk of this class. 



C. Those that were undoubtedly issued in Britain, but 

 without British devices or mint letters in the exergue, such as 

 the unmarked coinage of Carausius and Allectus. To these may 



1 A smaller school of numismatists hold that some of these commemorative 

 coins of the earlier emperors were produced in Britain, but the contrary opinion 

 generally obtains. 



