



1P24 



and slaves to a torturing death ; and Constantino punished false coin 

 ing as high treuon with the penalty of confiscation, exile, or death 

 and reduced the thickness of the coins so that it might ring ami pro- 

 rent plating. 



After the fall of the Roman Kinpire the MMfmttoa of Europe into 

 various small statM gave rise to a currency like the autonomous coins 

 of Greece. It is not pontiible to give a detailed account of the nume- 

 rous types found in the modern series which has existed in Europe for 

 the last 1400 years. The first French dynasty, the Merovingian, issued 

 sousd'or, (solidus), demi-sous (semis), and tiers sous, trientos, struck by 

 the great lords or moneyers, with their names and that 

 and imitating the coins of Anostasius. Under the Carlm-ingian 

 fly nasty denin> of i-ilver were introduced, and the sous d'or almost 

 abandoned, and Charlemagne introduced bis name in a monogram on 

 the coins, A.D. S64. The dissolution of the empire of CharMmagM 

 gave rise to the Italian and German series. During the commence- 

 ment of the Capets the denier tournois with a Tower and Parians, ami 

 v, eio chit-fly in circulation. The royal portrait did not appear 

 till Louis XII.. and Anne of Brittany first placed the millesime or 

 date of the Christian era on the currency in 1478. Besides the regal 

 coins.the borons, bishops, and monasteries issued their own currency : but 

 these were gradually suppressed by the crown. In the series there are a 

 few bracteotes, or thin coins of a leaf of gold or silver, struck in relief on 

 one side and hollow on the other, and issued by religious houses, and 

 menatur, tokens, which under some circumstances were used for coin. 

 The coins of Germany follow the French style ; but the art is not so good. 

 The early coins of Bohemia resemble the Anglo-Saxon : later ones have 

 M. \Yenceelas. Those of Hungary commencing with the llth century. 

 A.D., have the effigy of the mouarchs. The coins of Poland commence 

 with Boleslas the Great, imitate the Anglo-Saxon types, and have the 

 portrait of the monarch. The early currency of Rutsia consisted of 

 furs and coins ; gold coins do not begin till the 1 Oth century, A.U. They 

 are imitated from the Byzantine currency ; the silver, called dcnf/a, begin 

 lie 14th century, are of oblong shape with the prince on horse- 

 back, Samson and the lion, Arabic legends ; copper commences about the 

 15th century, and Peter the Great introduced the usual European 

 types in the 18th century. In Italy the coins of the Gothic were suc- 

 ceeded by the Lombard kings, and those of the dukes of Bencvento and 

 Salerno, the Norman princes of the kingdoms of the two Hi< -ilies, .-ill 

 imitated from the Byzantine currency ; and the currency of Charle- 

 magne, who forced the tributaries to adopt his monogram on the coins. 

 At Homo, from the llth to the 14th century, the currency was issued 

 by the Senate till Innocent IV. regained the power; but as c.-uly as 

 the 13th century the Pope coined in the Legations. From the !ith to 

 the llth century the prelates of Manheim, Aquileia, and Ascoli struck 

 their own coins. A series of coins of Venice, comprising tcquim and 

 gatelltu commence with the 12th century and terminate in the 19th, 

 having for their normal type the Doge receiving the goufalone, or 

 standard from St. Mark. From the 12th to 14th century the Republic 

 of Genoa and other free towns struck coins. Malta, given in 1551 to 

 the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, has a series with the arms and 

 effigies of the Grand Masters. 



The modern coins of Spain commence with the Visigoths, who 

 entered it in A.D. 531, who struck a series of gold solidi imitated 

 from the Byzantine, with their heads and those of the emperor on the 

 reverse. The double heads disappear about A.D. 650, and give place to 

 profile portraits, the monogram of the king's name, and the crown. 

 The coins (truck by the Mussulman princes belong to the Oriental 

 series. The kingdoms of Castile, Arragon, and Majorca follow the 

 usual mediaeval types. The coins of Great Britain and Ireland have 

 been already described [Cois] ; the early pieces of Denmark, com- 

 mencing with Harthacnut, A n. 1036, resemble them. But from the 

 end of the loth to the 12th century numerous bracteates were issued, 

 many by ecclesiastics; and crosses are the normal type from the middle 

 of the 13th century, and crowns after 1280. In Sweden, the early types 

 of the llth century copy the Anglo-Saxon; but from the end of the 

 llth to the 14th century a great number of bracteates, and small 

 nieces with the initials of the king's name, were in circulation. From 

 1866 the coins bear the arms of Sweden and the three crown*. The 

 coins of Norway commence at the same time as those of Sweden, but 

 are lees interesting. Of the Crusaders, there are Urge bronze coins 

 commencing with Tancred, 1110, and continuing with the \ 

 princes and nobles established in Greece and the East to the 15th 

 century. The general series of types in the dark ages ore imit .' 

 the Byzantine crosses, portraits, figures of saints, and h 

 emblems. The various changes and different values of modern coin 

 belong rather to money than numismatics. Although, in reality, 

 caedioival coins are much r.in r lh.ui the Greek and Roman, they are 

 lees prized by amateurs, and few cabinet* of them have been form !. 



The Oriental coins comprise those struck in the East by the Moham- 

 medans ; these coins are flat thin pieces, like the later Byzantine pieces, 

 and are called din-buns. They commence with the Omminh race of 

 khalifs, the earliest being the gold dinars of the 78th and the dirhems 

 of the 79th year of the Hegira. Both sides are covered with inscript i< .., 

 in the centre surrounded by a legend, the whole recording 11 

 fcon of the Faith, varied by extracts from the Koran, the name of 

 the city and year in which they were struck. The coins of Seljuks 

 have the sun in Leo ; the Turkoman Ortokitcs and Atabegs, portraits 



and devices rudely copied from Byzantine and other sources. The 

 Mamluk Bahrites have occasionally a lion, in addition to their legend*. 

 The Norman kings of Sicily have meducval types with Arabic legends. 

 The later Turkish are distinguished by the toyr ieated signa- 



ture of the sultan. Some of the Persian have animals, as a fish, cock, 

 camel, deer, and ox, in addition to inscriptions. The Patan dynasty, 

 the kings of Jaunpur, have inscriptions only. Of the Moguls of 

 Hindustan there is a fine aeries of gold mohurf, having on their <' 

 the twelve signs of the zodiac, struck by .l< hanur in 1611. Of the 

 sultans of Mysore, the most remarkable are the copper coins of Tippoo 

 Sail i, with an elephant. The earliest Hindu coins are those of the 

 Gupta line, representing Brahmimrul il.-itiex. The 

 India, Nepal, Assam, and Rangpur, have legends only. Of Ten;, 

 there are large octagonal and circular tin coins, impressed 

 with a dragon and phoenix. The coins of China and Indo-Chinn 

 principally of the ttitn or cash; but at the earliest period in C'hiin. 

 copper knives (latm . * ( /. Vl ) were in use. The cash 



have the value from A.D. 120, and theiiuperi.M name from A. p. 4">r ; four 

 characters, two meaning money, from A.D. 618. I'nder the Mogul and 

 Manchou dynasty they have the name of the mint in Manchou on the 

 reverse. There arc only silver dollars of 1683, struck on ti 

 of Formosa. The coins of Japan are flat gold plates called 4 

 tn/MH'/, and subinultiples. the square itztlivu ; the silver coins are Hat 

 rectangular pieces mimmt, yiun, and nandioyiun* ; the tmi cash like 

 the Chinese, from 1636. The coins of the Cored date from 1116; of 

 Annum, 1428; of Cochin, and Tuukin from 1740; of Ja\. 

 13th century, with Buddhistic figures to imitate the Chinese. Of 

 there are bent pieces of silver, stamped at the bend with ornaments. 



The high prices paid for ancient coins gave rise to nut 

 forgeries in the 15th and 16th centuries, and many Italian artists, 

 comprising Benvenuto Cellini, Valeria di Vicenza, Sebastiano Piombo, 

 and others, especially G. Covino made false dies of Roman coins with 

 great success, and issued the forgeries recognised as Pad nans or 

 Parmeggians by collectors. These, principally large brass, are detected 

 by their thinner and rounder shape, closer and finer letters, and Italian 

 style of work. Others retouched costs of true coins with the graver, 

 and added a false patina, filing the edges. In the 18th century, Con- 

 gornier, at Lyon, made gold coins of the Tyrants of the age of Gallienus, 

 and La Koche and Devrieu at Florence, counterfeited tiie I; 

 brass. Webber, Galli, in. of Smyrna, are known as forgers of 



Greek coins. The forgeries of Beckkerof Offenbach, who died ii> 



are by for the most numerous of >\ ln-s. and 



331 pieces, and worth _' liy in 



gold and silver, with some medieval specimens distinguished by a 

 coarser style of work, ignorance of details, expression, and 1 

 Greek medallions and coins were mode by Neapolitan forgers, and 

 false dies were iu activity in 1830 at Syra. An few, if any oi 

 Greek and Roman coins are found from the same die. I In- comparison 

 of suspected struck coins in various cabinets, leads to the dilution of 

 forgeries of this class, in addition to the precautions of weighing the 

 suspected pieces, and observing their correspondence with the standard 

 ness of the true coins, to avoid which, however, Beckker often 

 used for his blanks ancient coins of corresponding value. 



The largest class of forgeries are casts made from antique coins, by 

 making moulds of them in clay or plaster, and are executed with better 

 success in gold and silver than iu brass or copper, gold coins never 

 li.mnir any tcrugo, and the metal flowing more freely in the mould. 

 and silver being easily oxydised by chemical agents so as to appear to 

 liavo long lain in the earth, while the patina, or rust of bronze and 

 copper, especially the nd not or protoxyde ni cop]x i <yst.il- 



line character of which cannot be produced by chemical action, lint 

 only by the slow process, of centuries, cannot ' 



are deficient in weight, have smoothed edges, pitted fields, fused 

 letters, and interstices more or less filled up. 

 cealed by the suspicious operations of filing the edges, tooling out 

 i graver the letters and features, and covering the whole with a false 

 ioi't patina. The older deception* of altering with a graving tool th<- 

 portraits of common emperors into rare on. h the 



legends, or splitting two medals, giving rare and unu ..<, of 



-tamping ditiiT'-iit reverses or obverses, appears to have been abandi 

 - too ctarftc to deceive, and are only found in old can 



A coarser kind of forgeries were invented by the chasers and 

 sngravers of the 15th century, representing on one side the head of 

 on the other a view of Troy, or Queen Dido and Carthage, 

 Artemisia and the Mausoleum ; such learned t\ were, h 

 calculated to deceive thcorctii al pidants. (Beauvois, ' l.a 

 discerner les Medailles Antiq.,' 4to, Paris, 1739; 'Sopra i .Modcriii 

 falsification di medaglie Grecbe/Svo, Fir., 1820.) 



Cabinets are generally made of mahogany, oak and cedar being 

 objectionable owing to the turpentine and pyroligneous acid they 

 exude. The drawers, Jth inch thick, are pierced with circular holeti 

 I* inch in diameter, for autonomous Greek, and i; inch in diameter for 

 arge brass ; a small circular hole is left about [ inch in diameter, to allow 

 of a coin being lifted by the finger, the holes ore lined with movable pieces 

 >ii loth to prevent the rubbing of the coin. The larger and mu.iller 

 sizes for medallions, silver pennies, dollars, and denarii arc in proportion. 

 As economy of space is always sought, each suite is arranged l>y 

 itself, although the placing together of the entire 



