NUMMUUITE 



58OO 



7th century the first Mahomedan 

 coins made their appearance ; al- 

 though, as the representation of 

 living objects was forbidden, they 

 had little influence on the artistic 

 side, they were soon serious rivals 

 to the Byzantine gold in interna- 

 tional currency. It was, however, 

 not until the 13th century that the 

 nations of western Europe began 

 to possess a regular gold currency, 

 and this began with the florin of 

 Florence, first coined in 1252, and 

 the ducat of Venice, first coined 

 in 1280. The English silver penny 

 sterling, for its good quality, was 

 largely imitated on the European 

 Continent, especially in the Low 

 Countries, during the 13th and 

 14th centuries. 



The institution of the larger de- 

 nomination of the gros by Louis IX 

 in France, an example soon fol- 

 lowed by other countries, robbed 

 the smaller denomination of some 

 of its prestige. The first English 

 regular currency of gold, the 

 noble, was begun in 1344. 



From this time onwards the 

 development of European coinage 

 becomes extremely complicated. 

 Among the northern nations, the 

 best period of the coinage is the 

 14th century, although the prac- 

 tical absence of portraiture robs it 

 of one source of interest. The 

 coinage of the Renaissance in Ger- 

 many was racially characteristic 

 in its combination of vigour of 

 portraiture with lack of refinement. 

 In Italy the highest level is 

 reached hi the portrait coins of the 

 end of the 15th century, but the 

 noblest contribution of Italy to 

 numismatic art is in the cast medal. 

 Antonio Pisano of Verona (first 

 half of the 15th century), the 

 founder of modern medallic art, 

 and also by far its greatest expon- 

 ent, is surpassed by few artists of 

 any kind as a master of dignified 

 portraiture and fine design. No 

 other country produced medallists 

 of the same quality as the best 

 Italians, although Germany in the 

 16th century developed a charac- 

 teristically vigorous but unimagina- 

 tive school of portraiture ; and 

 in the 17th century, France in 

 Guillaume Dupre and England in 

 Thomas Simon could boast of por- 

 trait medallists of very high rank. 



Development o! Striking 

 During the 16th century the 

 technique of striking, as distinct 

 from casting, medals was rapidly 

 developed, by no means to the 

 advantage of the art, which lost in 

 significance what it gained in skill. 

 The old method of striking the 

 metal between dies with a sledge- 

 hammer was gradually replaced by 

 a press worked with a screw, which 

 was firmly established in most 



countries in the second half of the 

 16th century, and by the second 

 half of the 17th century superseded 

 the primitive method. Technically 

 speaking, perhaps the most remark- 

 able examples of the art of striking 

 coins were produced during this last 

 period ; Thomas Simon's Petition 

 Crown (1663), with an inscription 

 struck on its edge begging Charles 

 II to give him employment, has 

 scarcely any technical rival. 



The 18th and 19th centuries 

 show for the most part a deplorable 

 falling off in the art of coinage, 

 which is hardly redeemed by 20th 

 century attempts at revival which 

 have been made, chiefly hi France. 

 Colonial Minting 



The history of the colonies out- 

 side Europe is illustrated from the 

 16th century by a coinage often 

 very primitive in kind ; among the 

 most interesting being the issues of 

 the early Spanish and English 

 colonies in America, and the 



Nummulite. Diagrams illustrating 

 formation of fossil shell. A. High- 

 ly magnified vertical section of part 

 of shell showing construction of air 

 chambers. B. Horizontal bisection, 

 showing spiral of chambers. C. 

 Vertical bisection. D. Shell viewed 

 from above 



adaptations in the West Indies of 

 Spanish coins to local use by 

 counter-marking, etc. In Asia, 

 important series of corns were 

 issued by some of the Portuguese 

 and Dutch colonies. 



India had possessed a coinage 

 quite as early as the time of Alex- 

 ander the Great, in the shape of 

 small punch-marked pieces of 

 silver. Greek influence, beginning 

 with the purely Greek coins of the 

 kings of Bactria in the 3rd century, 

 is continued through the coinage of 

 the Indo-Scythic rulers, and still 

 traceable in the extraordinarily 

 rich gold coinage of the Gupta 

 dynasty, contemporary with the 

 earlier centuries of the Roman 

 Empire. The medieval coinage of 

 India, both under native rulers and 

 under the Mahomedan dynasties, 

 was enormous, and fills innumer- 

 able gaps in the scanty historical 

 records of the country. 



China is thought to have begun 

 to use coins as early as the 6th or 



7th century B.C. ; these were cast 

 in bronze in the shape of knives 

 and other primitive media of 

 exchange ; the hole at the end of 

 the handle, by which they were 

 strung together, was probably the 

 origin of the hole in the later 

 Chinese copper cash. Japan de- 

 rived the style of its coinage from 

 China. The S.E. portion of Asia 

 has used some remarkable ex- 

 amples of primitive currency, the 

 metal being cast in the shape of 

 snail-shells or in ingots of other 

 primitive forms- , 



Bibliography. Medallic Illustra- 

 tions of the History of Great Britain 

 and Ireland, E. Hawkins and A. W. 

 Franks, 1885; Currency of the 

 Farther East, J. H. S. Lockhart, 

 1895-98 ; Indian Coins, E. J. 

 Rapson, 1897 ; Handbook of the 

 Coins of Great Britain and Ireland, 

 H. A. Grueber, 1899; Handbook of 

 Greek and Roman Coins, G. F. Hill, 

 1899; Manual of Musalman Numis- 

 matics, O. Codrington, 1904 ; Coin 

 Types, G. Macdonald, 1905 ; Historia 

 Numorum, B. V. Head, 2nd ed. 

 1911; History of Ancient Coinage, 

 P. Gardner, 1918; Medals of the 

 Renaissance, G. F. Hill, 1920. 



Nummulite (Lat. nummus, 

 coin). Genus of fossil foraminifera. 

 The shells are remarkable for being 

 flattened and circular, resembling 

 coins, and yet containing a large 

 number of chambers arranged in a 

 spiral. The genus was abundant 

 during the Eocene, and limestones 

 of that period composed chiefly of 

 nummulites are sometimes several 

 hundred ft. in thickness. These 

 limestone foundations are particu- 

 larly noticeable in the Alps, N. 

 Africa, Asia, and Central America - 



Nun (Lat. nonna, an elderly 

 woman, mother, or nurse). Word 

 adopted by the early Church for a 

 woman consecrated to a life of 

 devotion. By the beginning of the 

 4th century there were communi- 

 ties of consecrated virgins in 

 Egypt, and a little later in Italy 

 also. The Council of Saragossa for- 

 bade the veil to be assumed before 

 the age of 40. The Council of Car- 

 thage prescribed 25 as the earliest 

 age ; S. Basil suggested 17. 



It was understood almost from 

 the first that the dedication of a 

 nun was for life ; but it was not 

 regarded as absolutely irrevocable 

 until the establishment of the 

 Benedictine Rule. Nuns were con- 

 secrated or professed by the bishop 

 of the diocese or his representative ; 

 and all convents of women were 

 under his jurisdiction and general 

 supervision. The habit, veil, etc., 

 forming the characteristic garb of 

 a nun, are of early date and a 

 modification of the ordinary dress 

 of women in ancient times. _ 



The term nun is only correctly 

 applied to a female member of the 



