HORSE-SHOE MEDAL. 367 



Schmidt at Gaufelfingen. These may be horse-shoes ; 

 they have each eight holes, disposed three on each side 

 and two at the toe ; and the extremities have an appear- 

 ance as if there were calkins, though the engraver has 

 unfortunately forgotten to copy them accurately ; but 

 altogether their form and the disposition of the holes is 

 peculiar, and certainly not like the shoes of the earlier 

 periods. On the reverse of the medal is a laurel-tree, 

 with the letters I O on each side of the trunk, and the 

 legend TRIVMP (triumph). Nothing is known as to 

 the history of this curious relic, or where it was discovered ; 

 but as it was in the collection of the Elector of Branden- 

 burg, it may be of Germano-Roman origin, in which case 

 we may then conclude that the objects resembling shoes are 

 really intended to represent them, and may be compared 

 with the specimen from the Gaufelfingen tumulus. 



It may be added, however, that Beger' seems to have 

 been much baffled by the medal, and could come to no 

 conclusion as to its import. ' Quid autem serpentes 

 caudis connexio ? quid calces equorum ? nisi cum Patino 

 bellum prudentia gestum intelligas, non explicavero.' 

 Eckhel, in his ' Doctrina Nummorum Veterum,' asserts 

 that he has also seen this money, on which is impressed 

 the ' two shoes placed between two serpents with interlaced 

 tails.' He observed it in several collections, and thought 

 it an evident allusion to the success of a race-horse in the 

 circus. One or two of these coins were in the museum 

 of the late M. Blacas. 



M. Nickard, who appears determined not to admit 

 that horses were shod with the ancients, has been as much 

 ' Thesaur. Elect. Brandenburg, vol. iii. p. 597. 



