DEPARTMENT OF COINS AND MEDALS. 79 



Department of Coins and Medals. 



I. — Removal of Collections. 



The entire collection of Coins and Medals, now consisting of 

 nearly a quarter of a million specimens, having outgrown the 

 space available for its accommodation in the old Medal Room, 

 constructed 50 years ago, was removed in January 1893 into 

 a new wing on the western side of the Museum, specially built 

 to receive it. The re-arrangement of the various series in a 

 geographical order convenient for reference has been com- 

 pleted. 



The removal of the Departmental Library of Numismatic 

 works has also been effected, all the books having been classi- 

 fied and placed in the new cases, and their press-marks altered 

 in the Departmental MS. Catalogue. 



II. — Exhibitions. 



A selection of reproductions in electrotype of all the finest 

 Greek and Roman coins has been placed on exhibition in the 

 Etruscan Saloon, on either side of the entrance to the New 

 Medal Room. The Greek coins, on the south side of the 

 entrance, have been arranged in such a manner as to aff'ord a 

 synoptical view, at once historical and geographical, of the 

 gold and silver coinage of the ancient world, from the in- 

 vention of the art of coining money, early in the seventh 

 century B.C., down to the Christian era. Every specimen 

 exhibited has been separately labelled and numbered in 

 accordance with the " Guide to the Coins of the Ancients," 

 where full descriptions and explanations of the types are 

 given. 



The Roman coins, on the north side of the entrance, consist 

 (i) of a rich series of Roman and Byzantine aurei and solidi, 

 ranging from the time of Julius Csesar down to the fall of 

 Constantinople in A.D. 1453; (ii) of a series of silver denarii, 

 &c., of Republican times, classified alphabetically under the 

 gentile or family names of the monetarii, the dates of issue 

 being added on the labels under the specimens ; (iii) of a 

 selection of Aes grave, showing the successive reductions 

 of the Roman As and its divisions in chronological order ; 

 and (iv) a representative portrait-series of Roman Imperial 

 large brass coins and medallions, comprising the finest 

 specimens from the unrivalled collection of the late Mr. 

 Edward Wigan. 



III. — Registration and Arrangement. 

 1. Greek Series : — 



587 coins, recently acquired, of various parts of the Greek 

 world, have been registered and incorporated. 



0.107. The 



