84 



ACCOUNTS, ETC., OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM. 



In the following Table the new acquisitions are classified 

 according to the five principal series to which they belong : — 



CLASS. 



Gold. 



Silver. 



Bronze. 



Billon. 



Lead. 



Glass. 



Ivory. 



Total. 



Greek .... 



4 



118 



281 



_ 



_ 



_ 



_ 



403 



Roman .... 



- 



- 



3 





- 



- 



- 



3 



English ... - 



2 



287 



9 



- 



' 



- 



1 



303 



Medieval and Modem - 



4 



35 



18 



8 



1 



- 



- 



66 



Oriental ... - 



80 



119 



151 



12 



- 



49 



- 



411 



Total, - - - 



90 



559 



462 



20 



5 



49 



1 



1,186 



Remarkable Coins and Medals. 



Among the acquisitions of the year the following are 

 worthy of special notice : — - 



1. Greek Series : — 



Philip II. King of Macedon. — A tetradrachm with a head 

 of Zeus to the left, of very fine style and bold relief ; perhaps 

 the most typical example yet found of the post-Pheidian ideal 

 head of Zeus. This coin is thought to have been struck at 

 Melitaea in Thessaly, as it has in the field a bee, the badge 

 of that city. 



Byzantium in Thrace. — A tetradrachm and two drachms 

 of the middle of the 4th century, B.C. The type, a cow 

 standing upon a dolphin, is supposed to symbolise the myth of 



lo crossing the Bosphc 



The local variety of the B, the 



initial letter of Byzantium, (fl) on this coin seems to be a 

 variant of the Corinthian form of the same letter, w^hich 

 is lP. The date of the coin indicates, however, that this is 

 merely an archaistic survival from more ancient times. 



Mesemhria in Thrace. — A fine specimen of the very rare 

 diobol (circ. B.C. 400), having on the obverse the helmet of 

 the Thracian Sun-god Ares, and on the reverse M — E — T — A 

 in the four quarters of a radiate solar wheel. The solar type 

 of this coin is clearly connected with the name of the town, 

 Mi(Tr)iJL^pia, {=^ Mid-day.) This coin is also important palseo- 

 graphically, as aff'ording an instance of the obsolete sibilant 

 " San " T", in place of ' sigma.' The " San " is not met with 

 elsewhere on coins, though it is found in inscriptions of Teos 

 and Halicarnassus. (Thompson, Palceogr. p. 3.) 



Hehryzelmis 



