1220 Second Notice of some forged Coins [No. 108. 



1 . The heaviest of the genuine silver coins weighs 40 grains ; and 

 as the relative specific gravity of silver to gold is about 11 to 20, we 

 have ; as 1 1 is to 20, so are 40 grains to 12^^ grains ; the weight which 

 a gold piece would be if cast in a mould formed from a silver coin 

 weighing 40 grains, and withih Ij- grain of the actual weight of the 

 cast gold piece of Menander. 



2. The lightest of the genuine silver coins weighs 32 grains ; and 

 therefore as 11 : 20 : : 32 : 58^^ grains ; which would be the 

 weight of a gold piece if cast in a mould formed from one of the light- 

 est genuine silver coins ; and which is within 2^-^ grains of the actual 

 weight of the cast gold piece of Antimachus. 



3. The difference between two pieces thus formed is 72^j — 58^^=1 4^^^, 

 or nearly double the difference between the heaviest and lightest 

 genuine silver coins ; and also very nearly the actual difference be- 

 tween the two gold pieces under examination. The metal of the Anti- 

 machus is of a paler colour than that of the Menander ; and therefore 

 as it must contain more silver, its relative specific gravity must be less : 

 if however the metal of the two pieces had been the same, the differ- 

 ence between their weights would have been a grain or two nearer the 

 difference which I have calculated. 



From these facts, then, I come to the conclusion that, as the weights 

 of these two pieces are the same as the weights of gold casts made in 

 moulds formed from the heaviest and lightest genuine silver coins ; 

 and as the difference in weight between the two pieces is more than 

 double what it should be if they were genuine coins, and very nearly 

 the same that it would be if they were cast as before said ; these pieces 

 of Menander and Antimachus must be forgeries taken from genuine 

 silver coins : a conclusion which is fully borne out by all the suspici- 

 ous circumstances observable in their appearance. 



There is a faintness and an indistinctness in the outlines of the 

 figures on these pieces, that stamps them at once as cast coins ; and 

 where the relief in the figures on the original coins is small, it is 

 seldom reproduced in the casts ; as in the instance of the gold piece 

 of Antimachus, on which the horseman has no neck, and the horse 

 has scarcely any visible pasterns ; and where the letters are at all 

 crowded on the original coin, the spaces between them become filled 

 up in the cast piece, and render the legend almost illegible ; as in the 



