426 
safely infer his coins began to be copied or imitated in Gaul 
as early as n.c. 300. But as these imitations would be merely 
servile copies retaining the name of Philip on the coins, 
while those of the Britons exhibit various innovations, such 
for instance as the addition of drapery, or a gorget to the 
neck of the laureate head, and a bandlet around it, the giving 
wings to the charioteer, and the union of the two horses of 
the biga ; it appears probable that some considerable time 
must have elapsed between the period when first the Philippi 
were imitated in the south of France and that when their 
modified copies were in circulation on the northern coast. 
As their weight is considerably less, it is evident they could 
never have been in circulation with the true Philipp us, 
which is about 133 grains, while the heaviest British are 
only 120 grains. It is a well-known fact that among all 
nations, whether civilized or uncivilized, there is a strong 
tendency, for the sake of some small gain to the governing 
power, to reduce the weight of the coins, so that the earlier 
coins are almost invariably heavier than those of a later date, 
even though of the same denomination and current value. 
Our Silver Penny, for example, of the present day weighs 
but 7J grains, though its original weight was 24 grains, as 
evidenced in our pennyweight ; and the ancient Boman 
Solidus, of 70 grains of gold, is represented by the English 
Shilling and by the French Sou. Again, as I have already 
stated, while the proper weight of the Macedonian Stater or 
Philippus was 133 grains, it was in the later times of the 
British coinage reduced to 84 grains. There is also a strong 
desire not only to reduce but to adulterate the gold coins 
with less valuable metals, so that some of the later gold coins 
are often found with a strong coating of verdigris upon them. 
Coincident with this diminution in weight, there is also a 
remarkable change in the types of the coins, each successive 
imitation becoming more and more remote from the original. 
