803 
M E D A L, 
matum antiquorum illorum, qure Urbium Liberarum, 
Regum et Principum, ac Perfonarum illuftrium, appel- 
lantur,” Viennae, Pragte, et Tergedi, 1758, 4to. and after¬ 
ward fuch books of medals as they pleafe, in chronological 
order as publilhed, from Goltzius down to Pellerin and 
Combe. Of books on modern coins and medals, the firft 
which ought to be perufed by a Britidi fubjeft are thofe 
relating to his own country. He fhould begin with Mr. 
Clarke’s Connexion of the Roman, Saxon, and Englifh, 
Coins; London 1767, 4to. Mr. Lowndes’s excellent Re¬ 
port, containing an Effay for the Amendment of Silver 
Coins, Lond. 1695, 8vo. Snelling’s Views of Englifh Mo¬ 
ney, Lond. 1763, and following years, 4to. Folkes’s Ta¬ 
bles of Englifh Coin, Lond. 1763, 4to. and Ducarel’s Let¬ 
ters on Anglo-Gallic Coins. Englifh medals are pub- 
lifhed by Snelling, and in Vertue’s Account of Simon’s 
works. On the Scottifh coins, the only books are thofe 
of Anderfon and Snelling. The Irifh are well difplayed 
by Simon, in his Hifforical EfTay on Irifh Coins, Dublin, 
1749, 4to. with the Supplement by another author, 1767, 
4to. The fecond edition of Mr. Pinkerton’s “ EfTay on 
Medals,” will fuperfede the neceflity of conftant reference 
to other works, not eafily procured ; and the reader will 
find, that the author has cited original writers, and 
availed himfelf of an examination of many of the coins 
themfelves, which he has defcribed. This elaborate work, 
in two lVnall volumes,*Lond. 1789, will afford to the flu- 
dent in this branch of fcience ample fatisfaflion. This 
edition, befides many corrections and additions, that very 
much contribute to the increafed value of the work, is 
illuftrated with prints of coins, engraven exaCtly of the 
form and fize of the originals, forming fpecimens of all 
the principal forts. In the advertifement to this new edi¬ 
tion, the author expreffes himfelf in terms of high com¬ 
mendation concerning Monaldini’s “ Iftituzione antiqua- 
rion Numifmatica,” printed at Rome, 1772, 8vo. which, 
he fays, is much fuperior to Jobert’s Science des Medailles. 
With fuch helps, we are now prepared to enter upon the 
HISTORY of MEDALS. 
Medals are formed of gold, filver, and the various mo¬ 
difications of copper. Th e-gc/d ufually made ufe of in 
coinage is about the finenefs of 2.2 carats; and, as the art 
of purifying this metal was little known in diftant ages, 
the mod ancient medals are for this reafon much more 
impure than the modern coins. Gold is never found in 
its native date above 2a carats fine ; and the very ancient 
medals are much under that dandard : many of them are 
compofed of a mixture of gold and diver, called by the 
ancients eleftrum . The gold medals were made of much 
finer metal after Philip of Macedon became poffeffed of 
the gold mines of Philippi in Thrace; and the medals of 
his fon Alexander the Great are equally fine, as well as 
thofe of fome other princes of that age. Thofe of the 
Egyptian Ptolemies are of the finenefs of 23 carats three 
grains, with only one grain of alloy. The Roman coins 
are very pure, even from the earlielt times ; the art of re¬ 
fining gold being well known before any were coined at 
Rome. Some authors are of opinion, that the Roman 
coins begin to fall fhort of their purity after the time of 
Titus; but Mr. Pinkerton denies that any thing of this 
kind takes place till the time of Severus ; and even then 
only in a very few indances. Mod of the Roman gold 
was brought from Dalmatia and Dacia, where that metal 
is dill to be met with. A very remarkable circumdance 
is obferved in the eadern part of Hungary, which belonged 
to the ancient Dacia. Gold germinates in the vines of 
Tokay, and is found in their dents ; as it is elfewlure in 
the draw of corn. 
Pliny informs us, and indeed it is generally known, that 
gold and diver are found mixed together in the earth. 
Where the filver amounted to one-fifth part of the gold, 
the metal was called eledlrum ; but fometirnes the quantity 
of diver was added artidcially. The gold was in thole 
days, as well as at prefent, refined by means of mercury 3 
and the ancient nrtids had certainly attained to great per- 
feftion in this branch of metallurgy ; as Bodin tells us, 
that the goldfmiths of Paris, upon melting one of Vefpa- 
dan’s gold coins, found only yj-j- part of alloy. 
Mod of the ancient filver , particularly that of Greece, 
is lefs pure than that of fucceeding times ; even the Ro¬ 
man diver is rather inferior to the prefent dandard, and 
that from the very beginning; but in the time of Severus 
the diver appears very bad, and continues fo until the time 
of Diocledan. Many writers upon this fubjedl have mil- 
taken the denarii arei, “ coins of brafs wathed with diver,” 
for diver currency. Silver coinsare extremely fcarce from 
the time of Claudius Gothicus to that of Diocledan, or 
from the year 270 to 284 ; in which fhort fpace no fewer 
than eight emperors reigned. Silver at that time was found 
modly in Spain ; and the commerce with that country 
was didurbed by the ufurpers who arofe in Gaul ; and 
fuch were the troubles of the times, that not only the di¬ 
ver but alfo the gold coins of thofe eight emperors are ex¬ 
tremely fcarce. There is dill, however, fome diver extant 
of thefe eight emperors; and it is certain, that copper 
wafhed was never ufed as diver currency, but was en¬ 
tirely a didinft coinage. Occadonal depravations of di¬ 
ver had taken place long before ; as Pliny tells us, that 
Mark Antony mixed iron with his diver denarii; and 
Mr. Pinkerton informs us, that he had feen a denarius of 
Antony which was attrafted by the magnet. 
The ancient brafs coins confid of two kinds : the red or 
Cyprian, which indeed is no other than copper; and the 
common yellow brafs. Our author obferves, that in the 
Roman coinage brafs was of double the value of copper; 
and he is of opinion, that it was the fame among the Greeks; 
and the latter is the metal mod commonly made ufe of in 
the Greek coinage. The Roman ledertii are always of 
brafs ; the middling-dzed kind are partly copper and 
partly brafs; the former being double the value of the 
latter, which are the afes. 
Mr. Pinkerton next proceeds to give an account of the 
nixed metals ufed among the Romans. In Britain, all kinds 
of coins made of mixed metal are without hedtation al¬ 
leged to be forgeries; although it is certain that the va¬ 
riety of mixed metals ufed in coinage was very condder- 
able.' The mod valuable mixture was that of gold or di¬ 
ver, already mentioned, named eleElrum ; the filver com¬ 
monly amounting to one-fifth part of the gold made ufe of, 
or perhaps more. Of this mixture are many of the fcarly 
coins of Lydia, and fome other Afiatic dates ; alfo thofe of 
the kings of the Bofphorus Cimmerius, during the impe¬ 
rial ages of Rome. Next to the eleffrum were the coins of 
Corinthian brafs; but Mr. Pinkerton informs us, that not 
a dngle coin was ever druckof this metal by the ancients; 
it having been condantly employed only in the fabrication 
of vafes or toys. It was in ufe at any rate only for a very 
fhort time; being altogether unknown in the days of Pliny 
the Elder. Our author therefore ridicules thofe who pre¬ 
tend not only to find out imperial coins of this metal, hut 
to difcover three kinds of it; viz. one in which the gold 
predominates, another in which the filver prevails, and 
a third where the brafs is mod confpicuous. He gives 
./Eneas Vico, one of the mod ancient writers on medals, 
as the author of this idea ; but whole opinions were con¬ 
futed by one Savot, a writer in the feventeenth century. 
Vico mentions a coin of this kind ftruck under Augudus, 
another of Livia, and a third of Claudius. The midake, 
he is of opinion, arofe from the circumdance of the firlfc 
propagator not being able to account for the various mix¬ 
tures and modifications of brafs obfervable in ancient 
coins of the large fize; and which in fo common a metal 
appear very drange to the moderns. Befides the authority 
of Pliny and other antiquaries of more modern a date, 
w ho all declare that “ tiiey never Taw a Tingle medal of 
Corinthian brafs, or of that metal mixed with filver and 
gold,” our author adduces another evidence which he 
looks upon to be fuperior to either; viz. that thofe who 
have given into this luppofition imagine, that the large 
1 pieces 
