MEDAL. 827 
fometimes much more. Medals with unknown charac¬ 
ters are always fcarce and dear. Saxon pennies of the 
heptarchy are rare, and worth from ten drillings to ten 
pounds, according to their fcarcity and preservation. The 
coins of the Englifh kings are common ; thofe of Edward 
the Confeffor, in particular; others are rare, and worth 
from ten fhillings to two guineas, while two of Hardyknute 
are worth no lefs than ten guineas. The gold medals of 
Henry, in 1545, and the coronation of Edward, are 
worth 20I. each ; the Mary of Trezzo, 3I. Simon’s head 
of Thurloe in gold is worth 12I. his oval medal in gold 
upon Blake’s naval victory at fea is worth 30I. and his trial- 
piece, if brought to a fale, would, in Mr. Pinkerton’s opi¬ 
nion, bring a (till higher price. The medals of queen 
Anne, which are intrinfically worth about two guineas 
and a half, fell for about 3I. each ; the filver, of the fize 
of a crown-piece, fell for 10s. and the copper from five 
to ten fhillings. Daffier’s copper pieces fell from two to 
five (hillings, and a few bear a higher price. 
TheScottifh gold coins fell higher than the Englifh, but 
the others are on a par. The (hilling of Mary with the 
buff is rare, and fells for no lefs than 30I. the half, 3I. and 
the royal, 5I. 5s. The French teftoon of Francis and Mary 
brings ioi. 10s. and the Scottifli one of Mary and Henry 
would bring 50I. as would alfo the medal of James IV. 
The coronation-medal of Francis and Mary is worth 20I. 
Briot’s coronation-medal fold in 1755 only for two guineas 
at'Dr. Mead’s fale; but would now bring 20I. if fold*ac- 
cording to rarity. 
The Englifh coins ffruck in Ireland are of much the 
fame price with thofe of the native country ; but the 
St. Patrick’s halfpence and farthings are rather fcarce, 
and the rare crown of white metal is worth 4I. The 
gun-money of James II. and all other Irifh coins are very 
common. 
We next come to confider what it is that diftinguifhes 
one medal from another, and why fome are fo highly- 
prized more than others. This, in general, befides its 
genuir.enefs, confifts in the high degree of prefervation in 
which it is. This by Mr. Pinkerton is called the con- 
fervation of medals ; and in this, he fays, a true judge is 
fo nice, that he will rejeCt even the rareft coins if in the 
leaf! defaced either in the figures or legend. Some, how¬ 
ever, are obliged to content themfelves with thofe which 
are a little rubbed, while thofe of fuperior tafte and abi¬ 
lities have in their cabinets only fuch as are in the very 
Hate in which they came from the mint; and fuch, he 
fays, are the cabinets of fir Robert Auftin, and Mr. Wal¬ 
pole, of Roman filver, at Strawberry-hill. Itis abfolutely 
neceffary, however, that a coin be in what is called good 
prefervation ; which in the Greek or Roman emperors, 
and the colonial coins, is fuppofed to be when the legends 
can be read with fome difficulty; but, when the conf'er- 
vation is perfect, and the coin juft as it came from the 
mint, even the moft common coins are valuable. 
The fine ruft, like varnith, which covers the furface of 
brafs and copper coins, is found to be the belt preferver 
of them ; and is brought on by lying in a certain kind 
of foil. Gold cannot be contaminated but by iron- 
mould, which happens when the coin lies in a foil im¬ 
pregnated with iron; hut filver is fufceptible of various 
kinds of ruft, principally green and red ; both of which 
yield to vinegar. In gold and filver coins the ruft mutt 
be removed, as being prejudicial; but in brafs and cop¬ 
per it is prefervative and ornamental ; a circumftance 
taken notice of by the ancients. “ This fine ruft (fays 
Mr. Pinkerton), which is indeed a natural varnifh not 
imitable by the art of man, is fometimes a delicate blue, 
like that of a turquoife ; fometimes of a bronze brown, 
equal to that obfervable in ancient flatues of bronze, and 
fo highly prized ; and fometimes of an exquifite green, a 
little on the azure hue, which laft is the moft beautiful 
of all. It is alfo found of a fine purple, of olive, and of 
a cream-colour or pale yellow : which laft is exquifite, 
and fliows the impreflion to as much advantage as paper 
of cream-colour, ufed in all great foreign preffes, does 
copper-plates and printing. The Neapolitan patina (the 
ruft in queffion) is of a light green ; and, when free 
from excrefcence or blemifb, is very beautiful. Some¬ 
times the purple patina gleams through an upper coat of 
another colour, with as fine effect as a variegated filk or 
gem. In a few inftances a ruft of a deeper green is 
found ; and it is fometimes fpotted with the red or 
bronze (hade, which gives it quite the appearance of the 
Eaft-Indian (tone called the blood forte. Thefe rults are 
all, when the real produCt of time, as hard as the metal 
itfelf, and preferve it much better than any artificial 
varnifh could have done; concealing at the fame time not 
the moft minute particle of the imprefiion of the coin.” 
The value of medals is lowered when any of the letters 
of the legend are mifplaced ; as a fufpicion of forgery 
is thus induced. Such is the cafe with many of thofe 
of Claudius Gothicus. The fame, or even greater, di¬ 
minution in value takes place in fuch coins as have not 
been well fixed in the die, which has occafioned their 
flipping under the ftrokes of the hammer, and thus made 
a double or triple image. Many coins of this kind are 
found, in which the one fide is perfectly well formed, but 
the other blundered in the manner juft mentioned. Another 
blemifh, but of fmaller moment, and which to fome may 
be rather a recommendation, is when the workmen 
through inattention have put another coin into the die 
without taking out the former. Thus the coin is con¬ 
vex on one fide and concave on the other, having the 
fame figure on both its fides. 
The medals faid by the judges in this fcience to be 
countermarked, are very rare, and highly valued. They 
have a fmall ttamp impreffed upon them ; in fome a head, 
in others a few letters, fuch as aug. n. probus, &c. 
which marks are fuppofed to imply an alteration in the 
value of the coin ; as was the cafe with the counter- 
marked coins of Henry VIII. and Mary of Scotland. 
Some have a fmall hole-through them; fometimes with a 
little ring fattened in it, having been ufed as ornaments; 
but this makes no alteration in their value. Neither is 
it any diminution in tile value of a coin that it is fplit at 
the edges ; for coins of undoubted antiquity have often 
been found in this ftate, the caufe of which has been al¬ 
ready explained. On the contrary, this cracking is ge¬ 
nerally confidered as a great merit ; but Mr. Pinkerton 
fufpeCts that one of thefe cracked coins has given rife-to 
an error with refpeCt to the wife of Caraufius who reigned 
for fome time in Britain. The infcription is read oriuna 
aug : and there is a crack in the medal juft before the o 
of oriuna. Without tliis crack Mr. Pinkerton fuppofes 
that it would have been read fortuna aug. 
Some particular foils have the property of giving filver 
a yellow colour, as if it had been gilt. It naturally ac¬ 
quires a black colour through time, which any fulphu- 
reous vapour will bring on in a few minutes. From its 
being fo fufceptible of injuries, it was always mixed by 
the ancients with much alloy, in order to harden it. 
Hence the impreflions of the ancient filver coins remain 
perfeCt to this day, while thofe of modern ones are ob¬ 
literated in a few years. On this account Mr. Pinkerton 
exprefles a wifli, that modern dates would allow a much 
greater proportion of alloy in their filver coin than they 
ufually do. As gold admits of no ruft except that from 
iron above-mentioned, the coins of this metal are gene¬ 
rally in perfect prefervation,and frefh as from the mint. 
To cleanfe gold coins from this ruft, it is beft to Iteep 
them in aquafortis, which, though a very powerful fol- 
vent of other metals, has no effeCt upon gold. Silver may 
be cleanfed by tteeping for a day or two in vinegar, but 
more effectually by boiling in water with three parts of 
tartar and one of fea fait. On both thefe metals, how¬ 
ever, the ruft is always in fpots, and^iever forms an entire 
incruttration, as on brafs or copper. The coins of thefe 
two laft metals mutt never be cleanfed, as they would 
thus be rendered full of fmall holes eaten by the ruft. 
Sometimes, 
