82S 
M K D A L. 
Sometimes, however, they are found fo totally obfcured 
with ruff, that nothing can be difcovered upon them ; in 
which cafe it is beft to clear them with a graver; but it 
may alfo be done by boiling them for twenty-four hours 
in water with three parts of tartar and one of alum ; not 
fea-falt,as in filver coins. 
The moft difficult and the molt important thing in the 
whole fcience of medals is the method of diftinguifhing 
the true from the counterfeit. The value put upon an¬ 
cient coins made the forgery of them almoft coeval with 
the fcience itfelf; and, as no laws inflifl a punifhment 
upon fuch forgers, men of great genius and abilities have 
undertaken the trade: but, whether to the real detriment 
of the fcience or not, is a matter of iome doubt; for, if 
only exaft copies of genuine medals are fold for the origi¬ 
nals, the impofition may be deemed trifling: but the 
cafe mull be accounted very different, when people take 
upon them to forge medals which never exifted. At 
firft the forgeries were extremely grofs; and medals were 
forged of Priam, of Ariftotle, Artemifia, Hannibal, and 
molt of the other illuftrious perfonages of antiquity. 
Moil of thefe were done in fuch a manner, that the fraud 
could eafily he difcovered; but others have impofed 
even upon very learned men. Mr. Pinkerton mentions 
a remarkable medal of the emperor Heraclius, reprefent- 
ing him in a chariot on the reverfe, with Greek and La¬ 
tin infcriptions, which Jofeph. Scaliger and Lipflus ima¬ 
gined to have been ftruck in his own time, but which 
was certainly iffiied in Italy in the fifteenth century. 
“ Other learned men (fays our author) have been ftrangely 
milled, when fpeaking of coins ; for to be learned in one 
fubjeft excludes not grofs ignorance in others. Budaeus, 
de Affe, quotes a denarius of Cicero, M. tull. Erafmus, 
in one of his Epiftles, tells us with great gravity, that the 
gold coin of Brutus ltruck in Thrace, KOZ12N, bears the 
palriarch Noah coining out of the ark with his two Tons ; 
and takes the Roman eagle for the dove with the olive- 
branch. Winkelman, in his letters, informs Us, that the 
fmall brafs piece with Virgil’s head, reverfe epo, is un¬ 
doubtedly ancient Roman ; and adds, that no knowledge 
of coins can be had out of Rome: but Winkelman, fo 
converfant in Ifatues, knew nothing of coins. It is from 
other artifts and other produftions that any danger of 
deceit arifes. And there is no wonder that even the 
fki'lful are milled by fuch artifts as have ufed this trade ; 
lor among them appear the names of Viftor Gambello, 
Giovani del Cavino, called the Paduan, and his ion Alef- 
fandro, Baffiano, likewife of Padua, Benvenuto Cellini, 
Aleflandro Greco, Leo Aretino, Jacobo da Frezzo, Fede- 
rigoBonzagna,and Giovani Jacopo, his brother; Sebaftiano 
Pluinbo, Valerio de Vizenza, Gorlaeus a German, Car- 
teron of Holland, and others, all or moft of them of the 
llxteenth century ; and Cavino the Paduan, who is the 
moft famous, lived in the middle of that century. The 
forgeries of Cavino are held in no little efteem, being 
of wonderful execution. His and thofe of Carteron are 
the moft numerous, many of the other artifts here men¬ 
tioned not having forged above two or three coins. Later 
forgers were Dervieu of Florence who confined himfelf to 
medallions, and Cogornier who gave coins of the thirty 
tyrants in fmall brafs. The chief part of the forgeries 
of Greek medals which have come to my knowledge are 
of the firft mentioned, and a very grofs kind, reprefenting 
perfons who could never appear upon coin, fuch as 
Priam, ./Eneas, Plato, Alcibiades, Artemifia, and others. 
The real Greek coins were very little known or valued 
till the works of Goltzius appeared, which were happily 
pofterior to the tera of the grand forgers. Why later 
forgers have feldom thought of counterfeiting them can¬ 
not be eafily accounted for, unlefs it is owing to the 
mafterly workmanffiip of the originals, which fets all imi¬ 
tation at defiance. Forgeries, however, of moft an¬ 
cient coins may be met with, and of the Greek among 
the reft. 
<f The forgeries are more confpicuous among the Ro¬ 
man medals than any other kind j but we are not to 
4 
look upon all thefe as the work of modern artifts. Oa 
the contrary, we are affured that many of them were fa¬ 
bricated in the times of the Romans themfelves, fome of 
them being held in more eftimation than even the genuine 
coins, on account of their being plated, and otherwife 
executed in a manner to which modern forgers could 
never attain. Even the ancients held fome of thefe counter¬ 
feits in fuch eftimation, that Pliny informs us there were 
frequently many true denarii given for one falle one.” Ca- 
racallaisfaidto have coined money of copper and lead plated 
with filver; and plated coins, the work of ancient forgers, 
occur of many Greek cities and princes; nay, there are 
even forgeries of barbaric coins. “ Some Roman coins 
(fays Mr. Pinkerton) are found of iron or lead plated 
with brafs, perhaps trials of the (kill of the forger. Iron 
is the moft common ; but one decurfio of Nero is known 
of lead plated with copper. Neumann juftly obferves, 
that no hiftoric faith can be put in plated coins; and that 
moft faulty reverfes, &c. arife from plated coins not being 
noticed as fuch. Even of the Roman confular coins 
not very many have ever been forged. The celebrated 
filver denarius of Brutus, with the cap of liberty and 
two daggers, is the chief inltance of a confular coin of 
which a counterfeit is known. But it is eafily rejetled 
by this mark: in the true coin the cap of liberty is be¬ 
low the guard or hilt of the daggers ; in the falfe, the 
top of it rifes above that hilt.” 
The imperial feries of medals is the grand objeft of 
modern medallic forgeries; and the deception was at 
firft extended to the moft eminent writers upon the fub- 
jedl. The counterfeits are by Mr. Pinkerton divided 
into fix claffes. 
I. Such as are known to be imitations, but valued on 
account of the artifts by whom they are executed. In 
this clafs the medals of the Paduan rank higheft ; the 
others being fo numerous, that a complete feries of im¬ 
perial medals of almoft every kind, nay, almoft of every me¬ 
dallion, may be formed from among them. In France, par¬ 
ticularly, by far the greater part of the cabinets are filled 
with counterfeits of this kind. They are diftinguifhed 
from fuch as are genuine by the following marks: i. The 
counterfeits are almoft univerfally thinner, z. They are 
never worn or damaged. 3. The letters are modern. 4. 
They are either deftitute of varniffi entirely, or have a 
falfe one, which is eafily known by its being black, 
ffiining, and greafy, and very eafily hurt with the touch 
of a needle, while the varnifh of ancient medals is as 
hard as the metal itfelf. Inftead of the greafy black 
varnilh above-mentioned, indeed, they have fometimes a 
light green one, fpotted with a kind of iron-marks, and 
compofed of fulphur, verdigrife, and vinegar. It may 
frequently be diftinguifhed by the hair-ftrokes of the 
pencil with which it was laid on being vifible upon it. 
5. The fides are either filed or too much fmoothed by 
art, or bear the marks of a fmall hammer. 6. The 
counterfeits are always exaifly circular, which is not 
the cafe with ancient medals, efpecially after the time of 
Trajan. 
The Paduan forgeries may be diftinguifhed from thofe 
of inferior artifts by the following marks: 1. The for¬ 
mer are feldom thinner than the ancient, z. They very 
ftldom appear as worn or damaged, but the others very 
frequently, efpecially in the reverfe, and legend of the 
reverfe, which fometimes, as in forged Othos, appear as 
half confumed by time. 3. The letters in moulds taken 
from the antique coins have the rudenefs of antiquity. 
4. Falfe varnifti is commonly light green or black, and 
ihines too much or too little. 5. The fides of forged 
coins are frequently quite fmooth, and undiftinguiffiable 
from the ancient, though to accompliAi this requires but 
little art, 6. Counterfeit medals are frequently as irre¬ 
gular in their form as the genuine ; but the Paduan are 
generally circular, though falfe coins have often little 
pieces cut off, in perfect imitation of the genuine. 7. 
In call: coins, the letters do not go fiiarp down into the 
medal, and have no fixed outline; their minute angles, 
as 
