MEDAL. 
830 
that time they had reverfes ready fabricated, to be ap¬ 
plied as occafion might require. 
VI. Plated Medals, or thofe which have clefts. —It has been 
already remarked, that many true medals are cracked in 
the edges ; owing to the repeated ftrokes of the hammer, 
and the little degree of du&ility which the metal poffeffes. 
This the forgers attempt to imitate by a file ; but it is 
eafy to diftinguifii betwixt the natural and artificial cleft 
by means of a fmall needle. The natural cleft is wide 
at the extremity, and appears to have a kind of almoft 
imperceptible filaments ; the edges of the crack corref- 
ponding with each other in a manner which no art can 
imitate. 
The plated medals which have been forged in ancient 
times were long fuppofed to be capable of refilling every 
effort of modern imitation ; but of late years, “ fome in¬ 
genious rogues (fays Mr. Pinkerton) thought of piercing 
falfe medals of filver with a red-hot needle, which gave 
a blacknefs to the infide of the coin, and made it appear 
plated to an injudicious eye. This fraud is eafily diftin- 
guilhed by feraping the infide of the metal.” It is, how¬ 
ever, very difficult to diftinguifii the forgeries of rude 
money when not call ; and our author gives no other 
direction than to confult a fkilful medallift. Indeed, not- 
withftanding all the direffions already given, this feems 
to be a refource which cannot by any means with fafety 
be neglefled. A real and practical knowledge of coins 
“is only to be acquired (fays he) by feeing a great num¬ 
ber, and comparing the forged with the genuine. It can¬ 
not therefore be too much recommended to the young 
collector, who willies to acquire fome knowledge in this 
way, to vifit all the lilies and cabinets he can, and to look 
upon all ancient medals with a very microfcopic eye. 
By tliefe means only is to be acquired that ready know¬ 
ledge which enables at firft glance to pronounce upon a 
forgery, however ingenious. Nor let the fcience of me¬ 
dals be from this concluded to be uncertain; for no 
knowledge is more certain and immediate, when it is 
properly ftudied by examination of the real objects. A 
man who buys coins, trufting merely to his theoretic 
perufal of medallic books, will find himfelf wofully mif- 
taken. He ought to ftudy coins firft, where only they 
can be ftudied, in themfelves. Nor can it be matter of 
wonder or implication of caprice, that a medallift of 
/kill Ihould at one perception pronounce upon the veracity 
or falfehood of a medal ; for the powers of the human 
eye, employed in certain lines of fcience, are amazing. 
Hence a lhident can diftinguifii a book among a thoufand 
fimilar, and quite alike to every other eye : hence a (hep- 
herd can difeern, See. hence the medallift can fay in an 
inftant, This is a true coin, and this is a falfe ; though to 
other people no diftimftion be perceptible.” 
Forgeries of modern coins and medals, Mr. Pinkerton 
obferves, are almoft as numerous as of the ancient. The 
fatirical coin of Louis XII. perdam ealylonis nomen, 
is a remarkable inftance : the falfe coin is larger than the 
true, arid bears date J512. The rude coins of the middle 
ages are very eafily forged ; and forgeries have accord¬ 
ingly become common. Forged coins of Alfred and 
other early princes of England' have appeared, fome of 
which have been done with great art. “ The two noted 
Englilh pennies of Richard I. fays our author, are of this 
itamp; and yet they impofed upon Folkes and Sneliing, 
who have publilhed them as genuine in the tw’o belt books 
upon Englilh coins. But they were fabricated by a Mr. 
Y/hite of Newgate-ftreet, a noted collector, who conta¬ 
minated an otherwife fair charafter by fuch praftices. 
Such forgeries, though eafy, require a Ikill in the hiftory 
and coinage of the times, which luckily can hardly fall 
to the lot of a common Jew or mechanical forger. But 
the practice is deteltable, were no gain propofed : and 
they who ltoop to it mult fuppofe, that to embarrafs 
the path of any fcience implies no infamy. In forgeries 
of ancient coins, the fiftion is perhaps fufficiently atoned 
tor by the vaft Ikill required 3 and the artilt may plaufibly 
allege, that his intention was not to deceive, but to ex¬ 
ert his utmoft powers by an attempt to rival the ancient 
mailers. But no poflible apology can be made for forging 
the rude money of more modern times.” 
A collector is to be aware, however, that all ancient 
coins and medals, though equally genuine, are not equally 
valuable. In medals, as well as in every thing elfe, the 
fcarcity of a coin (lamps a value upon it which cannot 
otherwife be derived from its intrinfic worth. There are 
four or five degrees of rarity reckoned up; the higheft of 
which is called unique. The caufe is generally aferibed to 
the fewnefs of number thrown off originally, or to their 
having been called in and re-coined in another form. 
To the former caufe Mr. Pinkerton aferibes the fcarcity 
of the copper of Otho and the gold of Pefcennius Niger ; 
to the latter that of the coinage of Caligula ; “ though 
this laft (fays he) is not of fingular rarity ; which ftiotvs 
that even the power of the Roman fenate could not anni¬ 
hilate an eftabliftied money 3 and that the firft caufe of 
rarity, arifing from the fmall quantity originally (truck, 
ought to be regarded as the principal.” 
In the ancient cities Mr. Pinkerton aferibes the fcarcity 
of coin to the poverty or fmallnefs of the ftate 5 but the 
fcarcity of ancient regal and imperial coins arifes princi¬ 
pally from the fhortnels of the reign ; and fometimes from 
the fuperabundance of money before, which rendered it 
almoft unneceffary to coin any money during the reign 
of the prince. An example of this we have in the fcar¬ 
city of the (hillings of George III. which (hows that 
(hortnefs of reign does not always occafion a fcarcity of 
coin ; and thus the coins of Harold II. who did not reign 
a year, are very numerous, while thole of Richard I. who 
reigned ten, are almoft unique. 
Sometimes the rareft coins lofe their value, and become 
common. This our author aferibes to the high price given 
for them, which tempts the poffeffors to bring them to 
market; but chiefly to the difeovering of hoards of them. 
The former caufe took place with queen Anne’s farthings, 
fome of which formerly fold for five guineas ; nay, if we 
could believe the newfpapers, one of them was fome years 
ago fold for 960I. The latter caufe with the coins of 
Canute, the Danilli king of England; which were very 
rare till a hoard of them was dilcovered in the Orkneys. 
As difeoveries of this kind, however, produce a tempo¬ 
rary plenty, fo when they are difperfed the former fcar¬ 
city returns; while, on the other hand, fome of the com¬ 
mon" coins become rare through the mere circumftance of 
negleft. 
As double the number of copper coins of Greek cities 
are to be met with that there are of filver, the latter are 
of confequence much more efteemed : but the reverfe is 
the cafe with thofe of the Greek princes. The Greek 
civic coins of filver are very rare, excepting thofe of 
Athens, Corinth, Meffana, Dyrrhachium, Malfilia, Syra- 
cufe, and fome others. Of the Greek monarchic coins, 
the molt rare are the tetradrachms of the kings of Syria, 
the Ptolemies, the fovereigns of Macedon and Bithynia, 
excepting thofe of Alexander the Great and Lyfimachus. 
Thofe of the kings of Cappadocia are of a fmall fize, and 
leldom to be met with. Of thofe of Numidia and Mauri¬ 
tania, the coins of Juba the fattier, are common; but 
thofe of the fon, and nephew Ptolemy, fcarce. Coins of 
the kings of Sicily, Parthia, and Judaea, are rare; the lalt 
very much fo. We meet with no coins of the kings of 
Arabia and Comagene except in brafs; thofe of the kings 
of Bofphorus are in eleftrum, and a few in brafs, but all 
of them rare; as are likewife thofe of Philetenis king of 
Pergamus, and of the kings of Pontus. In the year 1777, 
a coin of Mithridates fold for 26I. 5s. Didrachms of all 
kings and cities are fcarce, excepting thofe of Corinth 
and her colonies; but the gold coins of Philip of Mace¬ 
don, Alexander the Great, and Lyfimachus, as has al¬ 
ready been obferved, are common. The filver tetra¬ 
drachms of all kings bear a very high price. The di¬ 
drachm of Alexander the Great is one of the fcarceft of 
1 the 
