1810.] 
eollectors, unless the perfect state of their 
preservation should render them some- 
what valuable. 
However, after a very accurate calcu- 
Jation, it will be found that among one 
hundred and fifty or two hundred me- 
dals, one plated will be discovered. The 
Grecian of this kind are more rare than 
the Roman, and those of the kings more 
rare than those of the cities. Of. Phe- 
nician, or Panic, or that class called 
disconnoscidus (or unknown), M. Waxell 
says, he has not yet found any. 
The proportion of Greek to Ro- 
man plated, is as one of the former to 
twenty-five of the Jaiter. 
The age of Augustus was the most 
abundant in plated coins; and to the 
Jength of his reign, and the great number 
cf denarii which he struck, that abund- 
ance may be attributed. We find a 
great variety of curious reverses, besides 
those of Agrippa, the rarity of which is 
well known: the beauty of those plated 
coins, In some instances, equals the origi- 
nals. Some of Miberiae stime, but not 
sO nemerous, are found of preat value ; 5 
such as the fing denarius of thatemperor, 
with the image of his predecessor Au- 
gustus on the reverse. Of Caligula, the 
plated are as rare as the genuine medals; 
but those of Claudius present several fine 
reverses, with portraits of Drusus and 
of Agrippina. Under Nero also a 
great inany are found, well executed, and 
of considerable beauty ; especially those 
which represent that SET OE in his in- 
fancy ; or with these legends, ¢ * Equester 
ordo principt juventutis,” and “ Sacerd. 
coop. im omn. conl. supra num. ex s.c.” 
on the reverses ; also those which exhibit 
him with his mother Agrippina, Of 
Galba, Otho, and Vitellius, the reigns 
were so short, that the plated medals of 
those emperors are very rare, especially 
those of the last two; but under V espa- 
stan, Titus, and above all, Dominan, they 
appear in great numbers, and with a va- 
riety of reverses. Nerva’s are rare, Of 
Trajan, Hadrian, and Autoninus Pius, 
there are many; and these, we may Al 
most Say, oe the series of plated 
medals. M. Waxell had seen but one of 
Marcus Aurelius, struck under Antoni. 
nus ; and only one of Commodus ; per- 
haps the wise administration of Mareus 
Aurelius for some time succeeded in sup- 
pressing counterfeits. In M. Waxell’s 
collection, is a denarius of Philip the fa- 
ther, which, from the size, may be con- 
sidered as a medallion. The latest of 
the emperors found hitherto” on plated 
fins of silver, are Trajan Decius, and 
On the Plated Coins of the Ancients. 203 
‘Herennius Etruscus Messius ; from ie 
time nove are found but a very ‘few 
of the lower empire, plated in gold: of. 
these latter M. Waxell had seen one of © 
Honorius, and one of Zeno. 
From Augustus to Trajan Decius, some 
of the Cesars and tyrants are found, but 
rarely ; very few also are discovered of 
Pompey, Mark Antony, or Julius Cesar. 
The Roman PEP TESseS are more rare 
on plated coins than the emperors; and 
it is a curious Circumstance, that those 
empresses which are most rare on the 
true medals, are most often discovered 
amongst the counterfeit. .M. Wavxell 
has not met with any of Sabina, Faus- 
tina the elder, Crispina, Lucilla, &c. but 
lie had several of Matidia, Marciana, 
Domitilla, Domitia, &c. and in his col- 
lection he was fortunate enough to pose 
sess a plated medaliion of Domitia; this 
confirms his opinion, that it was to com~ 
plete the series of rare coins for ancient 
amateurs, that those common medals were 
fabricated. — Silver medallions are of 
such rarity, as all collectors know, that 
the very few found plated, are considered 
of equal value; perhaps, as being more 
scarce than the originals, they ought to 
be mere highly prized. In the plated 
state, the Greek medallions of Roman 
emperors are more rare than their Latin 
medallions. No plated quinari of any 
emperor have yet been discovered; if 
such exist, they may be esteemed great 
curiosities. 
The art of fabricating those counter- 
fits, (as far as medals are concerned) 
¥ be considered as lost; for no modern 
ate even in England, where the 
current money is so frequently counter. 
feited, can by any means equal the per- 
fection of those ancient productions, ese. 
pecially in their high rehef. 
Some have imagined, that the ancients 
p laced a coat of silver over the brass me- 
dal already coined; and this opinion wag 
founded on the appearance of some me- 
dals which retained scarcely any vestiges 
of the silver coating, whilst the j impres- . 
sion on the branze was ‘still sharp and 
perfect: but the fagtis, those medals 
had passed throngh the hands of Jews, 
who, by asimple process, had removed 
the silver, ang by means of some platina 
had improved the type of it on the bronze, 
But J. Wasell cannot believe that the 
ancients could give so good a finish ta- 
those medals by. this method of CGININgG : 
he rather thinks that the plated medals . 
were, like the true, struck with the ham- 
mer. <A piece of brass, covered on both 
sides with a leaf of silver, was placed in 
tha 
SAS 
Sara = aero Be kone = Se — 
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