Coins and Coinage

Figure 5. Stater of Miletus (Earliest Known Coin)

Coins and Coinage

Although the article of money, in the shape of coins, is one of the most familiar objects of daily use, it is probable that very few persons have troubled themselves to consider when and where it originated. For, like all the inventions of man, it must have had a birth and a birth-place. Adam had neither purse nor pocket, and in Eden there was no one to trade with for food or clothing; and hence a means of barter was no very likely to be needed.

The origin of all human art was in necessity; or, as the proverb has it, necessity is the mother of invention. Thus the first recorded invention was an apron; or, as my oldest copy of the English Bible has it, a pair of breeches. But when the breeches had a pocket in them, and when the pocket was first filled with small change, remains a question for antiquarians.

This is worthy of remark, however, that the remains of antiquity which tombs and monuments furnish us agree remarkably with the Scripture history of the origin of our race. That is to say, the Scripture affirms that at a period about four thousand years ago the world was depopulated by a deluge, which only one family survived. Naturally we should suppose that the arts and sciences would progress with more rapidity, from the fact that this family possessed in themselves the learning and a great deal of the experience of the previous ages in which men had lived long and learned much. But the world shows no remaining monument of any earlier period than this; and all its existing memorials indicate an age of art that dates from a time a little later than this flood. Let us record the fact, in spite of all that men have sought to establish to the contrary, that no one has found a relic of human existence on earth which antedates the period of the Noahic deluge. Bunsen has indeed founded a theory on the discovery of a piece of pottery in a deep boring in the Nile mud; but Bunsen failed to inquire whether the place of boring was not the site of an ancient lake, or the bottom of the everchanging Nile itself; and science makes merry over the German philosopher's building without a foundation, which fell before the roof was on.

At a certain period after this deluge, when men might be supposed to need the convenience of money, and not before -- having scattered, and formed nations of diverse interests -- we find it coming into use.

It is no theory that we speak of, but a direct chain of existing specimens, leading us from the magnificent coinage of the Macedonian empire back to the earliest and rudest specimens of the coins of men's making. It can not be possible that any where in the world coined money had been used at a period prior to the date of the Lydian and the Ionian coins; so that, in this study of numismatics, we find at once a great tribute -- the tribute which profane history has in all times paid -- to the Sacred story, a confirmation of the account of the origin of our race on the earth.

The first mention that is made of money in history is eminently striking. It was used for the purchase of a grave. There is no picture in all the past more profoundly sad than that of the old man buyin a place to bury his dead wife out of his sight. Who has not read the story with unutterable emotions? Who, when the first dead one in house must be buried, has not gone out to buy a burial-place, and called to mind that sad scene before the Cave of Machpelah? Does the first record in history, sacred or profane, of the use of money, teach us that the shining stuff is of no higher value to a man than just the price of his grave? After he has bought and occupied that, it certainly ceases to matter to him whether his heaps are gold or copper or dust.

But let us glance a moment at this story, and see whether, in the days of Abraham, men had any knowledge of coin. For the first question before us is, When did coined money originate?

In the 19th verse of the 33d chapter of Genesis we find the words, "Pieces of money." The original Hebrew is Keshita. The same word occurs in Job, xlii. 11. Now this word may be translated as correctly a lamb. Does it mean, then, a lamb or a piece of money? This is the question, and one by no means uninteresting.

It may seem one of mere speculation, on which no evidence could be obtained. But Egypt is the great illustrator of the Bible, and the Egyptian monuments help us vastly to understand it.

In a tomb at Thebes, among the illustrations, on the walls, of the manners and customs of the old Egyptians, and especially of the one who lay in this tomb, we find a picture of a scribe weighing out the wealth of his master and counting it up. (Figure 2 [Ancient Egyptian Method of Weighing Money].)

No one who sees it can doubt that the Egyptians of that day weighed out gold and silver by a weight whose shape was that of a lamb, and the half of it was like the hind-quarters of a lamb. This interesting discovery gives us reason to think that Abraham paid the sons of Heth in silver weighed out by these same weights. Layard found specimens of the weights themselves in Nineveh.

It is natural to suppose that the weights were originally determined by the value of a sheep or lamb; and this supposition derives additional force from facts that appear in the history of other nations, and even from the words which for many centuries have been used to express the idea of money. In early ages, when men led mostly the pastoral life, cattle were probably the most common medium of exchange and barter, and the value of a sheep was a fixed value, varying but little in places or years. When metals became standards of value can not be affirmed precisely, but it is evident that at this time, and for many centuries afterward, they were not coined into what we call money. The evidence, however, that the price of cattle was the earliest method of fixing the value of money, and that gold and other metals were valued according to the number of cattle a given quantity would buy, is found elsewhere than in this solitary instance. Our own language contains a proof of it, since the word pecuniary, which is in common use with us, is derived from the Latin word pecunia (money), and this was derived from pecus (a flock of sheep or cattle). The evidence of the derivation is found in the oldest Roman coins extant, one of which is shown in Figure 3 [Earliest Form of Roman Copper Money].

This gigantic copper coin was in the Pembroke collection in England, and weighed a little less than five pounds avoirdupois. It is a specimen of the earliest known coinage of Italy, and probably dates from B.C. 500 to B.C. 600, a period not much later than that of the earliest Eastern coinage, of which we shall speak hereafter. This piece was the Aes or As (the brass or the piece of brass), which subsequently changed its size and form, but which remained a Roman coin down to modern times. We refer to it at present to illustrate the theory of the origin of money value; and when the reader has studied history with reference to the price of catlle invarious periods of the world's history, and in various parts of the world, he will readily adopt the idea that the first valuations of metal became fixed with regard to the value of sheep and oxen. Homer mentions no use of coined money, but speaks of a bar of brass as being equal in value to one ox, and a woman slave as worth four oxen. The father of poetry, indeed, often speaks of oxen and sheep as the representatives of wealth, as when Achilles argues boldly that he can go elsewhere and find abundant spoil of oxen and fat sheep. It is true that in the same conversation (Iliad, Book IX., line 365, etc.) Achilles also speaks of "the gold and ruddy brass and bright iron," but not as if coined into money. Homer's is perhaps the most remarkable work in the world as a description of existing arts, dress, manners, and customs, and, in short, comparative civilization. There can be no reason to suppose that he had ever seen coined money, or, if it existed in his day, that it had then existed so long as to authorize him to mention it among the arts and furniture of the Grecian camp or the Trojan city at the period of his story, which he located at about the same date with our chronological location of Samson and the judges of the Israelites.

We dwell on this subject because the idea is very prevalent that coined money was coeval with the race of man. Few ordinary thinkers have taken the trouble to inquire whether Adam had a pocket full of it (when he got a pocket), and we venture to say that most of our readers have had a general idea that it was always in use among men, at least at as early a period as any national organizations existed.

But it is also evident that gold and silver became valuable as ornaments long before they were used for coins. Thus we find Eleazar of Damascus carrying to Rebecca rings and bracelets of fixed weight, and in the same verse of the 42d chapter of Job, already referred to, we find that each of Job's friends brought him an earring as well as "a lamb" or "piece of money." That these rings and bracelets became frequently, and, at length, commonly the medium of exchange we have abundant evidence. The Egyptian monuments show that the common form of the valuable metals when in course of transfer was the ring (Figure 4). All ancient writers refer to rings and bracelets as the usual form of gold ornaments, and the modern customs in the East are doubtless accurately like the ancient.

The Oriental traveler is surprised to find the poorest woman sometimes wearing heavy gold bracelets and anklets; but his surprise ceases when he learns that there is no investment for money in the East which pays interest, and that, as a consequence, the poor and the rich, when they accumulate more or less gold, are accustomed to call in the traveling tinker, who, with crucible, furnace, and hammer, sits down in the court of the palace or on the ground-floor of the hut, and out of the coins handed him soon fashions a rude bracelet or anklet, which adorns the dusky leg or arm of the favorite wife, until necessity compels its transfer. When this necessity comes there is no delay or trouble about it in an Eastern market. The owner goes into the street to make a purchase and tenders his bracelet in payment. The convenient money-changer is at hand in every street with his scales, the weight is told -- it is three, five, ten, or twenty mejiddi -- and the merchant takes it as readily as coin. We have seen this transaction not a few times, and regarded it as the best evidence needed of the ancient custom of using similar bands of precious metals for currency.

But without pausing longer on this subject we may give the illustrations well known to numismatic scholars, of the ring money of the ancient Britons, dating before the Roman invasion, and therefore at a period not many centuries later than the invention of coined money by the Greeks, and continuing in use down to a late period in the Christian era. These rings are now found in abundance in various parts of England and Ireland. At one time, in 1832, a quantity of it, valued at £1089 14s. 1d. (intrinsic value of the gold), was dug up at St. Quentin (Figure 6). The forms varied. Some immense ornaments were manifestly worn over the shoulder. Others on the arms and around the waist. Cæsar, in his account of England, distinctly relates that rings of fixed weight were used for money in Britain. He says the same of Gaul. We find the same sort of money spoken of in the north of Europe; and the Bible contains so many allusions to similar ornaments that there is no reason to doubt that they had a fixed weight and passed current as coins.

But as yet no regular coin existed. The Greeks had been in the habit of using bars or spikes of metal. A bar was an obolus (literally translated a spike or a small obelisk), and six of these were as many as a man could grasp in his hand. Hence six oboli made one drachma, the latter being to this day the coin of Greece, and having given its name to weights and measures in all the languages of the civilized world.

It was about 800 years before Christ that the first money was actually coined. Therre is much doubt in the minds of antiquarians as to the precise spot where the custom had its origin. Herodotus ascribes it to the Lydians, but his authority is not conclusive.

The oldest coins extant, and probably the first coins ever made, are from Ionia in Asia Minor. Miletus, a city south of Ephesus, on the shore of the Icarian Sea, probably produced the first coined money. It was the gold stater (Figure 5 [Stater of Miletus (Earliest Known Coin)]).

It will be noticed that the coin is stamped on one side with a deep indentation. On the other, it has a rude picture of a lion's head. This form is characteristic of coinage for a long period. A die was evidently used, and the lump of metal placed in it, and a punch struck with a hammer drove the metal into the die and left the rude mark of the punch on the reverse of the coin. What induced the adoption of the lion's head as a design is left to conjecture. It is by some supposed to refer to the regal power represented by the lion, while others think that it had some connection with the worship of Cybele, the great goddess of the Ionians. A somewhat similar coin is also given in Figure 7, which by some numismatists is supposed to be of earlier date than the Ionian. It is a Lydian coin, one of those referred to by Herodotus; and we give it as a specimen of one of the earliest, if not the earliest. Coins of the kind illustrated in Figure 7 have been found in considerable quantity at Sardis, and there is reason to believe that some of these are of the period of Crœsus. The value of these two coins is the same. It was called a stater or standard, and it is worthy of remark that the value of this first gold coin known has been continued in European currency, with very slight variation, down to recent times. These coins were the first specimens of stamped gold in the form that we call money. Silver was coined in Ægina not long after the date of the Lydian and Ionian gold, but when copper was introduced as a medium of exchange does not appear.

From this rude beginning the art of coinage advanced to a stage of beauty in early periods which has hardly been surpassed even in our day of splendid medals. But this advance was not instantaneous. It was measured, gradual, and slow. The first step was the placing on the end of the punch some rude figure which was indented in the coin when the blow was struck, thus producing the usual raised head or legend on the obverse, while the reverse showed the indentation of the figure on the end of the punch.

The quarter stater of Phocea, of which a representation is given in Figure 8, illustrates this. The idea was further carried out in Greece by making the end of the punch to correspond with the die, but not so as to leave the impression raised on both sides. The result was a coinage, of which one side presented in concave the same figures which were on the other side in relief. And this led to the production of very beautiful coins, of which we give an illustration in a silver coin of Caulonia (Figure 9).

Figure 10 is a coin of Ægina, known by the emblem of the tortoise, and bearing the first form of rude punch-mark. The coins of this island are among the earliest. Indeed by some they are regarded as the first. Doubtless the first silver coinage is that of Ægina. It would seem probable that Ionia first coined gold, Ægina first coined silver, and Italia first coined copper.

The first devices on coins were emblematical. The tortoise of Ægina, the owl of Athens, the seal of Phocea, and similar designs, are found on all the earliest issues. No heads of kings nor heads of gods are on the first coins. The deities at length took possession of the money, and thereafter the head of a god or goddess, who was the chief object of worship in a city or country, became the ordinary obverse of coins. This custom continued for centuries. It was not till very near the time of Alexander the Great that the heads of monarchs were placed on money. Indeed many have argued that the head of the great son of Philip was the first human head placed on a coin. It appears probable, however, that his immediate predecessors had set the example, which he followed. We have one coin of Archelaus I., King of Macedonia (Figure 11), which gives us probably a portrait of that monarch; and, if it be so, it is undoubtedly the first coin which had for a device the head of a reigning prince. He reigned from 413 to 399 B.C.

Alexander I. had reigned about fifty years before, and during his reign a coin was struck bearing on its face a youth carrying two spears by the side of a horse (Figure 12). Possibly and probably this was a representation of the fact that Alexander was admitted to the Olympic games; but it can not be considered a portrait.

The period, then, of the introduction of human heads upon coinage may be safely placed at about 400 B.C.; and from that time to the present the coins of the various nations of the world which have outlasted time and corrosion are the most valuable and faithful historians. No one who has not pursued the study can have any idea of the admirable succession of coins which some great collections contain. The Kings of Macedonia might afford us an excellent example, if we had space for the illustration of their coins here.

Æropus, who succeeded Archelaus, and reigned from 399 to 394 B.C., left many coins now extant. Of Pausanias, his successor from 394 to 393 B.C. -- only one year -- we have many coins, bearing on the obverse a head, which may be a portrait, and on the reverse a horse, with the name ΠΑΥΣΑΝΙΑ. On one coin now extant of this reign there is visible on the horse a brandmark -- a fact that is interesting in connection with Arrian's statement that Alexander's steed, Bucephalus, received his name from the bull's head brand which he bore.

Amyntas II. succeeded Pausanias (393-369 B.C.). The coins of his time were of better workmanship. Up to this period and during his reign the punch-mark on the reverse of many coins had continued in use, but hereafter it is not known.

We have now arrived at a period of high perfection in the art of coinage. In the reign of Philip II. of Macedon, commencing 359 B.C. and continuing twenty-four years, some of the finest specimens of ancient coinage were issued, and among others the gold staters, which became known as Philips, and gave this name to the gold coins of Greece for a long period, precisely as in modern times we hear of Louis and Napoleons in France.

When Alexander the Great ascended the throne and proceeded to the conquest of the world he scattered his coinage over the continent, east and west, in an immense variety of forms. So many were they that they are the cheapest of ancient coins even now, and in Europe, Asia, and Africa abundance of genuine coins of this monarch can be purchased for a trifle above the weight of gold or silver. It is not uncommon in modern times for vases of the Alexandrian coins to be turned up by the plowshare of the farmer, and in all the towns and cities of the East men are found with specimens for sale in a fine state of preservation. Genuine coins of Alexander can be procured at such low prices that it has hardly been an object to counterfeit them, as has been done with many others (Figure 13).

The Macedonian coinage (Figure 14) continued to be fine for more than two centuries. We have already said that our space forbids the illustration of the progression of the art at this period. We give in passing, however, some specimens of the coinage of the other parts of the world at this time, for the sake of showing that it was not in Macedonia alone that the art was advancing (see Figures 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, and 21).

In all the East, which was then the civilized world, the fine arts were progressing to a golden age. Phidias had completed the Parthenon, and a bronze coin of an early time shows a rude view of the Acropolis (Figure 24), the statue of Minerva and the Parthenon; while another (Figure 25) shows the theatre of Dionysius on the side of the Acropolis.

It is remarkable that we have no coins of Egypt until the period of the successors of Alexander. That old land -- first in arts and sciences, far in advance of all the world in architecture, sculpture, painting, music, and every thing that adorns civilization -- seems never to have felt the necessity of a circulating medium other than the ordinary use of metals by weight, and the interchange of commodities by barter. This may have been owing to the character of the country, lying, as it did, along the banks of the Nile, where interchange of articles by barter was convenient. The Ptolemies introduced the Greek coinage system, and we have abundance of specimens of their issues, known by the eagle on the reverse, and the name of the king on the coin (Figure 22). In our own collection we have some noble specimens of the Ptolemaic bronze coins, of which we illustrate one as showing a high and bold style of art now prevalent on the issues of the mints. The eagle on this coin has never been equaled on an American coin. He looks as if he knew his nobility. We commend him to the United States Mint as a pattern (Figure 23).

The coinage of Egypt continued to be very fine down to the Roman Period, and we have many specimens of the Ptolemies and their queens, and various Egyptian rulers, with finely-engraved heads, down to Antony and Cleopatra (Figure 26).

In Syria also, at this period, the coinage was in a high state of perfection (see coin of Antiochus the Great, Figure 19). But in Judea it does not seem probable that coins had yet been introduced. We have already alluded to the probability that the shekel, in the earlier history of the chosen people, was a weight, and not a fixed value of metal. At what time this weight was put into a certain shape, and stamped with a certain legend or device, it is impossible with certainty to affirm; but that it did not occur before the captivity in Babylon we may be well assured. There is no reason to believe that any Jewish coin bearing a legend was issued prior to the days of the Maccabees, nor do we find any now extant appearing to be of earlier date. The "shekels of silver," as they are called by the collectors, have become quite common of late years. Within the past five years therre have been quite a large number found near the pool of Siloam at Jerusalem, evidently washed down by the rains from some point on the hillside of Moriah or Zion.

Here let us remark in passing that ancient coins are by no means so rare as common opinion rates them. Many of them are very common. Thus the copper coins of Diocletian are far more plenty than American coppers of 1799 or 1804; and the small coins of Constantius are as abundant as any American or English coppers of forty years ago. The preservation of ancient coins is easily accounted for. In the absence of banks of deposit, or any means of investment, the poorer classes of people as well as the rich were accustomed to bury their treasures. The poor man's safe was under the ground-floor of his hut, so that wherever there was a village, there, under every house, were buried coins of gold, silver, and copper. An invasion would sweep away a nation and annihilate the towns and villages. The buried treasure remained undisturbed until the modern plowshare, going over the site, turns up little heaps here and there which have lain for one or two thousand years. The peasantry of the Eastern countries make the discoveries of old treasure. In Egypt, for example, the fellaheen, working on the Nile banks, are accustomed to sprinkle over their sil the dust of ancient mud villages, which they find to be a productive manure. In digging among the ruins of these villages they frequently find collections of old coins. We once saw an Egyptian peasant woman who had about half a peck of Roman coins, nearly all of the same issue, and in as fine condition as American coppers of last year. Some were proof coins. We have over thirty of these in our own collection, purchased from this peasant woman at the rate of a khamsa (less than half a cent) for four of them. Not only nations, but many cities and provinces retained the right of coinage. It appears manifest that the value of the principal coins in all the Eastern nations was about the same. The gold stater of the Greeks was equivalent in value to the principal gold coin of other nations. The barter of different nations with each other was not much affected therefore by the variety of coins.

The only extant Jewish coins are varieties of the silver shekel beforementioned. In the first book of Maccabees, xv. 6, in the letter of Antiochus the king to Simon the high priest, and to the Jewish nation, occurs this passage:

And I give thee leave to coin money of thine own stamp in thine own country.

Simon Maccabæus probably coined, under this permission, the first national coinage of the Jews. We give an example of his issue. The Jewish coinage, of course, bore no head of a God on its face. The second commandment forbade it. But the pot of manna, and the buds of Aaron's rod were the device adopted, with legends varying, but most commonly "SHEKEL ISRAEL," "JERUSALEM HOLY," or "SCHISCHIMON PRINCE OF ISRAEL" (Figure 27).

The legends were in the ancient form of Hebrew character, and not in the debased form in use since the captivity.

For what length of time this coinage continued in Jerusalem we can not say. It is not probable that it was of long duration. The Greek and Roman currency took its place in time; and although coins of Herod and of Barkochebas the rebel are extant, it seems improbable that these were issued to any great extent. The few known are small and rude.

It is impossible to give any idea of the money value of ancient coins by modern money terms. The size of the shekels now extant is larger than the American quarter dollar, and not so large as the half dollar. The weight is 274 Paris grains. In the 17th chapter of Matthew the temple tax, or tribute money, is spoken of as a didrachma. Elsewhere it is stated at a half shekel; and in the same chapter, 27th verse, a stater is made to pay the tax for two persons. These few verses, at the end of the chapter, give us some light on the relative value of the ancient Jewish, Roman, and Greek coins.

The Romans commenced the coinage of copper, according to Pliny, in the time of Servius Tullius, B.C. 578. For a long period they coined only copper, and it was not till after the time of Alexander that they had gold or silver coins. We have already spoken of the probable origin of the word pecunia. The great coin already given is an illustration of the earliest form of Roman coinage. This was either followed by, or contemporary with, the issue of the Æs or As, which was the standard coin of Rome for many centuries (Figures 28, 29).

The As, however, was a weight, and not a coin proper, for many years. It was a pound of brass or bronze. At first square, afterward round, and when paid in large sums, it was paid by weighing it out in quantities. The same pound of bronze was known by the name stips, whence come our words stipend, stipeniary, etc. The pieces were struck in large sizes, weighing from one to one hundred pounds each. The large piece before illustrated weighs 4 pounds 9 ounces 11 pennyweights and 38 grains. It was doubtless a five-pound weight of copper or a quincussis.

The next coin of the Romans, which possesses peculiar interest to us, was the Denarius, which was originally worth ten Ases; but subsequently, when the As was reduced in value, became worth sixteen of the latter. This Denarius continued to be a Roman coin, was by them introduced into Britain, and, finally, reduced to be the silver penny of England; and to this day appears in English coinage as the letter D, which represents pence in the notation of £ s. d.

The As, by-the-way, let us remark, was used by the boys of Rome as coppers are now, and instead of "Head or Tail," they cried "Heads or Ship" -- "Capita aut Navem," alluding to the heads of Janus and the prow of the ship on the opposite sides of the coin. The Semis or semi-As, the triens, the quadrans, the sextans, and the uncia (ounce), were respectively the half, third, fourth, sixth, and twelfth part of the As. The mite of the poor woman in the Bible was possibly an uncia, or semi-uncia. For although in early Roman times these coins were of heavy weight, as their names indicate, yet in later times, and from time to time, the value of the As was reduced, until at the time of Christ it was worth about as much as an American cent is now, and the uncia was but a twelfth part of that.

It is not our purpose to trace the history of Roman coinage, but only to show sufficient of its character to be able to connect modern coins and coinage with it, since it is manifest that we can trace our use of coins very directly to the Roman nation.

The Denarius (Den-æis), or ten Æses, was first coined after the reduction of the value of the As to the equivalent of a little over one cent and a half of our money. The Denarius was then worth about as much as sixteen cents American. It was of the same value as the Greek drachma, and took its place in currency at Rome. It was coined first about 269 B.C.

Sixty years later the first gold was coined; but we will not weary the reader with any reference to it at present. The history of Roman coins is very perfect, from the large number of specimens which are possessed in modern collections. When the Empire was established, the successive Cæsars issued splendid coins and medals. These are extant, in numerous fine specimens. More than thirty thousand varieties of Roman coin are known, and the one collection at Paris contains more than that number. As Rome increased her power and extended her dominions she coined money for her various provinces and cities, and established mints in all parts of her empire. Thus we have thousands of specimens of Roman coin struck in all parts of the East, in the West, in Egypt, and at last in England.

The value that attaches to these coins in a historical point of view need not here be dwelt upon. Take the period of Julius Cæsar. Such a coin as that on the conquest of Egypt (Figure 30), or another of Antony and Cleopatra, are of the utmost interest. So also that which commemorates the death of Julius Cæsar, bearing the daggers and head of Brutus (Figure 32). The well-known symbols of the city, the wolf and twins, are found frequently (Figure 31). We have in our collection a small copper coin bearing this device, which is one of the most exquisite pieces of workmanship.

In the decay of the Empire the art of coinage became very debased. Many of the coins of the lower Empire are interesting as Christain memorials; but all of them indicate sadly the depression of art and good taste.

We give a few specimens of small coins, through which the eye will readily detect the gradual loss of skill in the artists down to a very late period (Figures 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41).

The Mohammedans, meantime, began to coin in the East. The general style of their coinage is to be gathered from the specimens we give. The legends were passages from the Koran or wise sayings of their fathers.

We have in our collection a glass coin, which we procured from a fellah in the fields of Upper Egypt, which belongs to a series of very interesting coins, unlike those of any other period or country, and which are still a source of doubt and debate to numismatists.

During the Middle Ages the coin of Europe continued to be rude and unartistic. There is extant an old tapestried representation of the art as then pursued, and a curious bas-relief of a coiner at work is found on an old capital at St. George de Boucherville, in Normandy (Figure 44).

Rome conquered and possessed Britain, and introduced her coinage there (Figure 45). The remains of Roman power in England are many, and none more interesting than these coins. The conquest of Britain formed a prominent legend on one coin of Antoninus Pius (Figure 46), and on another of the same monarch is found the first instance of the appearance of Britannia as a person on coin (Figure 47). This same figure of Britannia was adopted again in the seventeenth century, in the time of Charles II,; and it is said that the beautiful Frances Stuart was the model of the goddess on the coin of the later date, "especially," says Humphrey,

the leg, which was undraped in the design then adopted.

Many coins had been issued for Britain before this. The earliest containing any specific allusion to the country was in the time of Claudius, about A.D. 46, when a coin was struck bearing a triumphal arch, rudely engraved, in honor of his triumph on the conquest of Britain.

But the early coins of the natives of the island possess even more interest than the importations of the Romans. One of the earliest of these now extant is attributed to the celebrated Boadicea. Specimens in gold have been found bearing the legend Boduo. Her name was probably originally Boduodicea. Some numismatists have fancied that these rude attempts at horses were imitations of the Greek coins of a period not long antecedent (Figure 49).

The advance of the art in England was not rapid. The skeattœ were the earliest Saxon coins. Of their value we know very little. In the laws of Æthelstan they are said to be mentioned, and 30,000 are spoken of as equivalent to £120. They gave place to the silver pennies of the Saxon kings, which continued in very regular succession, and form now a most interesting collection.

The "penny" was a word derived from the Latin pecunia, which we have before referred to in this article as origiinating the word "pecuniary." By somoe the word penny has been derived from "pendo," to weigh. The English adopted the word "cattle," and used it very much as the Latins may have used the word "pecus," to signify a man's property. From it came the word chattel, now in common use among lawyers, and recently in very familiar use in common conversation and newspaper articles.

Time and space would fail us to trace the progress of art in England, and to show the endless varieties of coins brought into use in different periods of the history of the country. We have preferred rather to illustrate a few of the prominent specimens, and leave the reader to glance over them at his leisure. The curious legends, Scripture phrases, and pious sayings, which were from time to time adopted, make the coins oftentimes peculiarly interesting.

There have been times in the history of most modern nations when the monarch had either lost possession of the mint, or when the exigencies of the times compelled the immediate conversion of bullion or plate into money without the minting process. Thus at sieges of cities it has frequently been found convenient to cut plateinto squares, diamonds, or irregular shapes, and stamp on the pieces their respective values. These pieces are known as siege pieces, and are prized by collectors as curious. The Newark and Scarborough pieces, issued by Charles II. (Figures 48 and 50), illustrate this style of money.

Of the comparative rarity of English coins we shall not speak in this article, except to correct a blunder which has gained credit in all parts of the world. We once heard an ignorant man ssay that he wished he could find a Queen Anne's farthing, for it was worth more than a thousand pounds; and since that time we have heard the same idea expressed in various ways by the poor and uneducated of England and Ireland. Farthings of Queen Anne are by no means rare coins. Of one variety, that with the chariot on the reverse, there are but few specimens. This was probably commemorative of the peaceful reign of the Queen. The motto is "Pax missa per orbem." It, like all her farthings, was only a pattern piece, never attaining a general circulation, and some copies of it were struck in gold. This fact probably gave rise to the rumor that a Queen Anne's farthing was very valuable, and led to the exaggerated notion now commonly entertained about it. We illustrate two of the varieties now found in many collections (Fig. 57).

COUNTERFEIT COINS

The history of coinage involves some history of counterfeits as well. From the earliest dates of coins men have been found to imitate them in inferior metals for purposes of gain. Nor is it at all uncommon now to find ancient coins which were manifestly the work of forgers. Even the earliest coins, those of Ægina in particular, are found of this description. Herodotus states in the Thalia LVI. that he considers the report a very absurd one, but he nevertheless gives it, that Polycrates purchased the departure of the Lacedemonians from Samos by striking off

a large number of pieces of lead cased with gold like the coin of the country,

and paying these to the unwary soldiers. The reader of Herodotus will couple this remark with the amusing and characteristic statement of the preceding section, that he (Herodotus) had talked in person with a son of Samius, who was present at the siege of Samos. It is very manifest that in the day of the old historian bogus coin was a matter of common talk, and that it was well understood that it could be made so as to deceive even an army of hungry Lacedemonians. There are extant specimens of forged gold coins of Lydia, which Humphrey suggests may be specimens of the very coins made by Polycrates, Herodotus to the contrary notwithstanding. We have certainly no occasion to doubt the perfect readiness of Polycrates to adopt such a course. His general style of life and conduct, and his associates in Greece were of a similar class to those we now expect from counterfeiters and forgers. From that day to this the manufacture of bogus coins has been the employment of the dishonest in all ages.

It may seem incredible that a bogus coin should be manufactured which is of higher intrinsic value than the genuine, and yet this singular instance did occur in Hayti within the last half century. The government coined base money; and while it regulated the importation of silver, so that the value of the coin should not be affected, it gave by decree a high value to the base issue. The result was that pure silver coin of the same weight or size with the genuine, and, of course, of greater value, were made in New York, smuggled into Hayti, and there passed at the rate of the genuine coin. Of course the bogus coin was worth more than the genuine coin of the realm.

But a species of forgery which more concerns the coin collector in America is the manufacture of ancient or rare coins in modern times. Many collectors, and even writers on numismatics, have been misled by forged coins, which were not even imitations of genuine. In Padua, about 1540, two engravers, Jean Cavino and Alexander Bassiano, were manufacturers of copies of coins and medals. They pursued this honest line of business until they became so skillful that their copies could not be detected from originals, and then they began to sell them as genuine coins and medals. Hence came the name Paduan, applied by collectors to any ancient coin of modern make. Dervien, a Frenchman at Florence, Carteron in Holland, and Congornier in France, were afterward celebrated in the same line. The latter is stated to have confined his work exclusively to coins of the Thirty Tyrants. The list of coiners might be largely multiplied. Sestini published, in 1826, a catalogue of the forged coins of Becker, who died at Hamburg so late as 1830. The number was immense of coins which he made from imagination purely, without any historical authority. The result of this is that there are now thousands of these coins in collections, and offered for sale by collectors throughout the world. The cheat has been carried so far that, in some cities of the East, it is not uncommon for men to have supplies of these manufactured coins buried, and "excavate" them before the eyes of travelers, to whom they at once sell them at enormous prices. We have ourselves seen countless numbers of them offered for sale in Cairo, Smyrna, Athens, and other cities of the Levant.

But these are not the only manufactured coins. The most rare and costly of modern coins are of tempting value to counterfeiters, and not a few fine pieces, contained in collections and ranking high in catalogues, are manifestly manufactured coins.

Another style of forgery consists in splitting ancient coins and substituting the reverses. Thus a coin of Augustus might be produced with a reverse known only to coins of Diocletian, and the result would command a high price from a collector; while the Diocletian, with the reverse that belonged to Augustus, would bring an equally high price from another.

In America the art of manufacturing coins for collectors is well understood. We have seen many rare and splendid coins imitated very closely, and no one but an experienced collector can rely on his judgement in purchasing from strangers. But Roman or Greek coins command no prices in America, where the mania for collecting coins is almost wholly confined to the American series. These form a subject of great historic interest, and to the coins and coinage of America we propose to devote another article.

About the Author

W. C. Prime wrote Coins and Coinage; the article first appeared in the December, 1859 issue of Harper's New Monthly Magazine.

Technical Note

For clarity, illustrations which originally appeared in the article may have been modified or replaced with photos; some images are still in development and will be published here later.

Cite this Page

Bibliography:

Mintmark.com. 2007. Coins and Coinage. 
             http://www.mintmark.com/coinscoinage.html
            (accessed xxxx 7, 200x).

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(Mintmark.com 2007)