In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. NUMISMATICS (Lat. nummus and numisma, money; Gr. nomisma, from nomos, law, a medium of exchange established by law), the science which treats of coins and medals. A coin is a piece of metal of a fixed weight stamped by authority of government, and employed as a circulating medium. A medal is a piece struck to commemorate an event. The study of numismatics has an important bearing on history. Coins have been the means of ascertaining the names of forgotten countries and cities, their position, their chronology, the succession of their kings, their usages civil, military, and religious, and the style of their art. On their respective coins we can look on undoubtedly accurate representations of Mithridates, Julius Caesar, Augustus, Nero, Caracalla, and read their character and features. The metals which have generally been used for coinage are gold, silver, and copper. In each class is comprised the alloy occasionally substituted for it, as electrum (an alloy of gold and silver) for gold, billon for silver, bronze for copper, and potin (an alloy softer than billon) for silver and copper. The side of a coin which bears the most important device or inscription is called the obverse, the other side the reverse. The words or letters on a coin are called ita inscription; an inscription surrounding the border is called the legend. When the lower part of the reverse is distinctly separated from the main device, it is called the exergue (Gr. ex ergou, without the work), and often bears a secondary inscription, with the date or place of mintage. The field is the space on the surface of the coin unoccupied by the principal device or inscription. money could be opened, closed, and linked in a chain for convenience of carriage. The Lydians are supposed to have been the first people who used coined money, about 700 or 800 years before the Christian era; and their example was soon after followed by the different states of Greece, the earliest Greek coins being those of Ægina. In. its early stages the process of coining consisted in placing a lump of metal of a fixed weight, and approaching to a globular form, over a die, on which was engraved the religious or national symbol to be impressed. A wedge or punch placed at the back of the metal was held steadily with one hand, and struck by a hammer with the other, till the metal was sufficiently fixed in the die to receive a good impression. The impression was a guarantee of the weight of the piece. From the nature of the process, the earliest coins had a lumpish appearance, and on their reverse was a rough, irregular, hollow square, corresponding to a similar square on the punch, devised for the purpose of keeping the coin steady when struck by the coining hammer. The original coins of Asia Minor were of gold, those of Greece of silver. The earliest coins bear emblems of a sacred character, often embodying some legend regarding the foundation of the state, as the phoca or seal on the coins of the Phocians, which alludes to the shoal of seals said to have followed the fleet Fig. 1. The use of coined money cannot be traced further back than the 9th c. B. C. Money, however, as a medium of exchange, existed much earlier, and when of metal it passed by weight, no piece being adjusted to any precise weight, and all money being during the emigration of the people. Fig. 1. repres weighed when exchanged. Early metallic money sents a very early double stater of Miletus, in was in the form of bars, spikes, and rings; the ring Ionia, of which the type is the lion's head, derived NUMISMATICS. from Persia and Assyria, and associated with the worship of Cybele, a symbol which is continued in the later coinage of Miletus. Types of this kind were succeeded by portraits of protecting deities. The earliest coins of Athens have the owl, as type of the goddess Athene; at a later period, the head of the goddess herself takes its place, the owl afterwards re-appearing on the reverse. The punch-mark, at first a rudely-roughed square, soon assumed the more sightly form of deep, wedge-like indents, which in later specimens become more regular, till they form themselves into a tolerably symmetrical square. In the next stage, the indents become shallower, and consist of four squares forming one large one, The surrounding of the punch mark with a band bearing a name, and the introduction of a head in its centre, as in the annexed figure (fig. 2), gradually led to the perfect reverse. There is a remarkable series of so-called 'encased' coins struck in Magna Græcia, of which the reverse is an exact repetition in concave of the relief of the obverse. These coins are thin, flat, sharp in Fig. 2. relief, and beautifully executed. The leading coin of Greece and the Greek colonies was the stater, so called because founded on a standard of weight generally received before the introduction of coined money. There were double staters, and half, third, and quarter staters, and the stater was equivalent in value to six of the silver pieces called drachmæ. The obolus was one-sixth of the drachma, at first struck in silver, in later times in copper. The inscriptions on the earliest Greek coins consist of a single letter, the initial of the city where they were struck. The remaining letters, or a portion of them, were afterwards added, the name, when in full, being in the genitive case. Monograms sometimes occur in addition to the name, or part name, of the place. The first coin bearing the name of a king is the tetradrachm (or piece of four drachmæ) of Alexander I. of Macedon. Among the early coins of Asia, one of the most celebrated is the stater Daricus or Daric, named from Darius Hystaspes. It had for symbol an archer kneeling on one knee, and seems to have been coined for the Greek colonies of Asia by their Persian conquerors. In the reign of Philip of Macedon, the coinage of Greece had attained its full development, having a perfect reverse. One of the earliest specimens of the complete coin is a beautiful medal struck at Syracuse, with the head of K Fig. 3. on the reverse of the staters of Philip of Macedon, known as Philips, and largely imitated by other states. Coins of Alexander the Great are abundant, many having been struck after his conquests in the Greek towns of Asia. A rose distinguishes those struck at Rhodes, a bee those struck at Ephesus, &c.; these are all types generally accompanying the figure of Zeus on the reverse; on the obverse is the head of Hercules, which has sometimes been supposed to be that of Alexander himself. It would rather seem, however, that the conqueror's immediate successors were the first who placed their portrait on the coins, and that under a shallow pretence of deification, Lysimachus as a descendant of Bacchus, and Seleucus of Apollo, clothed in the attributes of these deities. Two most beautiful and important series of Greek coins are those of the Seleucidæ, in Asia, of silver, and of the Lagidæ or Ptolemies, in Egypt, of gold. Proserpine accompanied by dolphins, and for reverse a victor in the Olympic games in a chariot receiving a wreath from Victory-a type which is also found In Palestine there is an interesting series of coins founded on the religious history of the Jewish nation, and assigned to Simon Maccabæus. They are shekels and half-shekels, equivalent to two Attic drachmæ and one drachma respectively. The shekels bear on the obverse the pot of manna, with the inscription 'Schekel Israel' (the Shekel of Israel); on the reverse is Aaron's rod with three flowers, and the legend Ierouschalim kedoschah' (Jerusalem the Holy). The inscriptions are in the Samaritan character. The successors of Simon assumed the title of king, and placed their portraits on the coins, with inscriptions in Greek as well as in Hebrew. Roman coins belong to three different series, known as the Republican, the Family, and the Imperial. The so-called Republican, the earliest coinage, began at an early period of Roman history, and subsisted till about 80 B. C. Its standard metal was copper, or rather as or bronze, an alloy of copper. B. C. Fig. 4. The standard unit was the pound weight divided into twelve ounces. The as, or as, or pound of bronze, is said to have received a state impress as early as the reign of Servius Tullius, 578 This gigantic piece was oblong like a brick, and stamped with the representation of an ox or sheep, whence the word pecunia, from pecus, cattle. The full pound of the as was gradually reduced, always retaining the twelve (nominally) uncial subdivisions, till its actual weight came to be no more than a quarter of an ounce. About the time when the as had diminished to nine ounces, the square form was exchanged for the circular. This large copper coin, called the 'as grave,' was not struck with the punch, but cast, and exhi bited on the obverse the Janus bifrons; and on the reverse, the prow of a ship, with the numeral I. Of the fractions of the as, the sextans, or sixth part, generally bears the head of Mercury, and the uncia, or ounce piece (fig. 4), that of Minerva; these pieces being further NUMISMATICS. distinguished by dots or knobs, one for each ounce. There were circular pieces as high as the decussis, or piece of twelve asses, presenting a head of Roma (or Minerva), but none are known to have been coined till the weight of the as had diminished to four ounces. The Roman uncial coinage extended to the other states of Italy, where a variety of types were introduced, including mythological heads and animals. In the reign of Augustus, the as was virtually superseded by the sestertius, called by numismatists the first bronze, about the size of our penny, which was at first of the value of 24, afterwards of 4 asses. The sestertius derived its value from the silver denarius, of which it was the fourth. The half of the sestertius was the dupondius (known as the second bronze), and the half of the dupondius was called the assarium, an old name of the as. The assarium is known to numismatists as the third bronze. Silver was first coined at Rome about 281 B. C., the standard being founded on the Greek drachma, then equivalent in value to ten asses; the new coin was therefore called a denarius, or piece of ten asses. The earliest silver coined at Rome has on the obverse the head of Roma (differing from Minerva by having wings attached to the helmet); on the reverse is a quadriga or biga, or the Dioscuri. Among various other types which occur in the silver of the Italian towns subject to Rome are the horse's head, and galloping horse, both very beautiful. During the social war, the revolted states coined money independently of Rome, and used various devices to distinguish it as Italian and not Roman money. The earliest gold coins seem to have been issued about 90 B. C., and consisted of the scrupulum, equivalent to 20 sestertii, and the double and treble scrupulum. These pieces bear the head of Mars on the obverse, and on the reverse an eagle standing on a thunderbolt, with the inscription 'Roma' on the exergue. The large early republican coins were cast, not struck. The Family Coins begin about 170 B. C., and about 80 B. C. they entirely supersede the coins first described. Those families who successively held offices connected with the public mint acquired the right first to inscribe their names on the money, afterwards to introduce symbols of events in their own family history. These types gradually superseded the natural ones; the portrait of an ancestor followed; and then the portrait of a living citizen, Julius Caesar. Judæa. The Colosseum appears on a sestertius of Vespasian. The coins of Trajan are noted for their architectural types. Hadrian's coins commemorate his journeys. The coins and medals of Antonine, Marcus Aurelius, and the two Faustinæ are well executed; as are also those of Commodus, of whom a remarkable medallion relates to the conquest of Britain. There is a rapid falling off in design after the time of Commodus, and base silver comes extensively into use in the reign of Caracalla. Gallienus introduced the practice of coining money of copper washed with silver. The colonial and provincial money of this period was very inferior to that coined in Rome. In the coins of the provinces which had been formed out of the Greek empire, the obverse bears the emperor's head, and the reverse generally the chief temple of the gods in the city of coinage; the inscriptions are in Greek. In the imperial coins of Alexandria appear such characteristic devices as the heads of Jupiter Ammon, Isis, and Canopus, the sphinx, the serpent, the lotus, and the wheat-ear. Colonial coins were at first distinguished by a team of oxen, afterwards by banners, the number of which indicated the number of legions from which the colony had been drawn. After the time of Gallienus, the colonial money and the Greek imperial money, except that of Alexandria, ceased, and much of the Roman coinage was executed in the provinces, the name of the town of issue appearing on the exergue. Diocletian introduced a new piece of money, called the follis, which became the chief coin of the lower empire. The first bronze has disappeared after Gallienus, and the second disappears after Diocletian, the third bronze diminishing to th of an ounce. With the establishment of Christianity under Constantine, a few Christian types are introduced. The third bronze of that emperor has the Labarum (q. v.), with the monogram IHS. Large medallions, called contorniati, encircled with a deep groove, belong to this period, and seem to have been prizes for distribution at the public games. Pagan types recur on the coins of Julian; and after his time the third bronze disappears. The money of the Byzantine empire forms a link between the subject of ancient and that of modern coins. The portrait of the emperor on the obverse is after the 10th c. supported by some protecting saint. The reverse has at first such types as Victory with a cross, afterwards a representation of the Saviour or the Virgin; in some instances, the Virgin supporting the walls of Constantinople. Latin is gradually superseded by Greek in the inscriptions, and wholly disappears by the time of Alexius I. The chief gold piece was the solidus or nomisma, which was long famed in commerce for its purity, and circulated largely in the west as well as the east of Europe. Under the empire, the copper sestertius, which had displaced the as, continued the monetary standard. A magnificent series exists of the first bronzes of the emperors from Augustus to Gallienus. While it was the privilege of the emperors to coin gold and silver, copper could only be coined ex senatusconsulto, which from the time of Augustus was expressed on the coins by the letters S.C., or Of the coins of the middle ages, the most importEX S.C. The obverse of the imperial coins bears ant is the silver denier or penny, derived from the the portraits of the successive emperors, sometimes Latin denarius. Its half was the obole, first of of the empress or other members of the imperial silver, afterwards of billon. Coins of this descripfamily; and the reverse represents some event, tion were issued in the German empire, France, military or social, of the emperor's reign, sometimes England, and the Scandinavian states, and in many allegorised. The emperor's name and title are cases by ecclesiastical princes and feudal lords as inscribed on the obverse, and sometimes partly well as sovereigns. The obverse of the regal coin continued on the reverse; the inscription on the of the early middle ages is generally the bust of the reverse generally relates to the subject delineated; sovereign, and the reverse a Greek cross, accomand towards the close of the 3d c., the exergue of panied by the royal name or title, and the place of the reverse is occupied by the name of the town mintage or the moneyer (see MINT). The arms of where the coin is struck. The coins of Augustus the country were introduced in the 12th c., in conandi those of Livia, Antonia, and Agrippina the junction with the cross, and afterwards superseded Elder have much artistic merit. The workmanship it. In the 13th and 14th centuries, coins began to of Nero's sestertii is very beautiful. The coins of be issued by free imperial cities or corporations of Vespasian and Titus commemorate the conquest of towns; and there prevailed extensively throughout NUMISMATICS. Germany and other parts of Europe a thin piece called a bracteate, in relief on one side, and hollow on the other, often not bearing a single letter, and rarely a full inscription. Down to the 14th c., the relief of the medieval coins is very inconsiderable, the pieces thin, and the art poor. Britain received the Roman money on its subjugation. Constantine seems to have had a mint in London, and the Roman currency continued to circulate for a time after the departure of the conquerors. The first independent coinage, however, shews hardly a trace of the influence of Rome; it consists of two small coins, called the skeatta and styca, the former of silver, the latter of copper. Both seem to belong solely to the Saxon kingdom of Northumbria; they are without inscriptions; a brd, a rude profile, and several unintelligible symbols appear on them, and their art is of the most debased kind. In the other kingdoms of the heptarchy silver pennies were coined, first intended to beth of a pound weight; on the disappearance of skeatte and stycæ, they form, with the occasional addition of halfpennies, the sole currency of England down to the reign of Edward III. The pennies of the heptarchy bear the name of the king or of the moneyer; a cross sometimes appears after the introduction of Christianity, and in later times a rude head of the king or queen. The pennies of the Saxon and Danish sole monarchs of England, have a somewhat similar character. Alfred's earlier coins have a grotesque-looking portrait, and on the reverse DRE Fig. 5. a monogram of London; in his later coins the head disappears, and a cross and circle take its place. A cross, variously ornamented with three pellets in each angle, continues to be the usual reverse of the Saxon, Norman, and Plantagenet coins. The coins of Edward III. are a great artistic advance on those that preceded them. The silver coinage of that king consisted not only of pennies, halfpennies, and farthings, but also of groats and half-groats. The obverse of the groat bears a conventional crowned head within a flowered circle of nine arches, the words Dei Gratia' and the title 'Rex Francia' appearing for the first time in the legend. The reverse has the motto Posui Deum adjutorem meum,' which continued on the coinage till the time of Edward V. But the great numismatic feature of Edward III.'s reign is the issue of gold nobles, worth six shillings and eightpence. The obverse of those beautiful coins represent the king in a ship, a sword in his right hand, in his left a shield with the quartered arms of France and England. The reverse is a rich cross flory within a circle of eight arches, and a lion under a crown in each angle of the cross, the legend being Thesus autem transiens per medium illorum ibat.' Half and quarter nobles were also coined. The noble having increased in value, a coin called an angel, of the former value of a noble, was issued by Henry VL and Edward IV. The obverse represented St Michael transfixing a dragon; the reverse a ship, with a cross for the mast. As we approach the period of the Reformation, the coinage gradually becomes more ornate. The nobles coined by Edward IV., after the value of that coin had been fixed at ten shillings, were called rials (a name derived from a French coin), and the double rial or sovereign was first coined by Henry VII The obverse has the king on his throne with sceptre and orb, and on the reverse, in the centre of a heraldic full-blown rose, is a shield with the arms of France and England. The testoon, or shilling, valued at twelve pence, also first appeared in this reign, with the royal profile crowned on the obverse, and the royal arms quartered by the cross on the reverse. A great debasement of the coinage took place in the reign of Henry VIII. The reverse of the farthings of that monarch bears a portcullis, that of the shillings a rose surmounted by a crown, and of the sovereigns, the royal arms supported by a lion and dragon. A noble was coined with St George and the dragon on the obverse, and on the reverse a ship with three crosses for masts, and a rose on the centre mast On the coins of Henry VIII. the title Hiberniæ Rex' first appeared, former kings having only styled themselves Dominus Hiberniæ,' Ireland not being accounted a kingdom. Under Edward VI., the silver coins called crowns and half-crowns appear, having for device the king crowned on horseback in the armour of the period. They derived their name from coins circulating on the continent, which had for device a crown. The royal arms in an oval shield without the cross are introduced as the reverse of the shilling. From this period there is a very obvious decline in the artistic feeling of the English coins. On some of the shillings of Mary, her bust and that of Philip face each other, the insignia of Spain and England impaled occupying the reverse; afterwards the king's head occupies one side of the coin, and the queen's the other. Half-sovereigns, or rials, and angels were coined of the old type of Edward IV. The great event in the coinage of Elizabeth's reign was the temporary introduction of the mill and screw, instead of the hammer and punch, producing coins of a more regular and workmanlike appearance. The profile bust of James L., crowned and in armour, appears on his shillings and smaller pieces; on his crowns and half-crowns he is represented on horseback; on the reverse are the quartered arms of the three kingdoms (the harp of freland appearing for the first time on the coinage), with the motto Que Deus conjunxit nemo separet.' Copper farthings, with crown, sceptre, and sword on the obverse, and a harp on the reverse, were coined for England as well as Ireland, the first copper money issued in England since the styca. Private tokens of copper, issued by tradesmen and others, had, however, been in circulation before, and came again into use to a large extent at a later period. Charles I. coined ten and twenty shilling pieces of silver, the former a very noble coin, with a representation of the king on horseback. A crown, struck at Oxford, bears on the obverse the king on horseback, with a representation of the town, and on the reverse the heads of the Oxford declaration. The guinea, first coined in this reign, was so called from the metal being procured from the coast of Guinea; its original value was but twenty shillings. The coins of the Commonwealth exhibit a shield with the cross of St George surrounded by a palm and olive branch, and have for legend 'The Commonwealth of England.' On the reverse are two shields accollée, with the cross of St George and the harp of Ireland, and the motto 'God with us.' Coins far superior in character were executed by Cromwell, with his laureated bust and title as Protector, and on the reverse a crowned shield quartering the cross of St George, of St Andrew and the harp, with the Protector's paternal arms in surtout; but few of these were issued. In the early |