THE AMERICAN NUMISMATICAL MANUAL. INTRODUCTION. HAVING no parentage in the arts, except from our famous old mother, England our predecessors, the aborigines, when we came among them upon this continent, being armed with, and possessed of no traces of civilization, not since exhumed from their mounds, and they superseded in value by the progress of the arts of other nations- we not only trace our lineage to her, but in our connection, otherwise, as scion and pupil so long, look to her records and acts. Hence, to begin where she did in coinage, and follow it up to the period when, having set up for ourselves, we adopted a national coinage of our own, cannot but be both entertaining and instructive. Temples, statues, triumphal arches, or any monuments of art, have been of vast importance in elucidating and testing the chronicles and histories of past times, and often in bringing to light important events in the history of the world, of which no written record existed. Coins, similarly applied, become the more positive evidence. A coin, find it where we may, is an index to the people who originally issued it, and truly indicative of their state of civilization. The date of the foundation of Rome, as accepted by the Romans themselves, is proved by a coin struck by the Emperor Philip II., to commemorate the millennium of the city. The inscription of this coin states it was issued in the year of his third consulship, the period of which being known, the foundation of Rome is fixed at one thousand years before that event. Other Roman coins, where triumphal arches have crumbled to dust, and statues have been overthrown, record such great historical facts as "Judæa Capta," "Victoriæ Brittanicæ," "Aegypto Capta," and others of equal importance. Astronomy acquires evidence from the device on a coin of Augustus Cæsar, of the appearance of a great comet at a certain period. This comet was supposed by the populace of Rome to have been the spirit of Julius Cæsar after his apotheosis. Sir Isaac Newton availed himself of the use of coins, in testing the dates of his great work on ancient chronology; and through these means, the names of upwards of two thousand places, provinces, and princes, have been preserved-many of them having no other record. In portraiture, coins are of the greatest interest; the Greek and Roman series furnishing accurate representations of the features of Alexander the Great, the Ptolemies, Cæsar, Augustus, Homer, Sappho, and Cicero; who, though not placed upon the public coinage during their lives, were afterwards engraved on the public money of different States, in honor of their memory. Ancient works upon portraiture are chiefly indebted for their value to the portraits found upon coins. Lost history has been revealed through the medium of recently-discovered coins. I refer to the series of "Græco Bactrian" and "Græco Indian" coins. After the death of Alexander the Great, his powerful lieutenants divided up his empire among themselves, each erecting for himself an independent sovereignty out of the conquered provinces; but, of the names of the rulers in north-western India, only eight of the immediate successors of Alexander were preserved. The discovery of these coins has extended the number to twenty, and the coins of their more barbarous successors disclose a series extending from the third century before, to the twelfth century after, the Christian era. The earliest money transaction on record, is that in which it is related that Abraham weighed to Ephron "four hundred shekels of silver, current money with the merchant," in payment for the field of Machpelah. These were, doubtless, mere pieces of silver without stamp or mark, which passed by weight only, as the term shekel, to weigh, fully implies. The term used in the book of Job for money is not shekel, but "kesitah," a lamb, from the image of that animal having been stamped on the pieces of the weight of a shekel, as the image of an ox was subsequently placed on the Roman pound weight of copper. The shekel, when long afterwards issued in the form of a positive coin, was of the weight of two Greek drachms, and equal to about fifty-six cents, or about the value of a lamb at that period. On the obverse of this coin, was the sacred cup of manna, and on the reverse, the rod of Aaron, on which three flowers are perceptible. The inscriptions were, on the obverse, "Shekel of Israel," and the reverse, “Jerusalem the Holy." Some have such inscriptions as "Saviour Prince of Israel," "the first year of the deliverance of Israel," &c. &c. As commerce increased, from the time of Abraham to that of Micah, who lived about 1500 B. C., commercial wants increased, and the pieces of silver used in trade were largely augmented at the expense of their size; for a transaction of Micah with his mother refers to a thousand pieces of silver; and similar sums are mentioned three centuries later, in the transaction of the five lords of the Philistines and Delilah; and that they were very small pieces, is evident from the statement, that the lords brought the money in their hands-probably in sealed bags, each containing a certain weight. The Jews, it is said, did not adopt the use of positive coins till long after their introduction into other countries. From the time of Abraham, however, to that of the Maccabees, about 144 years B. C., they had, like other oriental nations, in addition to common money, formed of small pieces of silver, a kind of jewel-money, consisting of personal ornaments adjusted to a certain weight, which, if occasion required, might be used as money. Such are the jewels mentioned in Genesis xxiv. 22, as given by Abraham's servant to Rebekah. "The man took a golden ear-ring of half a shekel in weight, and two bracelets for her hands, of ten shekels' weight of gold." They also had ring-money, such, undoubtedly, as was used by the Celtic nations of the West. This ring-money of the East appears to have been formed of wire, so attached togethernot being fastened that portions could be detached at pleasure from the chain. Representations of this kind of money are found in hieroglyphic sculptures, where men are represented as weighing rings, and a scribe is taking an account of their number and value. Similar rings are still current as money in Nubia, and the portion of this work devoted to the aboriginal currency of North America, will show that they were in use as such among the Indians. The bags of silver given by Naaman to Gehazi, 2 Kings, v. 23, may or may not have contained the ring-money, their weight probably being a talent; among the Hebrews, a weight and denomination of money equivalent to 3000 shekels. As a weight, therefore, it was equal to about 931 lbs. avoirdupois; as a denomination of silver, it has been variously estimated at from £340 to £396 sterling, or from about $1500 to $1800. Other kinds of money of a ruder character also existed, such as engraved stones, like the Egyptian scarebei, pieces of cloth, slices of salt of an estimated value, the remnants of patriarchal times and customs, which still form the currency of some parts of northern Africa. To the Greeks, that once noble people, to whom the world is so largely indebted for so many features of civilization, we must ascribe the first invention of positive coins as money. As it is natural that the honor of origin of any creation in art, conferring either individual or national distinction, should be contested, some have given precedence, in time, to the Persian daric of gold and silver-coins equal to our five-dollar and quarter-dollar pieces. Others place, as first, the Phoenician coins struck in the island of Malta; and others, again, the brass money of Italy. In neither of which, however, except the Greek, has there been that gradual development of the art of coining, from the stamping of the simple lump of metal, through all its phases, to that of the perfect coin. The first species of money that was circulated by tale instead of weight, of which we have any account, consisted of spikes, in shape, of brass or iron; six of these being as many as the hand could grasp. From this rude money were derived the words obolus and drachma, meaning spike and handfull, which continued to be the names of two well-known pieces of Greek money; the latter of which had a value equal to six of the former. Drachma is the name of the principal coin now in use in Greece. The date of the change in Greek money from weight to positive coins, of specific and guaranteed value, cannot be determined; but as Homer states, that an ox was exchanged for a "bar of brass of certain size;" that a woman who understood several useful arts was of the value of four oxen; that the brazen armor of Diomedes was of that of nine oxen, and the golden armor of Glaucus of that of one hundred oxen, we must conclude that a positive coinage did not exist in his time; while the allusion in the laws of Lycurgus to gold and silver coins prove that they were then in use; and hence, then, between these two epochs, we must place the invention of coined money. Herodotus states that the Lydians were the first to issue gold coins. The first appearance of gold coins, however, whether Greek or Lydian, is determined to have taken place about eight hundred years before the Christian era, and to have been followed by an issue of silver coins, of a similar character, in the island of Ægina, about fifty years later, by Phidon, prince of Argos. The first symbol placed upon these coins was of a sacred character-emblems referring to protective gods, and images of the gods themselves; but not till after the age of Alexander, were portraits of sovereigns either allowed or introduced. The principles of the Greek coinage were rapidly extended through the north of Greece into transalpine Gaul, and, radiating from another centre of Greek civilization, the ancient colony of Massitia, now Marseilles, extended northward even to the then remote island of Britain, where imitations of the coins issued by Philip of Macedon and Alexander, began to supersede the Celtic ring-money. Asia Minor being rich in gold-the fabulous richness of the sands of Pactolus being known to every school-boy-its first coinage was of gold. Italy and Sicily abounding in copper, their first emissions were of that material, or rather a mixture of copper and other metals termed Es, a term, perhaps, for bronze. The litra, in Sicily, and the libra, in Italy, was the unit upon which this bronze coinage was founded. The pound weight of copper first received a State impress in Rome, to pass as coin, in the reign of Servius Tullius, about 578 B. C. These coins, from being impressed with the images of cattle, such as oxen, sheep, &c., were called pecunia, from the Latin pecus, cattle, which has now been so long translated money. The Romans did not issue a silver coinage till the year 281 B. C., when its standard was based upon that of the Greek drachma. The drachma being, at that time, of the value of ten Roman ases, the new silver coin was denominated a Denarius, or piece of ten æses. This piece became the parent of the silver pennies of the Anglo-Saxon coinage, and of those of France, where the silver pieces corresponding to English pennies are still called Deniers, particularly in the provincial districts of that country. The Romans coined gold in Their standard gold coin was called the Aureus, and was worth twenty-five 207 B. C. Denarii. Such was the state of the Roman coinage at the time of their conquest of Britain, where their coins soon superseded those of the natives. Cæsar states that the Gauls used for money gold and iron rings of a certain weight. The lowest denomination of the ring-money was found to be exactly one-half pennyweight, which was the unit from which the larger sizes were graduated. The gradations of value existed up to 13 oz. 7 dwts. The system of ring-money in Ireland was about as perfect as real coins. This ring-money not only existed in England and Scotland, but probably continued in use as currency till it was superseded by the more convenient coinage of the Roman empire. The Britons, from their proximity to Gaul, received thence the coined money of the Greeks at an early day, which was displacing the ring-money very rapidly, even before the conquest of the Romans. Cæsar, in speaking of the civilization of the Britons, says, "They had both lozenge and gold money; or, instead of money, rings adjusted to a certain weight." There were, also, rude coins of tin, evidently of native workmanship. Tin, the ancient staple of the island of Britain, establishes the truth of the existence and the antiquity of these coins. Following these, then, were coins of Greek form and style; then came coins bearing the names of British districts or cities; and next came those bearing the names of chiefs or rulers. Cæsar also speaks of Comius as possessing considerable influence, and of coins bearing the name Epillus, son of Comius, which may be attributed to him. The British prince, Cunobeline - the Cymbeline of Shakspeare-whose dominions extended over Norfolk, Suffolk, and Essex, and much of the country west of the Severn, issued coins bearing his own effigy and name, Cunobelinus, in full. He is said to have visited Rome in the reign of Augustus, and to have brought back with him Roman artists to superintend his coinage. Taciovanus, supposed to have been of Gallic origin, but holding dominion in Britain, had coins also bearing his name. In the 42d year of the era of Britain, the southern parts of the island were subjugated by the Emperor Claudius, and the Roman coinage soon after gained the |