events. They are in no way remarkable for the art displayed upon their coinage, and maintain their chief interest from their historical associations, while their claims to be regarded as exhibiting a graceful execution are very slight when we compare them with the chef d'œuvres of the Grecian artists. The arts never flourished in Rome as they did in Greece, they were never indigenous to the soil that bore a band of rugged heroes.

The coinage of the Roman nation, from its earliest inception down to the capture of Constantinople by the Turks, presents to us a lengthy and uninterrupted chain for two thousand years. Upon the series are preserved to us the portraits of the monarchs, their wives and families, relations and generals; it forms a connecting link between the misty, shadowy realm of the forever past, and the living, breathing, moving present of to-day.

Upon the coinage are found their wars and conquests and expeditions, imperial voyages to distant portions of the empire, valuable historical facts and epochs. We shall take occasion later to more fully advert to these interesting records.

Coins of the Sassanidæ, the rulers of the second Persian empire, from about 226 A. D. to 651 A. D. are curious and interesting. They are thin flat silver coins, bearing on the obverse a bust of the monarch wearing a peculiar head dress, on the reverse a fire altar stands between two figures dressed in the old Persian garb (representing respectively the genii of good and evil), and an inscription in Arian characters is at the side. These coins are of uncouth and barbarous design and workmanship, and represent a period of decadence in art before the Mohammedan conquest had prohib ited the representation of the human figure as idolatrous.

The art of coinage, as carried into the East by Alexander the Great, remained in Bactria and India for many centuries, where money was long coined with inscriptions in the Greek languages, the coins of the Arsacidæ in Armenia, and of the Sassanidæ in Persia, bringing the mintages of Central Asia down to a comparatively recent period.

We now come to the coinage of Great Britain, as being a good connecting link between the Roman and the modern eras of coinage. A very heavy and uncouth gold British coin of remote antiquity, perhaps of a period even before the days of Cæsar, marks the beginning. Then in regular order come the rude coinages of the various early monarchs (too familiar to require description here), pennies, groats, &c., &c., broad gold pieces of James I., Charles I., and the Commonwealth of England; a very fine crown of Queen Elizabeth; gold "touch pieces," given by Kings Charles the Second and James the Second, to those unfortunate beings whom, in conformity with the superstitions of the times, they "touched" to cure the King's evil; a fine Gothic pattern crown of Queen Victoria, but never adopted for the national coinage.

Coins of Philip and Mary, bearing both their heads. These were current until a comparatively recent date, and were referred to in Hudibras :

******* Cooing and billing,

Like Philip and Mary upon a shilling."

1879.1

[Phillips. Scotland is represented by coins of John Baliol and Alexander the Third, and a fine dollar, bearing the name of Queen Mary and her husband, the illfated Darnley. Upon the reverse of this coin is a yew tree, popularly supposed to be the one which grew in the court yard of Darnley's residence at Cruikston, from which circumstance this coin is known as the "Cruikston dollar."

There are also a number of coins of the English sovereigns struck for Scotland and Ireland, and various siege pieces of Charles the First, who never in all his extremities resorted to the expedient of a debased coinage.

Germany, rich in silver mines, exhibits a number of fine crowns of different emperors, dukes, bishops, &c., &c. ; and a coin of Vladislaus of Poland (a noble kingdom, for centuries the bulwark of Christendom against the Turk, in the end despoiled and devoured by the very monarchies which its valor had preserved). These pieces range from 1586 to 1689. There are also many silver pieces of the various countries, comprising the Netherlands, such as Gueldres, Zeeland, Campen, &c., &c.

A full line of Spanish and Portuguese coins carries us from the sixteenth century to the present time, among which, is a silver dollar of Philip the Second of Spain, on which among his titles appears that of King of England. France is represented from Henry the Fourth, including a number of silver ecus of various monarchs. On those of Louis the Fourteenth, we can trace the progress of his years, his coins exhibiting him in various stages from youth to old age. Louis XV. is shown as a very handsome young man. There are also coins of Louis XVI., Napoleon, Louis XVIII., Louis Phillippe, Charles X., the Republic of 1848, Napoleon Third, and the present Republic.

Russia shows specimens of the platinum coinage, which, after a short trial, was abandoned as an unsuccessful experiment, and which is very rare. The coinage of the Orient is largely represented, including a full set of the rare and curious "bullet money," from Siam, formed by bringing together the ends of oval pieces of silver, and on each piece is stamped a minute mark showing its value. Each "bullet" is perfectly symmetrical and its weight is very accurately and carefully proportioned to that of the other pieces. They are eight in number, and are named Pie, Sungpee, Fung, Salung, Song Salung, Tical (or Bat) Songbat, Sibat.

There are some curiously stamped coins from Cochin China, long and narrow in shape.

Japan presents a full set of gold, silver and copper coinage, both ancient and modern, the liberal gift of Lieutenant Paul, U. S. N., to the Numismatic and Antiquarian Society of Philadelphia, upon his return from the Orient.

There are coins of the great Orkan, and also a complete series of thirtythree Ottoman monarchs, the successors of Mahomet, very rare but barbarous in art and uninteresting, save from historical association.

There are specimens of the coinage of the Caliphs of Bagdad, and of the Moorish rulers of Spain.

There are also some of the "chopped" money, current in China, where the custom exists of mercantile houses placing their "chop" (or guarantee firm name) upon all the silver money that passes through their hands. The effect of this is very soon to render a coin utterly unrecognizable through the multiplicity of "chops" that it had received.

Scandinavia presents nothing remarkable, except the copper dalers, issued in the reign of Charles XII., when his insatiate thirst for glory had almost reduced his kingdom to beggary. To obtain the necessary revenues for carrying on his mad career he issued small copper pieces which were to be a legal tender for a dollar. The experiment failed, after working the usual amount of hardships, and its originator, Baron Goertz, paid with his life the penalty of its ill-success.*

In America we find an uncirculated cent of 1793, a beautiful head with flowing hair, an object far more tasteful than the last design with which the authorities of the United States mint have favored us. The very rare silver piece coined by Louis XIV., for circulation in the Franco-American colonies, known as the Gloriam regni, exists here in fine condition, as also the Rosa Americana half penny, coined for circulation in British North America, in the reign of King George the First; Georgius Triumpho, Immunis Columbia, Bar Cent, Nova Constellatio, Talbot Allum and Lee (of New York) cent 1794, the Higley copper, coined in Connecticut in 1737, Nova Cæsarea, Vermont, Virginia, Nova Constellatio, Connecticut and Massachusetts coppers, Massachusetts shilling and three pence of 1652 (of which former coin it is narrated that the daughter of the mint master was given her weight as a dowry, she standing in one scale while the money was poured into the other), the sixpence issued in 1783, by I. Chalmers, a jeweller at Annapolis, a very fine Washington cent 1791, large eagle, a number of fine proof-sets and coins of the United States Mint, including the pattern dollar of 1836, the set of pattern cents of 1858, the pattern cents of 1850, 1855 and 1854, the set of pattern half dollars of 1868.

Among the patterns is a goloid metric dollar, a composition, the invention of William Wheeler Hubbell, Esq., which was proposed as being especially adapted for the coinage of the standard dollar. It contains gold, silver and copper in fixed proportions, but presents the feeling and appearance of a very light silver coin. Of these patterns there were not more than twentyfive struck and it is of the greatest rarity.

There is the general and customary assortment of the coins usually incident to the American series, a series which contains very little either of beauty or of interest, so that in the present instance where our aim was mainly to exhibit Art no attempt has been made towards a display of mere numismatic rarities.

1879.]

[Phillips.

The object in hand is to show Art in its origin, growth and progress; Art as a hand-maid for the illustration of mythology and the elucidation of history; Art as an interpreter of the classics, where many obscure passages find upon coins their only true solution. Treatise after treatise has been written to show the advantage to be derived from the study of ancient coinages. Agostino, Goltz, Strada, Eckhel, Spanheim, and a myriad of others have contributed their stores of knowledge to the general fund.

Coins throw light upon the history of nations, their forms of government, the political condition of their citizens; they indicate the classification of their inhabitants; they serve to fix the successions of monarchs, the events of their reigns, and the dates of eras. They have preserved to us the names of a multitude of civic magistrates and rulers, their offices and functions. They have presented to us the images of sovereigns and great personages of history, the heroes of antiquity, poets, painters, philosophers, and sages, gods, goddesses, demigods, legislators and women of fame. They have added largely to our geographical knowledge of the ancient world, exhibiting rivers and fountains, seas and mountains, rocks and other characteristics of places. Many cities have borne different names at various times and coins alone have authenticated their proper attribution. Coins bear frequently types which relate to the religions of the ancient world, both as representing persons, ideas, creeds, shrines, temples, altars and places of worship, sacrifices, utensils and sacred objects. The holy stone to whose worship Elagabalus was consecrated, Diana of the Ephesians, and many similar devices exist on coins.

Many customs are found on coins, such as congiaries, games, allocutions, &c., and ornaments and forms of dress are also thus preserved to our times. Architecture has also been enriched by the edifices, bridges, arches, columns, monuments and similar objects which historians have not fully described, as being too familiar a subject or else have totally passed over, not being then in existence.

When we consider the vast extent of the riches and possessions of so many of the potentates and states of antiquity, the enormous quantity of ancient coins which have survived to our times should not surprise us. The antique earth was a world of commerce, as is our modern globe of to-day; for the requirements of a commerce, which we know was an extensive one, large quantities of circulating medium were necessary, and the great mines of the archaic days furnished immense supplies of the precious metals. The Syracusans, the Athenians, Philip the Second of Macedon, Alexander Magnus, the Ptolemies of Egypt, and lastly the Romans, all issued great quantities of coined money during long centuries; they were all wealthy and prosperous. In the Royal collection at Paris, probably the finest in the world, there are representative coins of sixty-five thousand different nations, cities and princes; the whole number of coinage issued, it is supposed, would amount to about one hundred thousand.

The interest which attaches to the earliest day-dawn of civilization upon this planet, to human life in its first development in the far distant past, is

heightened by the perusal of these tokens which serve as a connecting link between those who live this day and have their being and those who lived three thousand years ago, who saw these works of art as they issued forth fresh from the coiner's hand; who ate, who drank, who slept, who died while these coins were still in their first infancy. Strange customs and curious ethnological facts, traits and coincidences have been displayed or developed upon coins, the records of the earth verified and brought to light. The world's epitome is here; history, geography, philosophy, religion, all bear their part.

Thrice happy he the gifted mortal who can lift the veil and read the secrets of the dusky night.

Stated Meeting, February 21, 1879.

Present, 8 members.

Vice-President, ELI K. PRICE, in the Chair.

Photographs for the album were received from Mr. John Ericsson, and Mr. William Ewing Dubois.

Letters of envoy were received from the Rev. F. C. Ager, Secretary A. Swedenborg Printing and Publishing House, New York; from the Board of Commissioners of the Second Geological Survey of Pennsylvania, and from the Meteorological Office of the Royal Society, London.

Letters of acknowledgment were received from the Museum of Comp. Zoology, Cambridge, Massachusetts (102); the Historical Society of Pennsylvania (102); the American Chemical Society, No. 11 East Fourteenth Street, New York City (65 to 102 inclusive); from Mr. William Bower Taylor, 457 C. Street, Washington (102); Wisconsin State Historical Society, Madison (102); Royal Geological Society of Ireland (100 and List); West Chester Philosophical Society (65 to 102 inclusive); New Hampshire Historical Society (102); Poughkeepsie Society of Natural History (102); Rhode Island Historical Society (102); Numismatic and Antiquarian Society, Philadelphia (102); New Jersey Historical Society (102); Georgia Historical Society (102); Davenport Academy of Natural Science (101, 102), and from numerous