The mediteval money of Germany comprises coins of the emperors, the electors, the smaller princes, the religious houses, and the towns. The imperial series is extensive and very interesting, though, till near the close of the middle ages,•it is rather backward in its art. About the reformation period, however, there are vigorous portraits both on its current coins and on the medals, and those doable-dollars which are virtually medals. The coins of the dukes of Saxony, with their portraits are equally remarkable. • The coins of the archbishops of Cologne, Mainz, and Treves form a very interesting series, the first move especially, with a representation of the cathedral.
The coins of the Low Countries resemble those of France and Germany. The Dutch medals are of interest, more especially those struck in commeinoration of events in the war with Spain.
The coins of the Swiss cantons and towns during the early period of Swiss independ ence bore the heraldic shield of each, drawn with vigorous grotesqueness. There are also pieces struck by ecclesiastical lords, and by different families who had a right of Coinage.
the coins of Spain begin with those of the Gothic princes, which are chiefly of gold, and on the model of the trientes and semisses of the lower empire. Some of the early pieces have a rude head of the monarch on one side, and of the emperor on the other. Afterwards, the obverse bears the profile of the monarch, and the reverse a cross of some description, with the name of the place of mintage, and the word "Pius" for legend. In later times, there are two interesting series of coins belonging to of Aragon and to the kingdom of Castile and Leon.
The, coinages of Norway and Sweden at first resembled the British, and afterwards the German type. From the 10th to the 14th c., bracteates were issued by the ecclesias tics. The coinage of Hungary begins in the 11th c., and has the portraits of the molt• arch& The Russian coinage is Byzantine in character, and rude in its ark The earliest pieces are the silver darga of the 14t11 c., of an oblong shape, with representations of tile
prince on horsebaCk, and various legendary subjects. Peter the great introduced the usual European type. There is an important series of bronze coins of the crusaders, beginning with Tapered, and coming down to the end of the 15th c., including money of the kings of Cyprus and Jerusalem, and other princes established in the east.
• In India, the succession of the kings of Bactria, the remotest of the dynasties founded on the ruins of Alexander's empire, has only become known through their recently dis covered coins. There are early rude Hindu coins of the Gupta line, with figures of the Brahmanic divinities of a type still in use.
Of. the coins of the Mohammedan princes, the oldest gold pieces are the bilingual .coins of cities of Syria and Palestine, of the middle of the 7th c. (A.H. 78, barbarous imitations of the latest Byzantine money of Alexandria. Most of the Mohammedan coins are covered exclusively byInscriptions expressive of the elementary principles of the Mohammedan faith. For some centuries, no sovereign except the caliph was allowed to inscribe his name on the coin. Large gold coins of great purity were issued by the Moslem kings of Granada in Spain.
The high prices given for ancient coins have led to numerous forgeries from the 15th c. downwards. Against such imitations, collectors require to be on their guard.
Among the best works on numismatics are Eckhel,Doctrina ItiumorumVeterum (Vienna, 1792-98); Manuel de Nutnismatique Ancienne (Paris, 1830); Grasset, Handbua der alten Nutnismatik (Leipsic, 1852-53); Leake, Xmas-mato Relknica (London, 1854); Buding's Annals of the Coinage of Great Britain (London, 1840); Patrick's Records of the Coinage of Scotland (1877); -Leblanc, Traite Historique des Monnoies rle France (Paris, 1690); Cappe, Die Miinzen der Deutschen Kaiser (1850); Marsden, Numisinata Orientalia Plustrata (London, 1S23-25); Boutkovski, Dictionnaire Numismatique (Leip. 1877).