The high prices paid for ancient coins gave rise to numerous forgeries in the 15th and 16th centuries, and many Italian artists, comprising Benvenuto Cellini, Valerio di Vicenza, Sebastian° Piombo, and others, especially G. Covino made false dies of Roman coins with great success, and issued the forgeries recognised as Papuans or Parmeggians by collectors. These, principally large braes, arc detected by their thinner and rounder shape, clover and finer letters, and Italian style of work. Others] retouched casts of true coins with the graver, and added a false patina, filing the edges. In the 18th century, Con. gornier, at Lyon, made gold coins of the Tyrants of the age of Gallienus, and La Roche and Devrieu at Florence, counterfeited the Roman largo brass. Webber, Galli, and Caprara of Smyrna, are known as forgers of Greek coins. The forgeries of Beckker of Offenbach, who died in 1830, are by far the moat numerous, consisting of upwards of 600 dies. and 331 pieces, and worth 26291., copied from the antique. principally in gold and silver, with some medurval specimens distinguished by a coarser style of work, ignorance of details, expression, and letters. Greek medallions and coins were made by Neapolitan forgers, and false dies were in activity in 1830 at Syra. As few, if any of the Greek and Roman coins are found from the same die, the comparison of suspected struck coins in various cabinets, leads to the detection of forgeries of this class, in addition to the precautions of weighing the suspected pieces, and observing their correspondence with the standard and fineness of the true coins, to avoid which, however, Beekker often used for his blanks ancient coins of corresponding value.
The largest class of forgeries are casts made from antique coins, by making moulds of them in clay or plaster, and arc executed with better success in gold and silver than in brass or copper, gold coins never having any ierugo, and the metal flowing more freely in the mould, and silver being easily oxydisod by chemical agents so as to appear to have long lain in the earth, while the patina, or rust of bronze and copper, especially the red rust or protoxyde of copper, the hard crystal line character of which cannot be produced by chemical action, but only by the slow process, of centuries, cannot be imitated. All casts are deficient in weight, have smoothed edges, pitted fields, fused letters, and interstices mere or less filled up, defects only to be con cealed by the suspicious operations of tiling the edges, tooling out with a graver the letters and features, and covering the whole with a fals" soft patina. The older deceptions of altering with a graving tool the portraita of communion emperors into rare ones, tampering with the legends, or splitting two medals, giving are and unusual reverses, of stampiug different reverses or obverses, appears to have been abandoned, as too (franc to deceive, and are only found in old cabinets.
A coarser kind of forgeries were invented by the chasers and engravers of the 15th century, representing on one side the head of Priam, on the other a view of Troy, or Queen Dido and Carthage, Artemisia and the Mausoleums ; such learned toys were, however, only calculated to deceive theoretical pedants. (Beauvais, ' La nianiere des
discerner has Medailles Antiq.,' 4to, Paris, 1730; 'Sopra i .Modenri falsifimatori di medaglio Grecho," Svo, Fir., 1820.) Cabinets are generally made of mahogany, oak and cedar being objectionable owing to the turpentine and pyroligneous acid they exude. The drawers, :th inch thick, are pierced with circular holes 1: inch in diameter, for autonomous Greek, and 1: inch in diameter for large brass ; a small circular hole is left about 4 inch in diameter, to allow of a coin being lifted by the finger, the holes are lined with movable pieces of cloth to prevent the rubbing of the coin. The larger and smaller sizes for medallions, silver pennies, dollars, and denarii are in proportion. As economy of space is always sought, each suite is arranged by itself, although the placing together of the entire currency of each people or monarch, irrespective of sizes or metals, is more instructive : Greek coins are arranged geographically; the Roman gold, silver, and brass each in a series, modern coins according to countries, the coins of emperors according to the states or cities where struck.
Although it is not possible to give in this article any account of the value of ancient coins, yet some notions may be given of the value of the coins of Greece. The gold staters of cities sometimes fetch 30/. or 60/.. those of the kings are comparatively common, and Philip II., Alexander III., and Lysimachus, are worth little more than their weight in metal, while one of Mithridates has sold for 1201.; in silver tetradrachms vary from a few shillings to many pounds—those of Athens, Alexander, and Lysimachus, being worth about 16s. or 20s., while a fine one of Myrrhina obtained 2601. Those of the kings are gene rally rare, and many obtain as much as 30/. or 40/. ; the unique one of Cleopatra, mother of Antiochus VI II.,cost 240/. The copper is only very valuable when beautifully preserved. In the Roman series the consular pieces, and the Roman gold silver are not generally valuable, a collection of the first being worth on an average 31. 10s. per piece, and that of the latter not more than 5s. The large brass series ie more valuable, the second much less so, and the 3rd brass of little or no value.. The average value of a mediaeval collection is about 15s. per piece, and of medals about 10s. Collectors will indeed find some clue to the price of Greek and Roman medals in the works of Mionnet and Cohen, but the values are constantly varying, and increase according to the preservation of the coins, and must be sought for by examining priced catalogues of sales. As a general rule, the prices paid for coins and medals have been much enhanced in the last quarter of. a century.