THE COIN COLLECTOR - World eBook Library

THE COLLECTOR SERIES
of Constantine are to be included, embrace the pieces
struck at Rome to commemorate the triumphs of the
imperial arms over the barbarous islanders, which com-
mence with the reign of Claudius, the series in all
metals of the British-born Ca'sar Albinus, and the
large assemblage, also in gold, silver, and copper, of
Carausius and Allectus, comprising many rare types.
There is another family of Roman coins, to which
attention is due—those of earlier reigns restored by the
later rulers ; they commence with Augustus, and are
sometimes far rarer than the original monev.
Speaking generally, the interest resident in these
monuments is either historical or personal, if not both.
On the reverses, though in a more limited measure
than in the republican money perhaps, and in a
different way, there are records of events of which
we might otherwise have known nothing: and the
portraits of such men as Augustus, Hadrian, Trajan,
Marcus Aurelius, Severus, Alexander, Constantine the
Great, Julian, and of some of the august ladies who
enjoyed the privilege of appearing on the coinage,
Livia, Crispina, Matidia, Marciana, Plotina, Donma,
inspire us with a strange sympathetic interest, of which
we are not quite able to divest ourselves when we
contemplate the effigies of Tiberius, Commodus, Ela-
gabalus (whose features belie his character), of Julia,
the daughter of Augustus, the two Faustinas, and
Lucilla. Of Augustus it may be questioned if we do
not obtain in the Divos Ivlivs piece a more veracious
resemblance than on the ordinary currency, and the
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