THE COIN COLLECTOR - World eBook Library

THE COLLECTOR SERIES
Meanwhile, the feudal series, which must be under-
stood to comprise the vassals of the French crown of
all grades and all measures of subservience, including
Burgundy, Normandy, Brittany, Lorraine, and other
grand fiefs, whose allegiance was more or less nominal,
had swollen to a bulk which far surpassed that of the
monarchy, and which embraced within its limits pro-
ductions transcending in personal or in artistic interest
those of the suzerain. Perhaps, indeed, it may be
advanced as a general proposition that the redeeming
features of the French system lie outside the direct
dynastic succession, and are to be sought in the feudal,
Franco-Italian, Franco-Spanish, and Napoleonic coins,
apart from a group of cssais or patterns of superior
style by Briot and others, which the Government
usually rejected.
Altogether, we perceive in this case a vast assemblage
of metallic monuments, which, as a special collection,
are decidedly undesirable, from the unusual poverty of
their character and condition, but among which it is
not difficult to make choice of a considerable assort-
ment of specimens in all the branches—the earlier
colonial inclusive—equally attractive and interesting
from many points of view, and in some instances
associated with great historical names.
In turning over the pages of such works as those by
Hoffmann and Poey d'Avant, the student or amateur is
apt to form a more favourable idea of the French series
than a personal examination of ordinary pieces will
probably give, as the engravings are derived to a large
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