THE COIN COLLECTOR - World eBook Library

UNIQUE OR REMARKABLE COINS
When we come to the Roman coins, we first meet
with the Roman obs in all its varied divisions and
periodical gradations of weight, of which more
will be said elsewhere; there are in the Consular or
Republican Series certain families, of whose currency
the examples are of the utmost rarity, and have baffled
the researches of the most ardent and generous col-
lectors, while others are common to excess even in fine
state. The Yorke Moore cabinet lacked many examples
to the last. The denarii, with the portraits of Julius
Caesar, Pompey, Mark Antony, Antony and Cleopatra,
&c, the Victoriati, and the Family and Romano-
Campanian gold, are always desirable. Of the Imperial
Roman and Colonial money the proportion of notable
pieces is large, and the normal rarities numerous. No
brass or copper of Otho of Roman origin, and no first
size of any kind, have yet been reported ; the first
brass of Matidia, Marciana, Plotina, Pertinax, and
others, and the aurei, and even third brass, of more
obscure reigns, are extremely difficult to procure. All
the coins of Julia, daughter of Augustus, and wife
of Agrippa, are rare ; they are only found in the
Colonial Series (Pergamus, Corinth, &c), which also
includes the Judaea Capta and other interesting his-
torical examples. To the English collector the
Britannia type in good state, and the gold and even
silver of Carausius and Allectus, are to be commended.
Throughout the series, but especially in the earlier
first brass, we encounter reverses of great artistic merit
and historical interest. Fuller information is to be
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