W. C a r e w H a z l i t t Coinage of the European Continent

370 The Coins of Europe
Neapolitans, Venetians, Russians, Turks, French, were taken
by Great Britain in 1809, and finally annexed to Greece in
1862-64. The Greek kingdom had been formed in 1832 as
the climax of a long and anxious struggle, in which Count
Capo d'Istria, Byron, and the British Government were the
best friends to the cause of freedom. The battle of Navarino
contributed in 1829 to strengthen
the hands of the reawakening
nation. Within the period of their protectorate
( 1 809-64) the British struck in copper for the Islands pieces
of i, 2, 5, and 10 lepta, and a 30 lepta in silver. The last
coinage was in 1862 ;
it had apparently commenced in 1819.
The uniform type was :
obverse, the winged and radiated lion
of St. Mark, holding in its claw a sheaf of arrows enclosed
in a band on which appears a Greek cross, and the legend
lonikon Kraton, 1819; reverse, figure of Britannia, etc., as
on the ordinary English money of the time. The 30 lepta
is dated 1834, and formed the prototype as to the reverse of
the English groat of 1836. The series was engraved by
Wyon.
Between 1828 and 1831 the republic, to which Byron
had lent his last years, but which he did not live to see
established, struck pieces of I, 5, 10, and 20 lepta and a
pJienix in silver of I oo lepta. The type of all these coins
is the fabulous bird, figurative of the reviving nationality,
rising out of its own ashes under the influence of a ray or
beam of light descending from above ;
a Greek cross surmounts
the head ;
and the legend
is Ellenikc Politeia, The
reverse bears the value enclosed in a wreath, the date below,
and the inscription reading Kubernetes I. A. Kapodaistrias.
At the foot of the obverse occurs the m.m. aco^a.
Of the kingdom the first coinage was in 1833. There
had been apparently an intention, judging from extant
patterns, to employ the mint at Munich for the purpose but
;
the order was eventually given to Paris. This issue varies
in module from its successors, in being smaller with a
gnurled edge, and in making no mention of the name of the
sovereign, since the legend is simply Basileia tes Ellenos ; it
is
altogether preferable in style to the money
struck under