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

32 The Coins of Europe
but illiterate readings not unreasonably excite a suspicion
that the coin belongs to some unauthorised source, or was at
least put into circulation by a pretender or usurper.
Our Catalogue of Mints, shewing approximately at least
all the places on the Continent which at various times
have been employed as seats of coinage, no less than
those of Denominations and Rulers, will, it is trusted, be
found of service and interest. Many of the localities still
retain their importance and the distinction of coining for the
region to which they belong ; others, from fundamental
political changes, have long ceased to be centres of activity,
or have at all events lost their numismatic associations
;
and
of a few little beyond the site is at present known. One or
two towns, which must have possessed at one period trade
and power, have altogether disappeared, and survive only in
numismatic and other records.
It is more than possible that in certain cases we have
erred in ascribing the coinage of money to given localities ;
but we have never done so without a careful consideration
of all
the circumstances and probabilities.
The disparity in the mechanical execution of continental
coins is too conspicuous to escape observation ;
it is a
phenomenon which affects certain periods more than others,
certain metals, or certain parts of a series. The gold money
appears, as a rule, to have been treated with greater care ;
while the silver of low standard, so largely used over the
whole world for small values, before copper grew more
general, met with almost invariable neglect, as it has, from
its nature, descended to us in the same deplorable state as
the "brazen-nose" shillings of Henry VIII. of England.
But even the silver currency of France down to the Napoleon
epoch is notoriously ill-struck, and collectors find it hard to
secure for their cabinets really fine specimens either of the
early French or the Franco-Italian series, nay, of the coins
of Louis XIV. XV. and XVI. and of the First Republic.
The gigliati, gold sequins, and other money of the Knights of
St. John of Jerusalem are almost invariably poor from a
similar cause. On the contrary, the good work which soon