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

Introduction 35
and by co-operative research that the true distinctive terms
have been to a large extent recovered, and even now there
exists a large assortment of pieces, especially in copper, of
which the correct denomination is uncertain or unknown.
But the present work will, it is
hoped, contribute not inconsiderably
to set this branch of the question on a clearer and
more satisfactory footing, and to diminish the necessity for
specifying foreign coins, of whatever country or source, as
titles. In
deniers, oboles, and such other vague or generic
almost every instance coins had their own habitat, and circulated
within their own appointed lines ;
and the numismatic
frontier was formerly observed and respected as scrupulously
as the political or geographical one.
Coins of foreign extraction derived their appellations (
I )
from the standard to which they belonged, as sol parisis,gros
tournois ; (2) from the place of origin ; (3) from the method
of original fabrication, as the rouble ; (4) from some conspicuous
feature, as the croivn, the rider or cavalier, the
griffin, the pkcenix, the briquet (short sword), the cruzado,
the glocken-gulden and thaler, the ecu or schild ; (5) from
the metal ;
from the weight, as the livra or livre, the onsa,
the dracJima, the peseta ; (6) from the value, as the dnarius,
the vintem, the denier, the cent, centime, or centimo ; or
(7) from the monarch under whom they were first introduced
or were current, as the Carolus, the PJiilippus, the Leopold,
the Francois, the Louis, the Napoleon, and (at Venice) the
Marcella and Moceniga.
1
The silver coinage of Capo d'Istria, President of the Greek
Republic, 1828-30, bore the same symbol as his copper,
namely, the phoenix, mentioned above, and was known under
that name it was an
;
appropriate one for a scheme of national
revival.
As with the English Jacobus and Carolus, Harry groat
and Edward, the inclination of the community to identify
the public currency, as it
passed from hand to hand, with
1
It is necessary to observe that nearly all the foreign numismatists translate
terms and names into their own language, and thus often mislead the inquirer.
The French are the worst culprits in this direction ; everything and everybody has
to be re baptized.