The numismatic chronicle and journal of the Royal ... - IndianCoins.org

316 MISCELLANEA.with the reverse type of Herakles, from the same obversedie, but from four different reverse dies of these six;havethe die-position f jand two f f: there are two from anotherobverse die, and from distinct reverses, both of whichhave f j.Of Caracalla there are nine coins, five with thereverse type of Zeus Akraios, from four different reversedies, and four with that of the emperor crowned by Nike,from two dies : six of the nine are struck from one obversedie and three (all with Zeus Akraios reverse) from another :in every case the die-position is f j.Of Greta there arenineteen, two of which have the reverse type of temple ofTyche, both from the same die, and the rest that of thetwin Nemeses, from thirteen different dies : eleven are fromone obverse die, of which six have the die-position f f, andfive f | ;the other eight are from another obverse die,and of these two have f f and six f j.On the whole thesefigures suggest that f jwas intended to be the normalposition, and that some dies were more liable than others tobe reversed.J. G. MILNE.A NOTE ON THE COMPOSITION OF SOME BRITISH COINS.DR. S. W. SMITH, of the Koyal Mint, has kindly analysedcertain specimens of British coinage which I submitted tohim. He gives his results under three heads, as follows :A.Coins corresponding to the description given by Evans inhis Ancient British Coins, Chap. VII, "Tin Coinage".The statement on p. 123 that these coins are made of analloy in which tin "preponderates" is probably based onthe appearance of the fracture of the metal, which isgreyish-white.The composition of one selected for analysis is in roundfigures : .Copper. 73 per cent.Tin . . 27 per cent.The alloys of copper and tin attain a maximum hardnessnear this composition, at which they are brittle and of courseunsuitable for the purposes of rolling or " striking ".