Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 1.djvu/22

8 attempts at imitation, and others, if design or object may be suspected, altogether difficult of explanation. They occur in gold, more or less pure, in silver, and in brass, and are usually concave and convex.

Under the Roman rule, the British coins exhibit great improvement; both consular and imperial Roman coins are obviously the models of many, and the names of British princes or chiefs, with towns and localities, are introduced. It is true that at present some of these are disputed, but there is every reason to infer from what has already been done, that well-directed research, aided by future discoveries, will decide their correct appropriation. The coins of Cunobelinus are very numerous and well executed. They often bear on the reverse the letters, for Camulodunum, the chief city of the territory under his rule. These pieces may be adduced as an instance of the importance of recording the places where coins are discovered. They are found in the greatest abundance in the neighbourhood of Colchester, which occupies the site of the ancient Camulodunum, where there is every reason to believe they were struck. By carefully noting the places that yield in greatest abundance the uninscribed British coins, the best foundation will be laid for their explanation and classification. The same mode may be adopted to classify the imitations of Greek coins, particular types of which may with safety be assigned to the people of the territories that were within the limits of the localities where they are found in the greatest number. The coins of Cunobelinus, and others probably contemporaneous, are the last as well as the finest of the British series, which appears to have been shortly after entirely superseded by the Roman money.

Many of the early coins found in England must have been in common circulation in Germany, in Britain, and in Gaul, as they are found in abundance throughout these countries. Fresh discoveries, however, of coins hitherto unknown, and which mature investigation will probably lead to their being assigned to the British series, are from time to time taking place, and induce a hope that, ere long, the facts already collected will not only be much augmented but better illustrated and explained.

For the study of British and Gaulish coins, the Numismatic Chronicle, and the Revue Numismatique , periodical