Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 1.djvu/25

Rh monuments, Akerman's Coins of the Romans relating to Britain may be recommended, and his Descriptive Catalogue of rare and unedited Roman Coins may be referred to for general ideas as to the rarity of Roman coins. As, in the latter work, only the rarer coins are given, the student may conclude that those which are not to be found therein are common. Banduri's Coins of the Romans from Trajanus Decius to the termination of the Byzantine Empire, an elaborate compilation, gives the common as well as the rare coins. The consular coins are fully described in the Thesaurus Morellianus. As an elementary work on coins in general, Akerman's Numismatic Manual, 2nd edit., will be found useful, nor should Pinkerton's 'Essay on Medals' be disregarded by the entire novice, especially if he be forewarned against placing confidence in the correctness of the list of prices at the end of the second volume.

The Roman and continental coins appear to have constituted the circulating medium in Britain, from the departure of the Romans to about the seventh century. The rude uninscribed Saxon coins in silver termed ſceattaſ are probably earlier, but those the appropriation of which admits of no doubt commence about A.D. 670. The former exhibit undefinable marks, circles, squares, birds, dragons, and grotesque animals. Letters are found on some, together with a crowned head, and the cross, the symbol of Christianity, which, consequently, may be considered of later date; the others may be ascribed to the pagan princes anterior to the general propagation of Christianity.

The Saxons, long subsequent to their settlement in Britain, do not appear to have had any coinage of their own, and it would seem that for two centuries they chiefly used the Roman money with that of France, as well as personal ornaments adapted to answer the purposes of stamped money. Thus among the funereal remains of the Saxons, we find Roman, Byzantine, and Merovingian coins, which are of the greatest service in enabling us to determine the date of the object discovered with them, often exhibiting nothing in themselves sufficiently characteristic to fix dates. The earlier ſceattaſ are occasionally found in barrows with the remains of the