Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 1.djvu/27

Rh variety of which renders them valuable for the orthography of names of persons and places. On some of the earlier coins. Runic characters and Saxon letters are occasionally combined.

Recent discoveries have considerably increased the list of Saxon coins, and, notwithstanding the diligent researches of able numismatists, much remains to be done towards the explanation of many novel types. The chief works for the study of the Saxon coins, conjointly with the British and English, are, Ruding's Annals of the Coinage of Great Britain, Hawkins's Silver Coins of England, and Lindsay's Coins of the Saxon Heptarchy.

The transmission of the actual coins in all cases where correspondents are in doubt is recommended, but the frequent loss of money-letters entrusted to the Post Office, should caution persons against committing valuable coins to such a dangerous medium of conveyance. Provided the coins cannot be procured for inspection, impressions in sealing-wax should be taken of both sides of the coins, which should be simply pressed into the melted wax dropped on card or paper, as if sealing a letter. From these matrices, plaster casts can be taken, which for all common purposes will supply the place of the real coins. The great objection to casts is, that they do not warrant decision as to the genuineness of coins; and here it is necessary to guard collectors against the practices of forgers of ancient coins, who, both in Paris and in London, are continually fabricating imitations of ancient Greek, Roman, Saxon, and English money, which is dispersed by means of their agents throughout the country, and sold, often for high sums, to the inexperienced. It is practice alone that will enable the student to detect forged coins, and no rules, however clear and explicit they may appear, will supersede the necessity of a careful examination of ascertained forgeries, and their comparison with genuine specimens.