My Principal Furnishers--Influence of Early Training on My
Taste--Rejection of Inferior Examples an Invaluable Safeguard--I
outgrow my First Instructors--Necessity for Emancipation from a Single
Source of Supply--Mr Schulman of Amersfoort--His Influential Share in
Amplifying my Numismatic Stores--My Visit to Him--The Rare _Daalder_
of Louis Napoleon, King of Holland--My Adventures at Utrecht and
Brussels--Flattering Confidence--In the Open Market--Schulman's
Catalogues--MM. Rollin & Feuardent--Their English
Representative--Courtesy and Kindness to the Writer--Occasional
Purchases--The Late Mr Montagu--Discussion about an Athenian Gold
_Stater_--An Atmospheric Experiment--My Manifold Obligations to Mr
Whelan--Mr Cockburn of Richmond allows Me to select from His English
Collection--I forestall Mr Montagu--Messrs Spink & Son--Their
Prominent Rank and Cordial Espousal of My Interests and
Wants--Development of My Cabinet under Their Auspices--My Agreeable
Relations with Them--Their Business-like Policy, Liberality and
Independence--The Prince of Naples--We give and take a Little--The
Monthly _Numismatic Circular_--The Clerical Client.
My numismatic haunts and providers have not, especially of late, been
numerous. I once took a small lot of a house in Rathbone Place--a silver
medaglia of Marguerite de Foix, Marchioness of Saluzzo, 1516, which came
from Lyons, and a bronze piece of Ragusa in Sicily, found in the island of
Sardinia, with others. But Messrs Lincoln & Son were my earliest
furnishers, and they, with MM. Rollin & Feuardent of Paris, Messrs Spink &
Son of London, and Mr Schulman, of Amersfoort, have mainly contributed to
build up my unpretending cabinet.
The influence of Messrs Lincoln & Son in forming my taste was more or less
considerable. Their stock was miscellaneous, and I perhaps incautiously
suffered it to reflect itself in my collection. The firm indeed, after a
while, thought that my lines were too general, for whatever series they
put on view from time to time gave up its choicer elements to me; and
eventually my good friends perceived that, although I was certainly not a
specialist in one sense, I was in another. I took only the best; and this
proved an invaluable safeguard.
For, by making a hard and fast rule, that no coin whatever shall be
admissible in the presence of a defect or of imperfect condition, one
shuts out the bulk of the objects submitted to notice. A thousand average
lots in a dealer's hands are not apt to yield above five per cent. of
eligible purchases, which are not duplicates. In a continental stock the
proportion would be much lower. The gold coins do not so signally fail; it
is in the inferior metals, especially the billon and copper, that the
difficulty lies.
I emerged, it is fair to own, from my researches and selections at the
Lincoln establishment without serious damage or trouble, considering that
I entered into relations with the house as a perfect stranger, and was in
my numismatic infancy. They began, as time went on, to see that I was in
earnest, and would at length scarcely allow me to buy any article likely
to appear on farther examination unsatisfactory; and by a few exchanges of
early acquisitions, on which they were generous enough to let me lose
nothing, I stood in the end better than I perhaps deserved. Mr Lincoln has
told me that he started on his numismatic career by advertising on the
back page of the catalogues of his father, who was a book seller, a short
list of coins on sale by him at the same address.
The strength and spirit, which the father infuses into his child, the
latter is now and then prone to use against the giver; and I am afraid
that I have appeared ungrateful to my original source of supply--in fact,
my dry-nurses--inasmuch as I outgrew by insensible degrees their power of
satisfying my wants, and directed my attention elsewhere.
Messrs Lincoln & Son filled in the groundwork of my scheme, and continue
to fill up gaps at intervals; but it was impossible for me to shut my eyes
to the fact, that the rate of progress, which my numismatic studies were
attaining, rendered a restriction to a single firm out of the question. I
could never have committed to writing my Notes, imperfect as they may be,
on the Coins of all countries and periods with certain exceptions, had I
not left the original groove, and entered the market, prepared to avail
myself of every particular, which was to be gleaned both at home and
abroad, alike in the shape of information, correction, and addition.
It was through the Lincolns I became acquainted with Mr Atkins, author of
the two works on Tokens and Colonial Coins, and he introduced to me the
name of Schulman of Amersfoort. This was about ten years since; and the
result was that Schulman thenceforward sent me periodical consignments
for selection and his well-compiled catalogues. From this quarter I
derived, rather contrary to the expectation which I had been led to form,
a highly valuable assortment of coins at fair prices. I surmise that a
considerable proportion of my correspondent's picked acquisitions has
found its way to me. His parcels from season to season embraced an
alarming and chronic percentage of hopeless specimens, notwithstanding my
exhortations to him to be more select; and I am persuaded that this
circumstance proceeded from the sender's inability, in common with all the
continental dealers, to distinguish and appreciate condition, as he has
often offered a proof at a slight advance on the figure asked for an
ordinary and mediocre example.
Schulman has been during his career in the constant habit of falling in
with a variety of continental coins, which are scarcely ever seen in
England; and as a rule his tariff is moderate enough--not quite so
moderate, perhaps, as it used to be, especially the fine early copper,
since he discovered my partiality for it.
But I feel nevertheless that my collection owes a great deal to my
Amersfoort correspondent. Our business has been necessarily conducted by
letter. In 1889 I was at Utrecht, and went over to his place. I had
previously called, when I was at Amsterdam, at Bom's, and there I was
shown the priced catalogue of a quite recent local auction. Against a
silver daalder of Louis Napoleon, King of Holland, of an excessively rare
type, I observed my friend's name as the purchaser for 105 gulden, and the
first object which met my eyes in Schulman's room was this very piece. I
took it in my hand. 'Ah!' cried he, 'that won't suit you; I want 150
gulden for it.' I laid it down again, implying in my manner a sort of
apology. I made a few purchases, and left him.
He subsequently inserted the _daalder_ in a catalogue at 135 gulden. He
had tried the higher sum without success. I did not take any notice, and
forgot all about it, till in a parcel sent on approval this was one of the
items, the price 100 gulden. Allowing the usual discount, the piece
remained with me at 90. I always cherished a suspicion that it was put
into the sale in the Spuistraat by Master Schulman himself, and bought
in.
My good friend acquired for me at Amsterdam a 1/4 _stuiver_ of Batavia,
1644 which he reported to me as _beau_. When it reached my hands, I was
not altogether satisfied, nor did he reassure me, when he stated that my
specimen was far finer than those in the museums at the Hague and at
Batavia. The 1/4 is considerably rarer than the 1/2. Schulman once
advertised an example of the former at 10 gulden or 16s. 8d., describing
it as '_de toute beautè_'; but I missed it.
I have had repeated arguments both with Schulman and Bom on the subject of
a rather numerous and important class of Dutch coins, which almost
habitually present themselves _fleur de coin_. I used to contend that
these are re-strikes; but I have been assured over and over again that the
Netherlands Government will not suffer any of the ancient dies to be
employed for this purpose, and that they are jealously guarded at Utrecht.
Schulman added, that he had endeavoured in vain to prevail on the
authorities to allow him to take a few impressions of certain patterns of
Louis Napoleon, which were never issued, and are almost unknown.
Like many of his foreign _confrères_, Schulman undertakes the compilation
and conduct of sales by auction, and favours his clients with the
catalogues. I have taken the line, under these somewhat delicate
circumstances, of simply mentioning that if such or such a lot answers the
printed description, and fetches so much or thereabout, I shall not object
to it. I put no questions as to ownership; they do not concern me at all.
I listen to a variety of tales about artificial sales and fictitious
names; but the grand point is, that a coin is a coin, and if it is sold
under unpropitious surroundings, it is likely to prove cheaper, and where
it is misdescribed, it returns whence it came.
It was while I was at Utrecht, that I hunted through a huge mass of
rubbish in the shape of obsolete currencies, and found at the conclusion
that my bill only came to three-halfpence for a most beautiful _double
liard_ of Maria Theresa, struck for the Austrian Netherlands in 1749.
I had an interview at Brussels with a very pleasant fellow, who keeps, or
at least kept, a curiosity-shop near Ste. Gudule. He had a few patterns
and other pieces belonging to the first French revolutionary era, which I
was glad to secure, and some bracteates, for which he asked £5, and as to
which my courage failed me a little. I feared that they were too dear. He
wrapped them up carefully, and said, 'Take them with you, and if you do
not care for them, let me have them back again.' I had to return them with
my acknowledgments, which were sincere. My misgivings were correct.
Once for all, it is well to explain that any ostensibly egotistical
details, which are here given, have for their motive the guidance and
enlightenment of new enterers on the scene, with which the writer has
during nearly twenty years been agreeably and profitably familiar. If I
had not exercised discretion in my relationship with foreign houses, I
might have been overwhelmed by an avalanche of worthless rubbish, the
refuse of the auctions. But by keeping a watchful eye and a tight hand
over myself, as it were, I have retained only a limited _residuum_, which
answers my purpose best on every account. The plan affords me
illustrations in the best state of all the European schools of numismatic
art, ancient, mediæval, and modern, no less than medallic portraits of the
most celebrated men and women of all ages; and I ask the question
advisedly: What advantage accrues to a private collector from possessing
every minute variety of type, every mint-mark, and every date? The idea is
surely a fallacy. The Mint and other public institutions may fitly
preserve them for reference and record; but for individuals they appear to
be surplusage.
Schulman obliged me with a set of his catalogues, about thirty in number,
issued between 1880 and the present time, and I found them fruitful in
suggestions. They are not bare lists, but, where it is needful, carefully
annotated; and in the unavoidable absence of some originals I have
experienced from them and other similar compilations the greatest
assistance. The method, which the continental houses pursue in drawing up
their accounts of the property on sale by auction or otherwise,
constitutes the result a work of permanent reference and authority. Such
is especially the case with those specified in the Bibliography to the
_Coin Collector_, 1896. They are of course secondary evidences; but where
one cannot describe a coin from the coin they are admirable, and in
general trustworthy, substitutes. Our English numismatic catalogues are
improving, but still lack the profuse and laborious detail, which is
extended on the continent even to lots of minor significance.
I was brought into contact with the English representative of the Paris
firm of Rollin & Feuardent in a perfectly accidental way. I had detected
in a forthcoming sale at Sotheby's, among a heap of miscellanies in a bag,
a well-preserved _double_ in piedfort of Henry III. of France. I pointed
it out to Lincoln; but he missed it, and Mr Whelan was the acquirer. It
was destined for a client, and I did not secure it; but the matter made Mr
Whelan and myself acquainted, and we have been very pleasantly so ever
since. His father was in the same line of business before him, and knew
Edward Wigan and other men of that generation. I have already observed
that the Agency in Bloomsbury is the resort of well-nigh all the most
eminent hunters, not only for coins and medals, but for antiquities of
every description.
It is not that I am able to speak of myself as a conspicuous figure in the
circle, which frequents this spot, or as an appreciable element in the
large mercantile transactions, which are conducted here and at
headquarters. But I am indulgently tolerated, and now and then I find a
trifle or two to my liking. Mr Whelan stands in due awe of my
excruciating and almost outrageous passion for _state_, and looks upon me
(with much good-nature) as a most difficult party to please and to fit. He
is fully aware, how narrow my means are, and seldom tenders me, except as
a compliment or for numismatic purposes, his grander _bijoux_. Yet in all
my series there are some few, which I highly prize, and which came to me
thence; and I may particularise a very rare British copper coin of
Cunobeline, which brought £7, 17s. 6d. at the Montagu sale, but cost its
former possessor £40, 10s. This fact did not appear in the catalogue.
The last time I met Mr Montagu was at Mr Whelan's. I shewed him two pieces
which I happened to have just had from Schulman; one was the Campen
imitation of the gold sovereign of Mary I. of England, and far scarcer
than the original; and Montagu admired them both. A few weeks, and he was
no more. We had met at the Numismatic Society's Rooms, where I attended a
meeting as a guest; and I recollect Montagu pulling out of his pocket for
my inspection a coin he had exhibited that evening to the members and
others present. It was the unique _half George noble_ of Henry VIII.
discovered by Curt the dealer at Paris, sold by him to the Rev. Mr
Shepherd for £90, and at the Shepherd sale in 1885 acquired by its late
owner for £255.
The Montagu cabinet was naturally rich in pedigree coins, and had, I
believe, all the English, although not all the Greek, rarities. It even
possessed the five-broad piece of Charles I. by Rawlins, which fetched the
extraordinary sum of £770. Spink & Son secured it at that price, and sold
it to the British Museum for 10 per cent. profit. I was tempted by the
Edward VI. half-crown and threepence, and by the James I. silver crown of
the _Quæ Deus_ type, which had been Bergne's and Bryce's, and which I
preferred to the _Exurgat_ one as superior in tone, while it was nearly
equal in preservation.
The five-broad piece is said to have been given by the King on the
scaffold to Archbishop Juxon; it is a pattern, and apparently unique. The
type resembles that of the ordinary broad, of which there are impressions
in silver. I have one of unusually medallic fabric.
I heard an odd story of a F.N.S. to whom some ignorant correspondent
offered the _noble_ itself--a piece of great value--and who pronounced it
worth 6s. 8d.--the current rate at the time of issue, about 1528. The
Forster example in 1868 fetched £17, 17s.
A rather distressing incident occurred to 'Pedigree' Wells of Piccadilly
during his absence one day from business. He had in his window a coin
advertised as 'a three-pound piece of Charles I.' to which the astute
owner attached no price, leaving that detail to be regulated by the
circumstances. A person entered the shop, and saw Mrs Wells, who was
unversed in numismatic subtleties, and laying down £3, said, 'I will take
that coin in the window,' which accordingly he did, greatly to Wells's
satisfaction, no doubt, and to the promotion of domestic harmony.
The hero of this small anecdote owed his _sobriquet_ to his fertility of
resource in providing his fine-art acquisitions with a genealogical tree.
We had a controversy in Bloomsbury on one occasion about a gold Athenian
_stater_ sent to me on approval. All gold Athenian _staters_ are _ipso
facto_ doubtful. Whelan condemned it. Canon Greenwell, who was present,
was not sure. I shewed it to Dr Head; and he supported Whelan. The coin
was returned. At another time I obtained from a dealer who avouched, and
still avouches, it to be absolutely genuine, a gold [Greek: êmiekton] of
the same State; and at this Whelan equally shook his head. But I took it
to be right, and retained it. The fact is, that the Athenians struck gold
very sparingly, and there have been modern attempts to supply the
deficiency.
One leading inducement to fabricate pieces lacking in series or of signal
rarity has been the cheapness of labour and the more limited conversance
with the discrepancies between originals and copies or absolutely
fictitious examples, partly arising from the absence of means of
communication among numismatists in various countries. These inventions or
_contrefaçons_ were calculated, again, for different markets. The false
gold _staters_ of Nicomedes II. of Bithynia, which are executed with
unusual skill, and the far less clever imitations of the Athenian gold,
could only answer the purpose, where they found an English or French
customer able to pay a handsome price for the means of supplying a
hopeless or almost hopeless lacuna in his Greek cabinet. But those of such
common coins as the tetradrachms of Athens or Alexander the Great appealed
rather to still more inexperienced buyers, whom a low figure was apt to
tempt; and these even occur plated or washed with silver.
Whelan once amused me and himself by submitting to atmospheric treatment a
large copper coin of the Two Sicilies--a 10-grana piece of Ferdinand IV.
1815. He offered it to me, and I declined it, because the surface was
unsatisfactory in my eyes. He said nothing; but about three months later
he brought it to me from a window sill, where it had been taking an aërial
bath of rather prolonged duration; and the effect was certainly
surprising. All the repellent aspect of the superficies had vanished. I
took it, and laughed, when he told me that there was only a shilling to
pay for a quarter's incessant scientific manipulation.
I have been studiously frugal in my adoption of Oriental coins, because,
frankly speaking, I have no faith in them as an investment. But I have
retained a few early acquisitions, including a square gold _mohur_ of the
Emperor of Hindostan, the famous Akbar, and a _dinar_ in the same metal of
the good caliph, Haroun el Reschid. Whelan helped me to both these. The
latter formed part of a parcel of such pieces, the property of a Parsee
at Calcutta, and sold in London. The _dinars_ of El Reschid were rather
numerous, and were not recognised. The British Museum got several, and I
got the finest. How were the public to guess that they were connected with
so celebrated a personage, when the catalogue described them as of _El
Reschid_?
There also remains with me a gold _dinar_ of the 13th century, of the last
Caliph of Bagdad. My learned friend, Mr Michael Kerny, deciphered for me
many years ago the inscriptions in the older Arabic character in the inner
circle on either side. They read: _Praise to God Mohammed the Apostle of
God God bless him and protect the Iman there is no God but God only He has
no Peer al Mustansir b--illah Prince of the Faithful by the grace of God_.
An ill-starred Swede visited England, or rather London, several years ago,
and endeavoured to find a customer for a rather weighty package of old
currency of the Northern Kingdoms, which he had borne with him across the
sea, and after fruitless essays elsewhere he tried Whelan. The latter did
not see his way, and the stranger re-embarked for his native country with
his burden, so to speak, on his back. On the floor in Bloomsbury Street,
however, he left two small pieces (_schillings_ of Christian IV. 1621 and
1622), which, as Whelan had no idea who he was, or what his address, he
presented to me.
He gave me, too, a fine 5-_lire_ piece of Napoleon I. 1808, struck at
Milan. What a gain it is to be thought poor and deserving!
Many have been the good turns, many the valuable hints and items of
information, and many, again, the pleasant hours, which I have spent in
Bloomsbury Street. There is a huge black cat there, which is very friendly
with habitual visitors; it used to make a practice of squeezing itself
into Sir John Evans's bag, and remaining there, while he stayed.
At Bloomsbury Street is one of my numismatic libraries of reference, to
which I have long enjoyed free access. The custodian is not only well
versed in coins and other curiosities, but is a reader and a repository of
much entertaining literary and theatrical anecdote. I know that I take
more than I give; but Whelan now and again consults me about an old book
or a continental coin, which he does not happen to have seen.
I owed to my excellent acquaintance my introduction to Lord Grantley, whom
I first met under his roof and from whom I have received kind help in my
work and otherwise. His lordship, however, does not quite follow the same
lines as I do. He is understood to be engaged in deciphering and
elucidating the Merovingian or Merwing series--one, about which we have
learned a good deal of recent years, and have a good deal more, I
apprehend, to discover.
I knew the late Mr Cockburn of Richmond in consequence of having met him
at Dr Diamond's at Twickenham House. He was a Fellow of the Numismatic
Society, and when I first became acquainted with him possessed a small
cabinet. He hinted at an intention of discontinuing the pursuit, and even
of realising. He next offered me the collection for £800. I had to let him
understand that I had not so much money to spare; but I ascertained that
he had been a buyer in bygone years, and had certain desirable items in
his hands. I timidly inquired whether it would be possible to select a few
_desiderata_, and Mr Cockburn agreed to that proposal. He had many coins
in poor state, and many which were duplicates; and by concentrating my
strength, such as it was, on the best things, I procured for about £70
nearly all that I wanted. Two Anglo-Saxon pennies which puzzled me a
little, and as to which the British Museum authorities did not give me a
reassuring opinion, I unfortunately missed. The residue Cockburn sold _en
bloc_ to Montagu, and when the latter parted with the said two pennies in
a sale of duplicates, I had the satisfaction of seeing them printed in the
catalogue in capital letters! They might have come to me at £2 the couple.
I thanked the British Museum, and applauded its discrimination.
It appears, by the way, to be almost going too far to say that the
portrait on the later groat and on the shilling of Henry VII. is the
earliest resemblance of an English king as distinguished from a
conventional representation; for surely the bust on the groats of Richard
III. makes a distinct movement in the same direction; and even on the
money of Edward IV. there is discernible a commencing tendency to realism.
Apart from the English coins, Cockburn had purchased in the course of time
about eighty Roman second brass, which he insisted on selling in the lump,
although I frankly told him, that very few would suit me. I gave him £5
for them, selected a dozen or so of the finest, and let Lincoln have the
remainder for £4, 7s. 6d.--his own valuation.
Cockburn did not seem to sell for profit, and I admired his independence.
He professed to pass on to me at cost price. For the sovereign of Edward
VI. (4th year) he had paid £5 to Lincoln; it was f.d.c.; and for an
equally fine Biga farthing of Anne he charged me on the same principle
26s. Other pieces, as the half-groat of Mary I. at £8 and the pattern
shilling and sixpence of the Commonwealth by Blondeau at £16, struck me as
dear enough. For eight varied _cunetti_ in mint-state he charged 16s. His
Anglo-Saxon pennies were not unreasonable; Harthacanut at £3 was the
highest; a halfpenny of Edmund of East Anglia was judged to be worth £1.
Had not Montagu swooped down on the quarry, I might have left yet less
behind me in a few weeks. I was snugly nibbling at it.
The name, which deserves on some grounds the greatest prominence in these
numismatic memorials--that of Spink & Son--not inappropriately crowns the
list of my auxiliaries and caterers. I cannot recollect the precise
circumstances, under which I first approached the firm--then in
Gracechurch Street only; but I quickly discovered its enterprising spirit
and friendly sentiment. It was a house, which had not at that
period--about 1886--long devoted special attention to the numismatic side;
and through the possession of capital it rapidly came to the front. The
stock of coins of all kinds grew in a marvellously short time only too
varied and abundant, and under the auspices of Spink & Son, who behaved
toward me as a person in humble circumstances with the utmost generosity
and kindness, my collection developed in such a degree as to become almost
serious, considering that this was another new outlet for my limited
funds, and the largest of all. I had originally conceived the notion,
which soon enough proved itself a chimerical one, that by investing my
pocket-money to the extent of £150 or so over a course of years in these
instructive relics of the past I should satisfy all reasonable
requirements, and pose as the owner of a rather conspicuous cabinet. My
riper conclusions pointed to £4000 as the _minimum_, under the most
advantageous and careful management, for a representative gathering like
mine in first-rate state, an amount equivalent with good husbandry to
£10,000 under normal conditions, where folks exercise too little
circumspection, or are in too great a hurry. The moral may be, that no man
should mount a hobby in the dark. I have persevered, where many would
have, I am sure, despaired. But I imagine that the motive for early
relinquishment is not by any means the unexpected outlay so often as the
distaste arising from errors of judgment and the annoying sense of
imposition. The cost to myself in labour and thought has been quite equal
to that in cash; but I have thus steered clear of the dangers, which beset
inexperienced and desultory collectors. If you lean upon other people's
knowledge, you have to buy two articles instead of one.
This thesis has no immediate bearing on Spink & Son, who never urged me to
purchase anything against my judgment, and were always prepared to
exchange a coin, if I altered my mind about it. They certainly put aside
all pieces likely to be of interest to me, but the interest was not
invariably commercial. It might be an example, which I desired to
register, just as I was in the habit of doing with Early English Books;
and when I had taken my note, and did not care to invest, the bargain was
open to the next comer.
A signal feature and facility in transactions here I have found to be the
prompt exhibition with the marked price of every purchase and all
purchases within the briefest possible interval. Coins are no sooner
acquired, than they are placed on view with the exception of certain
specialities, which are temporarily laid aside, till one or two clients
have had the opportunity of seeing them. I have long rather undeservedly
been on this favoured list; and I believe that no coin, thought to be in
my way, has been sold during some years past, till I have refused it. I
had the unexpected good fortune to meet here with the thaler of Nicholas
Schinner, Bishop of Sion, 1498, absolutely f.d.c., and the Kelch thaler of
Zurich, 1526, nearly as fine. The Zurich thaler of 1512, with the three
decapitated martyrs, was reported from Germany, and alleged to be in mint
state; but when it arrived, I identified it with the indifferent example
in the Boyne sale, and of course rejected it accordingly. Such coins as
these have a future.
I had put in my pocket, and taken home, just prior to the issue of the
monthly catalogue, a gold Russian coin attributed to the reign of Ivan
the Terrible, one of the numerous suitors of our Queen Elizabeth; but it
was a century later. Still I might have liked it, had not a telegram from
Russia arrived, and induced me to surrender the piece to some one, who
evidently felt a peculiar interest in it. I was less considerate to the
Prince of Naples, who is forming a private cabinet, and who ordered a rare
_grosso_ of the Roman republican era (13th century), which I had
forestalled. It was _fleur de coin_, and I could not make up my mind to
let it go, even to so exalted a personage. The most striking point is,
that I had merely signified my wish to have the coin, and that Spink & Son
might have sent it to the Prince, on the plea that I had not actually
bought it.
I occasionally have the pleasure of making my good friends a slight return
for their consideration. They had obtained at a sale for fifty shillings
in a lot two examples of the very rare _mezzo scudo_ struck in 1530 in the
name of the Florentine Republic with the monogram of the Standard-Bearer
for the year, just prior to the establishment of the Medici family in
power. They shewed both to me, and permitted me to select the better for
30s. I then pointed out that at the Rossi sale in 1880 one had fetched
£10, 5s., and recommended them to mark the remaining specimen £7, 10s., at
which figure a foreign dealer jumped at it. At the Boyne sale in 1896 a
third was carried to £8, 10s. by the same individual. The piece is
remarkable as the heaviest denomination so far struck in Florence in
silver.
Piccadilly, to which the Coin and Medal Department has been transferred,
constitutes my second library of reference, as Spink & Son have spared no
cost to bring together all the most valuable and important numismatic
books and catalogues in all languages. This has formed a largely
serviceable and welcome element in my connection with the firm, and has
conferred on me without the slightest expense all the advantages attendant
on the personal possession of the volumes. The English collector of
foreign coins has, as a rule, as slight an acquaintance with these rich
sources of information as I should have had in the absence of such
facilities.
The monthly _Numismatic Circular_ has tended in a direct and an indirect
manner to draw Spink & Son into closer touch with holders and purchasers
of coins everywhere; and the prospect of being able to examine, if not to
acquire in all cases, an incessant volume of these interesting monuments
seems to me likely to go on improving. I shall return to the subject of
the Circular in a succeeding chapter.
A characteristic injustice was perpetrated on this firm by a divine, who
honoured it with an order for a certain early English silver penny, and to
whom, though a stranger and in the country, the coin was sent, packed up
in the customary manner, on approval. The reverend gentleman reported in
due course that it arrived at his address broken in half, and declined to
pay for it. There was no absolute plea of negligence in the method of
enclosure; the client authorised its transmission to him; and he did not
even propose to defray the cost or part of it. The dealers took him before
the magistrate, and the latter decided in favour of the client on the
ground that the coin was a very old one, and had lasted long enough.
Verily, as there are land thieves and water thieves, there are paid
magisterial owls as well as unpaid.