The Coin Sales--My Stealthy Accumulations from Some of
Them--Comparative Advantages of Large and Small Sales--The
Disappointment over One at Genoa--The Boyne Sale--Its Meagre
Proportion of Fine Pieces--My Comfort, and what came to Me--Narrow
Escape of the Collection from Sacrifice to a Foreign
Combination--Trade Sales Abroad--A New Departure--Considerations on
Poorly-Preserved Coins--I resign Them to the Learned--I have to
Classify by Countries and Their Divisions--My Personal
Appurtenances--Suggestions which may be Useful to Others--The Great
Bactrian Discovery--Extent of Representative Collections of Ancient
Money--Antony and Cleopatra--Adherence to My own Fixed and Deliberate
Plan--The Argument to be used by Any One following in My
Footsteps--Advice of an Old Collector to a New One.
From the very limited nature of my resources I have been forced to content
myself with being a casual buyer. I have witnessed the dispersion of all
the finest assemblages of coins, which have come to the hammer or into the
market in the course of nearly twenty years, and have involuntarily played
the part of a spectator and note-maker, where it would have delighted me
to compete for the best with the best.
I have not attended auctions as a buyer either of china or of coins save
in one or two instances at the outset, and I have subsequently rejected
these acquisitions as indiscreet. The principal sales, which have fallen
under my observation, were those of Lake Price, Shepherd, Whithall,
Marsham, Rostron, Webb, Carfrae, Ashburnham, Montagu, and Bunbury,
1884-96; these were limited to the English, Greek, and Roman series; and I
presume that some filtered unrecognised into my cabinet. Of the foreign
collections, or those into which the continental element entered, I took
more particular note and more direct cognisance. There were the Rossi,
Remedi, Ingram, Leyster, Dillon, Samuel Smith, United Service Institution,
Boyne, and Durazzo, between the year 1880 and the present time.
The latter group immediately or eventually contributed a really large body
of additions. From the Ingram sale came the double gold _scudo_ of Pope
Julius II. by Francia, which I mention only, because it was, I think, my
earliest heavy purchase of the kind. The Leyster affair was antecedent to
the serious competition of Spink & Son for such property; and the bulk
went abroad. From such purchases as Lincoln & Son effected I took
anything, which passed my standard; but too many of the lots were poor,
and not a few were fabrications. It was a vast collection formed by a
gentleman in Ireland at a distance from any centre and without much
apparent taste or discretion; and the German houses very probably did well
over it.
Lord Dillon's coins yielded a few items, which I was glad to get--one or
two Polish gold pieces, a Venetian 12-ducat one, and so forth; and among
the silver there was a half _dick-thaler_ of Sigismund, Archduke of
Austria, for the Tyrol, 1484, which Mr Schulman assured me did not exist,
and which I engraved in my _Coins of Europe_, 1893. I have since met with
a second. It is hard to determine which is the superior market, a big sale
or a small one. At the former items may be overlooked; the latter does not
attract buyers so freely. To Mr Samuel Smith of Liverpool I was indebted,
when he parted with his comparatively limited acquisitions, for the finest
specimens which I have seen of the Bern thaler of 1494, and the Lorraine
one of 1603, at a far more moderate tariff than inferior examples have
brought before or since. Then in the entire sale not more than three items
altogether excited any interest on my part. It was just the same when the
Royal United Service Institution submitted its numismatic property to
public competition. It was in the main a mass of rubbish; I picked out one
or two silver pieces and a lot of about thirty _selected_ copper, of the
latter of which I kept less than half. The unselected copper numbered 3000
or so, and were only eligible for the melting-pot.
The Durazzo Collection, sold at Genoa, was a singular disappointment. The
catalogue was rather sumptuous and very detailed. A rumour prevailed at
the time that the alleged _provenance_ of the collection was not strictly
veracious, and that the property actually belonged to Vitalini the Italian
dealer. As a numismatic amateur during almost a score of years I have
experienced a good deal of this kind of personation; but I argue that it
matters little whence a coin comes to one, so long as the character and
state are right, with the added advantage that in passing from an inferior
to possibly a better atmosphere the purchase improves in value.
There were about 6500 lots, of which the majority consisted of Roman and
Greek; the remainder was continental. Many of the Italian rarities were
included; and Genoa and Monaco were very strongly represented. I knew that
Spink & Son had sent commissions, and I augured well for the result; but I
had not indicated my views personally, and indeed the catalogue did not
reach my hands, till it was too late for me to intervene. I had never
before known such a series of the money of Monaco to be offered
simultaneously.
When no news in any shape came to my ears, it transpired on inquiry that a
few Papal coins, recently acquired by me, belonged to the collection, and
that the prevailing feature of the latter was a state of preservation so
utterly hopeless, that some of the company retired after the first day.
The actual metallic records were there, I presume; but they did not
harmonise with the estimates of the too romantic cataloguer. Even now,
after the event, who ought to feel surprise, if whatever there may have
been of any merit, should ultimately drift to these hospitable shores,
and--?
The dispersion of the cabinet of the late William Boyne in London
interested me uniquely, for it was particularly rich in the Italian
series, and the incident differed from those, which had preceded it within
my remembrance, inasmuch as the property was brought within reach of
inspection, and one could sit at a table in Wellington Street, prior to
the commencement of operations, and examine the coins, catalogue in hand.
It was a ten-days' affair, and it was computed that there were 25,000
items. Still I resolved to go through with my project for seeing every
lot, which I had marked, and judging whether it was a desirable
acquisition.
I read between the lines of the catalogue with the aid of one or two of my
numismatic acquaintances, who warned me against expecting too much; for
they were familiar with my idiosyncrasies. Taking tray by tray, I actually
saw far more than I contemplated; nearly the whole property passed before
me in review; and I was grievously disappointed. It was an indiscriminate
assemblage of coins of all sorts, evidently bought at random or _en bloc_,
and poverty of condition preponderated in a lamentable measure.
There was one consolation. I was enabled to concentrate all my pecuniary
forces on the few objects, which struck me as exceptional; and I succeeded
in making myself master of nearly all the specialities among the Italians,
which I coveted, and several _desiderata_ elsewhere.
The competition was sensibly mitigated by an _entente cordiale_ among a
portion of the company, and the bulk returned to the continent. Had the
collection been equally attractive and important to myself from a
numismatic and a commercial point of view, I should have found much more
than I could have possibly grasped; but the prevalent state conformed to
the normal continental definition of _beau_, which in English signifies
_crucible_.
There was little enough in the Boyne catalogue, which I had not learned
from a careful previous study of those of all the great Italian, German,
and French collections, which had been published or privately printed. But
the occasion supplied me with a precious opportunity of holding in my
hands coins, which, whatever might be their value or want of value as
possessions, were and are in many instances of immense rarity, and
seemed, when in direct contact, additionally substantial and authentic.
Four or five bidders saved the issue from being a _fiasco_ in a financial
sense. But the selection of London as the scene may tend to accelerate a
little the recognition in Great Britain of the ancient money of the
continent as at all events an appropriate chronological sequel to that of
Greece and Rome, while it represents in itself a body of material of
inexhaustible curiosity and value to the historian and the artist.
I purposely abstain from classing with the sales of explicit or professed
private properties those, which, as season succeeds season, are dedicated
by the trade everywhere to the object of converting their surplus or
unrealised stock into money. One feels an almost painful delicacy in
handling this part of the subject; and I propose to restrict myself to the
criticism that it is possible to secure many absolute bargains at a
reduced price by making an offer to the party who, for anything one knows,
may be a kind of trinity in unity--owner, cataloguer, and auctioneer.
Coins are speculative goods; and if a lot or so misses certain expected
channels, it is sometimes a lodger with the proprietor long enough to
make him tired of looking at it. Then, when he is in his most despondent
vein, comes the moment for the opportunist, and there are twenty-four
pence in every shilling.
The auction-rooms among ourselves and abroad, wherever there is a volume
of business in coins (and in other second-hand commodities), appear to be
vehicles, however, more and more for a systematic organisation, by which
the dealer sells his goods under the hammer instead of over the counter.
Foragers are observed collecting in one market by virtue of their special
knowledge lots suitable for disposal in this way in another or others; and
they have a machinery adapted to their peculiar requirements. Their stock
is always a floating one. Thousands of pounds pass through their hands in
a season. There are not many in the line, for it demands some capital,
some credit, and some courage. There is one house, which avers that it
carries on this system for the public good--in order to diffuse a
conversance with numismatic science. We have more heroes and
philanthropists than we dream of, have we not?
As I mentally or otherwise glance through my at length not so very
inconsiderable accumulation of ancient or obsolete currencies, I strive to
think how my own experience is capable of serving those, who have the
starting-point nearer within view. It seems at first sight to be
regretted, that not merely such large sums of money, but so much time and
labour, should be expended in perpetuity in the stereotyped process of
gathering up the wrong things, gradually detecting their character, and
retrieving the error by casting overboard the original lot, and beginning
anew on a truer basis.
The cause of numismatic archæology of course imperatively demands the
preservation of every item of every mint, no matter how degraded may be
its state, or how insignificant its individuality, so long as it is of
that high degree of scarcity, which entitles it to monumental regard. I
may more emphatically specify, as falling within such a definition, the
examples engraved and described by my correspondent, Count Nicolò
Papadopoli, in his _Monete Italiane Inedite_, 1893, the major part of
which come very far short of my personal ideas of works of art, but of
which the affectionate custody by posterity becomes a duty on historical
grounds. At the same time, as my aim has been necessarily a narrow one,
and as I elected at a very early stage in my experience to figure as one
of the apostles of Condition, I cheerfully resign these records to others,
and am quite satisfied with engraved reproductions of them. On that
precaution I lay the utmost stress.
In my first apprenticeship to numismatics I believe that I was unusually
ignorant of a subject, which the works of reference introduced since my
school-days have rendered so much more accessible and intelligible. But I
was industrious and observant, and was not deficient in taste. I began to
collect at a period of life, when I was able to discern the fallacy of the
penny-box principle; my level was never very low, if it was not in the
earlier years so high as it ultimately grew; and I no sooner perceived a
mistake, than I hastened to rectify it. An appreciable interval elapsed,
however, before I found myself in possession of a sufficient body of coins
to make a distribution into countries or sections of any service. There
were so many specimens; the metals were unequally represented; and I
recollect that gold resembled the plums in a school pudding.
It was a gala day, when I received my first cabinet home, and entered into
a rudimentary and tentative phase of classification; and it was then, too,
that not my opulence, but my excessive poverty and humility, as a
collector was revealed to me. Providentially, these shocks are generally
broken by some circumstance, and in my case it was my still most empirical
acquirement of the full bearings and scope of my adventurous enterprise.
The cabinet stood half empty; I felt the reproach; and I proceeded not
only to fill it, but to gather tenants for a second--and a third, with an
overflow capable of furnishing one or two more. Such a development might
have had comparatively slight significance, because a coin, which is worth
a penny, may occupy a larger space than one, which is worth £10; but in a
parallel ratio with the increase in number was the rise in the qualifying
standard, or, in other words, I was constantly and heavily adding to my
stores, and putting in rigorous force the principle of exclusion. There
could be only one result.
Now, in the hope, that certain general particulars, which have cost the
writer an infinite amount of trouble to collect for his own benefit and
instruction during a series of years, may be acceptable and useful to
others, proposing to embark in the same undertaking, I shall reduce the
fruit of my own efforts to a summary, indicative of what has seemed to me,
after long and deliberate consideration, to be adequate to the purposes of
anyone of moderate views, who seeks to assemble together a fairly
representative _corpus_ of the various chronological monuments of European
rulers and regions and of the successive schools of numismatic art.
Completeness in any given series is by no means essential to the mastery
of a competent idea of its character and merits from all ways of looking;
and the study of mints and mint-marks is a mere technical detail, which
owes its leading interest to its incidental illustrations of topography
and of the careers of engravers--many of them otherwise distinguished.
Many persons start with the Greek or Roman, or perhaps both, from a belief
that they are the most ancient and the most instructive. My first Roman
coin was a most disreputable specimen of a very common first brass of
Hadrian, handsomely presented to my son by a captain at a watering-place,
and my first Greek a forgery of one of the numberless tetradrachms of
Alexander the Great. I was in the _berceaunette_ stage; but I was not
quite so long in it as some are. I am indebted to Lincoln & Son for having
conferred on me the rudiments (if not something more) of my education in
these two very important divisions of every cabinet of any pretensions
whatever; and I may at last presume to offer myself as a counsellor of
others, who may be situated as I was in my nonage.
It entirely depends on the breadth of a new collector's plan, which is
usually influenced by his resources, how far he proceeds in his selection
of the Greek coinage, for under any circumstances a selection it must be.
No individual, no public institution, can boast of possessing a complete
series in all metals. I resorted to the principle of choosing under each
coin-striking region of ancient Hellas a sufficient number of pieces in
electrum, gold, silver, and copper or bronze to represent a chronological
succession of its products, and I also observed the rule of comprising, if
possible, all such as exhibited the portraitures, or at least titles, of
rulers of personal eminence. A numismatist pure and simple attaches, very
justly attaches from his special point of view, emphatic weight to many
examples, of which the sole attraction and value are their accidental
rarity without regard to their intrinsic interest; this is not a wise
policy for the private amateur, whatever his fortune may be. Such relics
ought to find their resting-place in a public repository, and a full
record of them should be preserved in one of the learned Transactions for
general reference. How immensely one was pleased to learn that Sir
Wollaston Franks had fallen in with a Bactrian dekadrachm; and the
satisfaction, so far as I was concerned, was augmented by the news, that
he had presented it to the British Museum. If it had been submitted as a
purchase or even gift to myself, I should have declined it, as it fails to
respond to my postulates. It is merely a voucher.
It is my impression, based on a long experience, that about three hundred
Greek coins of all varieties and types will be found to embrace everything
of real note, and will provide the possessor with numismatic specimens in
all metals, of every region, of every period and style, of each
denomination, and of all such great personalities as are known to have
struck money, not only within the limits of European Greece, but in the
countries and colonies subject to its sovereigns in their varied degrees
of power and prosperity or by its cities from their first rude development
to their zenith in political influence and commercial wealth. A proportion
of gold is highly desirable, particularly the Athenian, Syracusan, and
Egyptian; the copper must be very fine and patinated; the silver is the
easiest to find, except in certain series. I succeeded in furnishing
myself with the majority of typical examples alike in silver and bronze,
and indeed (except under Attica) in the most precious metal. I could never
meet with more than a single Athenian specimen--a [Greek: êmiekton]; but
the most beautiful and fascinating productions are the gold tetradrachms
and octodrachms of the Ptolemies, so rich in their portraiture, costume,
and design. Three or four of these gems suffice for a moderate programme.
I found fifty pounds inadequate to the purchase of even three. There is a
particularly charming one of Ptolemy III., and no one must forget that
great, if not very good, lady, the Cleopatra of history, whose portrait
appears both on her brother's and her own coins in Egypt and on those of
Mark Antony in the Roman consular series. To any collector aiming at the
not unreasonable object of securing her likeness it may be useful to
mention, that her veiled or deified bust accompanies certain bronze pieces
of moderate price and excellent quality.
The writer has attentively scrutinised the catalogues of all the sales of
Greek and Roman money, which have taken place in his time, and the
conclusion to be drawn from the descriptive accounts and the realised
figures is so far a consolatory one for the great majority, who cannot
afford to go beyond a comparatively low figure. For it becomes clearly
apparent that the costliest pieces are not the most powerful in their
appeal to us on historical or artistic grounds. Remember that we have to
take into account these points of interest: history, with which is closely
embodied religious cult, biography, topography, and art. A thoroughly
well-meaning dealer exclaims, if you challenge the quotation for some
indifferent specimen of a not too remarkably executed _tetradrachm_ or
_drachma_:--'But look at the rarity! the last one sold for so much.' And I
am sorry to say, that this plea too frequently prevails. I have always
turned a deaf ear to all attempts to induce me to acquire on any terms
coins, which were not highly preserved, whatever their scarcity of
occurrence might be. I preferred to examine them in other hands, or even
to contemplate engravings derived from superior examples.
Let a person in my position lay down for himself this principle for his
guidance:--My space is limited; my means are the same; the material or
means of supply, as time goes on, is infinite and inexhaustible; no
collection in the universe is complete; therefore, incompleteness being a
relative expression, I will take here and there, from this sale or that,
from this or that place of business, just as many coins as serve to
gratify my love of the beautiful, my reverence for great names, my
curiosity to hold in my hand pieces of currency which, alike in the case
of Greece and Rome, united with their monetary import and use symbols of
an earnest religious faith and proud records of national achievements by
sea and land.
To possess an even extensive assemblage of such monuments I found in my
own experience, and others may do the same, that a man has not to be quite
a Croesus; nor in truth is it peremptory to insist in such extreme
measure as I have on faultless beauty of state. I may have been too
luxurious, too dainty. At any rate, all which contributes to render coins
of all periods and kinds serviceable and agreeable is within the reach of
individuals of very straitened purchasing powers. But it is necessary to
guard against disproportion, which is very likely to arise in all sections
from the occurrence of the products of _trouvailles_ in tempting condition
at a modest tariff.
My recommendation is to avoid even the semblance of duplicates, where the
sole difference is the date or the mint-mark, or possibly a slight
variation in the legend. My natural sympathy is with the poorer collector,
who has perchance to exercise a little self-denial to enable him to carry
out successfully and profitably his hobby; the rich have only to buy and
to pay; and those, who may choose to follow in my footsteps more or less,
will soon discover, as I did, that to arrive at a satisfactory result
under pecuniary disadvantages is a task demanding knowledge, discretion,
and patience.
Of the passions of the human mind that which directs us to a certain
object or aim, if not to more than one, with irresistible vehemence, and
holds us bound within its range as by a spell, is one of the strongest,
most ancient, and most unreasoning. My own life during the past thirty or
forty years, or in other words the best part of my career, has been mainly
engrossed by the pursuit of two or three fancies; the serious business of
existence seems to have been a secondary question; and the most
substantial testimony to my earnestness of purpose and (I have to own) my
thorough subjection to the influence of the taste, is to be found in my
irresponsive surroundings and my sacrifice of other interests to what my
less sentimental friends would call an _ignis fatuus_.