_Guineas_ (Vol. ii., p. 10.).--The coin named in the document quoted by
A.J.H. is the _Guiennois_ a gold piece struck at Guienne by Edward III.,
and also by his son the Black Prince. It is not likely that the
Guiennois was the original of the name given to the new gold coin of
Charles II., because it could have had no claim to preference beyond the
_Mouton_, the _Chaise_, the _Pavillon_, or any other old Anglo-Gallic
coin. I think we may rest contented with the statement of Leake (who
wrote not much more than half a century after the event), and who says
that the _Guinea_ was so called from the gold of which it was made
having been brought from Guinea by the African Company, whose stamp of
an elephant was ordered to be impressed upon it.
J.C. Witton.
_Numismatics._--My thanks are due to Mr. J.C. Witton (Vol. ii., p. 42.)
for his replies to my Numismatic Queries, though I cannot coincide with
his opinion on Nos. 1. and 3.
No ancient forger would have taken the pains to cut a die to strike lead
from; and my specimen, from its sharpness, has clearly never been in
circulation: why may it not have been a proof from the original die?
Of No. 2. I have since been shown several specimens, which had before, I
suppose, escaped my notice.
On the coin of Macrinus, the letter below the S.C. now clearly appears
to be an [Greek: eta], but the one above is not a [Greek: Delta], but
rather an L or inverted T. It cannot stand for [Greek: Lykabas], as on
the Egyptian coinage, as Macrinus was slain by his soldiers the year
after his accession.
The Etruscilla, even under a powerful magnifier, betrays no trace of
ever having been plated and has all the marks by which numismatists
determine the genuineness of a coin. The absence of S.C., I must remind
Mr. W., is not uncommon on _third_ brass, though of course it always
appears on the first and second.
I need go no farther than the one just mentioned of Tiberius, which has
no S.C., and I possess several others which are deficient in this
particular, a Severus Alexander, Elagabalus, &c. After Gallienus it
never appears.