Special uses of Coins.—A silver stater of Sikyon (No. 46), is marked by an inscription punctured by the dedicator—To Artemis in Lakedaemon. A religious character attaches also to the bronze coin of Laodikeia in Phrygia, which is pierced and suspended from a wire loop for wearing as a charm against sickness, by virtue of the figures which it bears of Asklepios and Hygieia, the deities of health (No. 47).
A curious coin, struck for a special religious purpose, is the copper piece of Nemausus (Nîmes, in the South of France), which is made in the shape of a ham for dedication to the deity of the local fountain (No. 48). The offering was probably originally paid in kind.
Ancient false Coins.—With the exception of the Italian heavy copper, which was cast, nearly all ancient coins were struck in dies, and most of the false pieces which have survived are defective in the quality of the metal, while the fabric is good. In the later Roman Empire, when all the standard money was of base metal, the surface was so bad that the coins could easily be counterfeited by casting, and great numbers of the clay moulds used by forgers or by the monetary authorities date from this period. Among the large collection here exhibited (No. 49) there are some unbroken moulds, and some with the run metal still adhering. Base metal was detected by the use of the touch-stone, and pieces of doubtful weight were tested by the balance. An ivory folding balance is shown (No. 49*). The long arm is made just too light to counterpoise a good denarius—the test being that if the coin were heavy enough it would fall off the plate at the end.
For Greek and Roman coins in general, see Hill, Handbook of Greek and Roman Coins (with the Bibliography there given); G. Macdonald, Coin Types (Glasgow, 1905); Head, Historia Numorum (2nd ed. 1911.)
[ 8:] i. 94.
[ 9:] Michel, Recueil des inscr. grecques, No. 8.
[10:] Livy, iv. 60.
[11:] Macr. Sat. i. 7, 22. pueri denarios in sublime iactantes capita aut navia exclamant.