§ THE COIN CABINET.
Coins should be kept under lock and key in a mahogany cabinet. Trays made of cedar should never be used, as there is a deposit from this wood which covers the surface of copper and lead coins with a kind of varnish which is difficult to remove. In arranging coins in the trays, begin at the left hand top corner, placing the coins in rows, one in each hole. Under every coin there should be a descriptive card or a number referring to a catalogue, in which the price paid for every specimen should be carefully recorded, as well as the name of the persons from whom it was acquired. A coin from a well-known cabinet will always fetch more when sold than an equally fine specimen of which the antecedents are unknown.
Barclay V. Head.
FOOTNOTES
[1] It should be observed that the P is the Saxon W.
[2] The first date that appears on any English silver coins.
[3] The first instance of a date upon an English gold coin.
[4] One variety, the “Pudsey” Shilling and Sixpence, said to have been used in the wars in Ireland, has an escallop shell filling the inner circle.
[5] “A Guide to the Coins of the Ancients, from cir. B.C. 700 to A.D. 1,” with seventy plates, by B. V. Head, second edition, London, 8vo, 1881, Trübners.