Evelyn, in his “Numismata,” exposes many of the tricks of those who, at the period at which he wrote, supplied the market with spurious coins and medals. “The most likely means,” says he, “for procuring genuine coins or medals, are from country people, who plough and dig about old walls, mounds, &c., where castrametations have formerly been. The composition or grouping of the figures should also be well considered, that it be with judgment; for the ancients seldom crowded many figures together. A perfect medal has its profile and out-strokes sharp, and by no means rugged; the figures clean and well polished, and an almost inimitable spirit of antiquity and excellence, in the most ancient. Yet after much research, travel and diligence, cost and caution, one is perpetually in danger of being deceived, and imposed upon, by cheaters and mercenary forgers; and even the country people, in Italy and Holland, often deceive the less wary medalist. Where a series of ancient medals is known to be imperfect, suspicion should always attach to him who pretends to supply the chasm, and complete the series.[14]
“All medals of gold, Greek or Roman, that are not of the best alloy, are to be considered impostures.
“The manufacturers of pseudo-antiques, will raise and carve the effigies of one emperor out of another antique head of a less costly and rare description; for instance, an Otho out of a Nero; and also the reverses: nay, they have the address to slit and divide two several medals, and, with a certain tenacious cement, join the reverse of one to the head of the other, and so repair and trim the edges that it is impossible to discover the ingenious fraud. A partial deceit is often practised on the unwary, by taking off a part of a relievo, and applying it to another medal; by the same artifice and dexterity, the title of a genuine medal may be entirely altered, where there are but few letters, by pinching up a letter in one part, or removing superfluous matter in another, so that in process of time the metamorphosis is complete.”
Mr. Obadiah Walker accuses the Jews of being most industrious in putting off spurious medals. Some persons purposely bury medals near the remains of some Roman works, and then pretend to have found them by chance; as is also reported of a certain statuary, who carved the pseudo Hercules, and sold it at a great price, before the justly-admired original statue was discovered.
Rival collectors have been known to prey on each other’s rarities, by clandestinely swallowing the most precious gem in a collection; at least an anecdote to this effect is related on the continent, of Baron Storch, a celebrated gem collector.
The Abbé Barthelemi, taught by experience, was very careful how he exposed to visiters the rarities in the French cabinet of medals, of which he was the keeper; for in his account of the duties of his office he says, “Such a depository as this cabinet of medals cannot safely be made public; several persons might put their hands on them at one time, and it would be easy to carry them off, or substitute such as are spurious or common. I had no other resource, after I had got rid of the groups, but to examine the shelves at which they had been looking.”
Vaillant, the celebrated numismatist, when pursued at sea by Algerine pirates, is said to have swallowed a whole series of Syrian kings. When he landed at Marseilles, he hastened to his friend, physician, and brother antiquary, Dufour, groaning horribly, with the treasures in his belly. Dufour was only anxious to know, whether the medals were of the higher empire; Vaillant showed him two or three, of which nature had relieved him: a bargain was immediately struck, and the coins recovered.
The almost universal ignorance in Europe of the Chinese alphabet, and written character, has been the cause of some curious mistakes in deciding on the merits of certain coins. So little was a professor of Chinese, at Rome, versed in the language he professed to know, that he is said, by Mr. Pauw, to have mistaken some characters found on a bust of Isis for Chinese; which bust and characters were afterwards proved to be the work of a modern artist of Turin, made after his own fancy.
In Great Britain, we have, till recently, known still less of the Chinese language and literature than on the Continent. “It is not many years since,” says Mr. Barrow, “that one of the small copper coins of China, stamped in the reign and with the name of the late Tchien-lung, was picked up in a bog in Ireland, and, being considered as a great curiosity, was carried to an indefatigable antiquary, whose researches have been of considerable use in investigating the ancient history and language of that island. Not knowing the Chinese character, nor their coin, it was natural enough for him to compare them with some language with which he was acquainted; and the conclusion he drew was, that the four characters on the face were ancient Syriac, and that the reverse appeared to be astronomical or talismanic characters, of which he could give no explanation. The Mantchoo Tartar characters of another coin he supposed to signify p, u, r, which he construed into sors, or lot; and it was concluded, that these coins must either have been imported into Ireland by the Phœnicians, or manufactured in the country; in which case the Irish must have had an oriental alphabet. In either case, these medals,” it was sagely observed, “contribute more to authenticate the ancient history of Ireland than all the volumes that have been written on the subject.”