The Sun.
London, England, 1824-10-29 00:00:00

ANCIENT COINS.

Last week there was discovered in this town,
an earthen' jar, containing a great nuMber of
coins, in a high state of preservation. This jar
was found at a depth of about a foot from the
surface of the ground, close by the Grey Friars'
Church-yard. A well-grounded apprehension
Exchequer, or the " Lord of the MancManor".tthat'
on which the coins were discovered, would lay
claim to the treasure, had well nigh deprived the
world of the knowledge of the useful discovery
altogether. The Lord of the Manor, however,
is quite indifferent whether they go to the cru•
cible or to the cabinet or the antiquarian. We
cannot venture to, say so much for the Exchequer
—diet is, if they can lay their hands upon them.
But this will be no easy matter, for we have found
boys in the street disposing of them for so much
(3d. we believe) per coin. A Gentleman of our
acquaintance has, however, with the most laud-
able anxiety for their preservation, contrived to
secure a considerable number of these coins.—
These we 'have seen. By far the greater number
belong to the reign of Edwards, and have been
coined in London, Lincoln, Canterbury, fins.
tol, Cambridge, Durham, York, &c. There are
none yet discovered of a later age than an Ed-
ward's ; and from the circurristance of a few
Scotch coins of Alexander, David, and Robert,
among the number, we hare reason to believe that,
these coins must be of the reigns of Edward 1., I
and 111., who were the contemporaries of Scot-
tish-Kings of the former names. Pinkerton tells
us, that there is no certainty of there being an
older Scottish silver penny (and these are all
silver pennies) than of Alexander If., who began
his reign in 1214, and the reigns of Alexander
If., David 11., and Robert ill., with those of
their contemporaries, Edward T., If., and 111.,
extended from that date down till about the
year 1400. This circumstance lends us to sup-
pose that those coins are from -120 to to 610 years
old. There is a great number of them stilt to brush
up and examine, which, when done, may enable
the intelligent possessor of them still further to
clear up their coinage and antiquity. It is suppos.
ed that the jar contained upwards of 3,000 of
these silver pennies ; but from the breaking of
the vessel before they were observed, and carting
away the mould in which they were found, many
of theta must have been lost, This discovery is
highly useful in many respects ; and we will en-
deavour to illustrate their value and antiquity to
the best of our ability, when more of them are
found and properly arranged. We may here
again recur to the don"- of the Exchequer and
the Lords of the manor, and mention that thJse
claims have quashed for ever the knowledge of
many similar discoveries`made or late years in
this quarter. We know that n few months ago,
i
an ()Id woman found a large horn n the hollow
trunk of a tree in the remote district of Arisaig,
filled with ancient coins—but from the fear of
being deprived of them, she doled them out at a
trifle each,thus have they been lost. Some
and
Years ago, a like treasure, to an unknown amount
was discovered in the old Castle of Urquhart,
and were instantly sent to the crucible, or other-
wise disposed of, for the same reason. We can.
not help regretting this. We may mention, at
the same time that the Exchequer very liberally
returned to Mr. Naughton the gold rod found
some months ago near the Druid's temple at Lem
—(Averness Courier)

DARING Rommtv.—The premises of Mr.
Green. of No. 7' Regent-street, Vauxhall-road, was entered
about 7 o'clock on Wednesday evening, and a quantity of linen
stolen therefrom, consisting of shirts 404 various other articles.
Numerous roberies of this description hove lately been commit..
ties firths neighbourhood. Three well-known characters were
seen lurking about the spot at the time.