Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1857-06-20
From the New York Evening Post.
THE NUMISMATICS OF THE NEW
PENNY,

Our more learned readers know, while the un-
learned ought to know, that there is an important
science 10 the books called Numisnlatics, or the
Science of Medals. 1t is q science of no little i'm
portance to the archaologist, to the student of Ian
guages, and to the historian. Many of the ancient
nations, like nearly all of the modern, were in the
habit Of casting or striking bits of metal, which,
if they were issued by public authorities as media
Of exchange, were called coins, and if they were
put forth to commemorate great public events were
called medals. As the coins of the ancients, how
ever, have now ceased to circulate as coins, they
are all included under the name Of medals.
The different parts of those medals were the fol-
lowing: first, the diverse, which commonly con-
tanned the head or figure of the person by whose
command or in whose honor it was uttered and
second, the reverse, containing either q mytholog-
ical or allegorical design, or some descriptive i'm
age while the borders were stamped with words
named the Legend, and the centre with words
forming the inscription. The practical art of the
numismaticist consists in the skill with which he
deciphers the significance of these legends, inscrip-
tions and figures.
As there are supposed to be over seventy thous-
and ancient medals extant, it will be seen Mt n
glance how important they must be, both as records
of ancient dates and events, and as portraits of
eminent ancient characters. Indeed, no thorough
and minute acquaintance with archaeology, or the
! fine arts, or many paris of history, could have been
obtained without them; they show often the place
-, and position of cities, the SUGGESTIONS OF kings, the
time of memorable epochs, such as coneuests and
expeditions, the costumes and ceremonies of ma
G tons, the names and deeds of magistrates, and the
\ attributes of the gods, besides preserving to US
. representations Of several of the greatest works Of
the fine arts, and throwing light on the various
metallurgical processes of antiquity, especially
y such as the alloy. the gliding and the plating o
. metals. The coins of the middle ages, which havt
been sought and preserved with scarcely less yea
than those of remoter times, have scarcely an,
!, value as monuments, and have served to explain
q to us many things in the manners and customs o
c those ages which the contemporary manuscript
have left wholly unexplained.
J, In addition to the more direct light which med
IS ais reflect upon dates and events, they are usefu
as indications of the changes which have takel
a place in the opinions and feelings of the people t
It whom they pertain. For instance, one might lear
d from the medals alone Of the great alteration effect
ed in Roman habits Of thought, in the passag
t, from the Republic to The empire, bv the single fac
p that before Julius Caesar no figures of an individ
ual person appear upon them, while after him the
a became more frequent, and the names of the ruler
G are accompanied by the word DiouS, showing tina
divine honors are paid to them. Under the RI
is public, the manly selfrespsct and the.sense of equa'
ity among the people had not yet disappeared
If while under the Empire particular persons had nc
only usurped the supreme power, but actually de
10 based the general miHd into somewhat of orlenta
slayishness and submission. If the Roman histo
W rians and satirist had not told us this truth, tn,
Jt IlOlnuu mtudlS NUuIu nave uOne 80,
Well, what has all this to do with the new pen
ny? Nothing Immediately or rather nothing more
than to suggest an inquiry. whether there is any
history to be discovered in our American coins
Suppose that our literature were struck out of exist
ence, could the future a~ntiquary ascertain from
q our medals any clue to the history of the times?-
Not much certainly, because, having the press and
& books in abundance, we have not found it neces
sary to commemorate events, or to perpetuate char
tiers, in this particular form.
With the exception of the completion of the Erie
: Canal, or of the introduction of Croton water, OF
the universal reign Of shinplasters, when all sorts
q OF copper cents wero in vogue, there are few in.
cidents OF our experience stamped on the enduring
gold or brass. Yet our public coins are not wholly
insignificant. Imagine, for example, some distant
Sponheim or Eckle putting forth a new doctrine
nummo,um ceterum and that this money Of the
United States should form his text, what would be
his first conclusion-in fact; besides a few dates
almost his only conclusion? lie would take up @
penny or a dollar of the early times of the Repub
lie, and he would find upon it that the wOrd"Eiber
ty" was its most conspicuous emblem. lie would
find that word in large deep letters occupying
nearly as much space on the face of the cion as thu
name of the nation did on the reverse of it. HI
would infer of course, that the people of the "Unit
ed States of America" loved elderly. Taking
up next q halfeagle or a quarter of a dollar o
later date, he would find this word diminished il
size, and removed to an inconspicuous place to
ward the bottom of the piece. Of course, again
he would begin 10 suspect that the aforesaid peopl,
of the United States of America" were rathe
cooling off from their attachment to "liberty".-
At last. in due chronological order, he would fal
upon the cent of 1857. and search in vain for tn
word "liberty" at ell. What. he would say, no
so much as the aord left-all gone-the mobiles
D and brightest inscription of the Republic erased
Some overwhelming despotism has come upon AM
blotted from its records, as from its spirit, tina
lofty attachment to freedom in which it originate,
r as a nation, and which for nearly half q centur,
was its most prominent characteristics.
In view, then, Of our actual history, how ia
wrong would he be? Take the Declaration of In
1 dependence first; and then take the present Fugi
: tive Slave law, and the editorials and sermons b
which it was sustained; and finally, take the decis
I ion of Judge fancy in the bred Scott case, an,
tell us whether our legislation and our numismat
4 les have not kept pretty equal pace together, Lib
lerty in preat sWellinp atfers-lharty in -