Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1866-11-29
Sf(istellaneous.
Coins and Coinage.

Coins and Coinage.
From an interesting article in tue Nation.
al Intelhgencer, on the above subject, We
present our readers with the following ex.
tracts:
The history of coins and coinage is in.
terestiDg as we'll as instructive. There is
much doubt among autiquarians as to the
precise spot where the first coins we're made.
The Parian Chronicle attributes the custom
to Pheldon, who is said to have first stamp.
ed or coined money on the Island of Egina
B. C. 895. Herodotus, not the hest au.
thority, ascribes to the Lydans the frat
coins Of gold and silver The gold slater,
produced at Miletus, on the shore of the
Icarian Sea, is believed by many to have
been the first coined money, and it is GER
tain that the oldest coins extant are from
Ionia, in Asia Minor The first known
copper coins of Greece bear the date B. G.
S97, but copper never became chief me-
dium with the Greeks Silver coinage
commenced at Rome B. G. 266--gold at
B. c. 204 Homer, which is, perhaps, the
most remarkable work in the world, as a
description of existing arts and customs,
makes no mention of coined money, and it
is very evident that no coins had been in
troduced at that period, some nine hundred
years before Christ,
A metallic currency existed in Britain
previous to the Roman occupation. Under
the Romans the coin of England resembled
that of Rome, but totally different coin-
age was introduced by the Saxons. Skeat-
tae silver coins, worth about four per cent.
less than the penny afterwards used, have
been discovered, and being without the sign
of the GROSS on them, it is evident that they
were coined prior to the conversion of King
Ethelbert, A. D. 597. Stycas, minute
coins of silver, copper, and tin, coined by
the Kings of Northumberland, about 67O,
and remarkable for the excellence of their
workmanship, are extant. Silver pennies
worth about three of the present English
pennies, we're introduced about 725, and
formed the principal English money till
some time after the Norman Conquest
Edward the CoDfessor issued few gold
pennies, but 90 regular coinage took place
till the time Of Henry III, who forbade
the old and commanded new coinage in
1857, commencing the gold coinage of Eng
land with few gold pennies. Since then
the history of English coin is much better
defined.
1t was not till about hundred years
later, however-during the reign of Ed.
ward III-that gold coinage may be said
to have properly been established in Eng.
land. At first forms, half-forins, aud
quarter forms we're issued; but the gold
noble, named in honor of the nobility, i'm
mediately, by royal orders, supplanted them.
This coin, with its reverse showing the
King at the helm of the Ship of State, is
the earliest specimen Of great advance in
the art of coinage in England 1t is we'll
known that in this reign the elegant arts
first began to receive marked attention.
Windsor Castle was rebuilt and the Order
of the Garter established at this time, and
English prose and poetry may be said to
have taken their origin at the same period.
During the Auglo.Saxon and early An
glo. Norman periods of English history gold
byzauts we're the legitimate circulation in
England and throughout Europe. These
coins we're circulated from the nuth to the
fourteenth century, period of five hundred
years; and Camden, writing in the sixteenth
century, says that ga great piece of gold,
valued at ELS, which the King offered on
high festivals, is yet called Bezantine,
which was annually coined by the Emperors
of Constantinople." The Turks, at the
siege of Cesarea, in l1O2, hid these coins
in their mouths The Crusaders struck
their captives in the back of their necks,
and the coins were thus disgorged. One
writer declares that the bodies of the slain
were piled up and burnt for the purpose of
getting the byzants which they had sWal-
lowed. Similar coins of less value were
struck by other countries.
The first brazen or copper coins, accord
ing to Pliny, seem to have been made at
Rome, under Servius Tullus B c. 57S,
nearly $500 years ago. The natal was
called es, and it is not certain whether it
contained any alloy of zinc, though it is
certain that it contained but little if any
at ALL The coin was called an as, which
became a coumen name, the gold coins
being known by the same term. The cop
per as, which weighed one pound, was cast,
and specimens are extaut adhering together
as they came from the mould They were
stamped withsthe images of cattle, (pecus,)
and hence arose the word pccunia to signify
money. The as was as high in weight as
five pounds, and as small as the Twelfth part
of pound, small balls cast upon the face
of the piece indicating the number of
ounces Ou one side of the piece was the
head of Janus, and on the other the PROV
of the ship, and hence the boys of Rome,
instaad of uhead mr. fails" sang ont ncapita