Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1869-01-22
seIefteo AlisfeIlanp.
A TARDY APOLOGY.


mismatology You are not That il
most fortunate. The story have to tel
you would otherwise not be half SO inter
esting for it is concerning old coins, o
the science of which / know absolutely
nothing, and shall therefore doubtless
make mistakes that would disgust an
arch@ologist, but will pass undetected by
less-ghoul-like intelligence.
There was a certain amateur collector
called Crawshay, who took as much pains
to gather together ancient coins as Jew
attorney devotes to current money. He
had more gold ia the coinage of Tiberius
Caesar than | ever had in that of Victoria
He had some excellent Greek and He
brew Talents. His personality might
have been very literally described as L.. s..
d. He valued none of these riches for
their intrinsic worth, but rather in inverse
proportion to their usefulness. The more
tarnished and old,world they were, the
better he liked them. He was the most
famous numismatologist in England !;
what you and | would call "mad about
coins" Of course, there were other mani
acs of the same persuasion, both male and
female One Mrs. Trevor, and Sir Archi.
bald Lowell were, in particular, his friends
and allies,a and kept opposition collections of
the same sort of rub mean of disused
metal. They would have murdered one
another to gain possession of halfcrown
of the period of Socrates, or sixpence of
the currency of Darius. They quarreled
worse than Wing and Tory over the rel
alive value of their respective cabinets.
But they were on the most intimate and
cordial terms fgE
The three were on one occasion invited
by the superintendent of the numisma-
tological department in the British Mu-
scum to draw that cover together, and
especially with the view of investigating
certain Galba-coin. of the emperor of
that name, price twopence-hafpenny per-
haps in Roman currency, but of absolute
ly incalculable value, since it was the only
one known to be in existence. A brand
new thousand-pound note would not have
pleased any one of the three SO much as
the possession of this probably battered
piece of metal. They accordingly ap-
preached its shrine with beating hearts.
The cabinet, looking like cucumber
frame-with separate space, lined with
white paper and covered with glass; for
every specimen-was carefully unlocked
and the precious coin displayed. | can
not describe it, because / never saw it
but let us imagine small round object
Jagged at the edges, and with an inscrip
tion only to be made out with a magnify
ing glass: o....
1t was passed from one to the
other, and then returned with rev
erent hand to its casket. Other
coins were taken out, examined
praised and appraised The exhibition
was concluded, and the Curator wa!
about to lock up, when he suddenly ex
claimed, "Why, bless mel" Though i
was more striking expression than that
where, the Galba?"
"Don't look at me like that, sir" an
swered Mr.. Crawshay angrily, for he read
suspicion in the officials eye; l am not
rogue and a yagabond. My pocket il
not Galbalunzie's wallet"
Somebody's got it." observed the Gu
rator darkly; that's certain the coir
is no longer in its place. Lady and gen
tlemen, it's very unpleasant, but it wa
here a minute ago, and now it's gone
It's as much as my place is worth Ito us'
rather vulgar phrase) to have lost tina
Galba. What's to be done?"
"Sir," said the lady promptly, elf ther
is Female Searcher maintained by tn,
establishment am quite willing to b.
searched"
"And l also" exclaimed Sir Archibald.
But Mr.. Crawshay grew very white
Neither male nor female shall search me,
said he. G
"You are my personal FRIEND" OBJ
serv ed the Curator, signing; or at leas
you were so, before this uncomfortable oc
currence; / cannot therefore, permit
free to be employed. You perceive my
difficulty, Mr. Crawshay."
"I perceive everything except the Gal
ba," answered that gentleman (they hat
looked for it everywhere in the mean
time); but cannot submit to be searched
So the Curator bowed the party oui
with feelings more easily imagined thai
described, and sat down to make his re
port to the directors.
Now, although, as before limited, the bar
onet and the lady would have gone t
great lengths themselves to gain posses
SION of any ancient piece of metal witt
scratches upon 1t, they had no idea Q
other people yielding to such temptations
They felt positively certain that frient
Crawshay had stolen the Galba, and tAe,
cut him accordingly. The Curator alst
omitted to invite him (as he had beeI
used to do) when anything very old AM
admirable was turned up at Pompeii or il
Central America, to come and inspect it
and he never unlocked his cabinet 70
ANYBODY, but let folks gloat over hi
treasures through the glass; Although,
.s;H ha With e4d smile. 81 IL ia like ehut