Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1874-05-21

cabinet of antique coins, and wore one OF
them as charm on his watch chain. Per-
suaded that he had some reason for thus
honoring that particular coin. offered him
higher price for it than he put upon any
other piece. At first he refused to sell it.
Nor was it till after some weeks of inter-
course and exploratory walks, that he
yielded to my wishes.
/ The antique of my choice had been also
his, for several reasons. While on pho
! tographlc tour to Mt. Sinai. he had bought
il of Bedouin boy, in place where deal
ers 10 archaeological shams have no in
ducement TO send their counterfets, that
Is, In desert so unfrequented that a rogue
| could not count on even one annual vic
tim. Another proof Of genuIneness was,
| that my friend had paid for his relic less
than half its value as old silver. Where
are bogus bills sold for less than the cost
of the paper on which they are printed?
/ The photographer, then, believed the boy
who brought 4 rare numismatc to his
! tent, and professed TO have picked il up in
Z
with coin-collcction, seek for a dupli-
| cate ofmy pet, but in all the world have
/ discovered only one, aud that in the Mer-
| camille Library At St. Louis. There | saw
/ fac simHc ofmy own, with the exception oi
| one letter in the date. That letter showed
thu st. Louis antique to have been minted
| five year. after mine. But that sole rival
Of my inedallic gem has vanished from its
showcase, being spirited away by burg
lars. Doubtless, |, was at once thr in
to the melting-pot. While regrettin. its
fate, must rejoice in my own counter.
part Of it as now doubly unique.
The material of my jewel is silver. and
that according to assayers, is very slightly
allowed. But thanks 10 its handiwork and
history, it Is to me more than gold. The
diverse Is covered with a proiile-hesd in
bold relief wreathed and in perfect pres
ervation. While the mechanical execution
is coarse the design Is n good representa-
tive OF the best numismatic era. The re-
verse bears an eagle who holds thunder
bolt In his talons. SO far from new
thing under the sun is our Bird OF Free
dom" with his arrows. History only re-
peats itself But nv ''thunierbcarer"
IS not always recognized. One child in
California mistook him for chicken on
bundle Of straw.
The legend on the left and before the
eagle is three abbrcv iations in three lines,
| namely, 1T. KE. Pr, which numismatists
tell Us stand for the words, the year ttcenty-
.Rre Of P!oieny. Near the left edge Of the
| words. Of Ptolemy. in Greek. are plainly
legiblc, and only the last two letters are at
all observed We reckon printing four
hundred years old. Here Is bit OF il
as near four thousand. My silverling is
circular but not exactly round. The an
cient artists seem to have made their
mntage on the plan of vignette photos,
which shade off into nothingness gradually
and without any clearcut outlines.
The maker Of the coin | have been de-
scribius was the first Ptolemy,- "A bastard
brother of Alexander the Great, and his
successor as Kin. of Egypt. His likeness
/ is reputed 10 resemble that conquerer, and
| IS therefore more noticed 1t bears rams
horn on its temple, an emblem first adop-
/ ted on the coins Of Alexander in accor-
/ dance with his claim TO be son of the rams
| horned god,-Jupiter Ammon. Ptolemy's
/ nrst year being three hundred and twenty
three years before Christ, and the mint
mark of my coin being in his twenty fifth
| year, its date is two hundred and ninety
eight years before the Christian era three
hundred years wanting two, old.r than
Christ.
What is its age:' asked visitor Of my
little girl a long way below her teens. Her
answer was, Il don't remember the years
but it is a great deal older than Cod
Again, a London bus driver overhearins
me as l spoke to fellow-passenger of my
curiosity as more than two thousand years
old, remarked, That cannot be, for We
have not yet had so many years as that
When We asked how many years the earth
had been made, he said. why, 1865"
His chronology was shorter and simpler
than Archbishop Ushsr's. once showed
the Ptolemic physiognomy to the Swedish
queen Of song, Christine Nilsson, and ex-
planned it. She cried out. o God, how
old" and added, regarding Ptolemy, "He
looks just like one woman"
Twenty-one hundred, threescore and
twelve years! This bit of money on the
day first admired its sculptured lines had
seen more centuries than the State Of
Wisconsin had seen years. Its birth was
twenty nine years before the earliest sill
yer coinage in Rome, and centuries earlier
than any remains of thst coinage. 1t is
older than any Jewish coin. Nor was
there any mint in Egypt before the reign
of its maker. Under previous dynasties
bullion had been the currency and passed
by weight, not by tale.
few Persian, Grecian and Sicilian
coins are older than mine but where else,
except in geological specimens, those med
ais Of creation, do we behold portable mon
uments As old as history half as old as
time itself,-sections cut out Of the past
and distant, brought safe.to US here in the
present, all rich, rare and radiant?
Then what future may be in store for
our Oldest medals. My antique, when it
came from the mint, weighed two hundred
and seventy grains. 1t now weighs two
hundred and ten. While outlasting every
Roman work contemporary with it, except
. sewer and a buried wall, it has lost only
about one. nth of its weight. II it wears
as well Is it has worn, it will survive nine
thousand years longer. Ny Jerusalemitic
prize was called Of old tetradrachm or
starter, and was of the same value with the
Hebrew shekel. 1t was Of the same de-
nomination with the thirty pieces for which
Judas betrayed his Master. 1t may have
been one Of those pieces, or it may be the
| self. same piece which Peter found in the