San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1888-12-28
RARE OLD COINS.
PIECES OF MONEY WHICH BRING
ALMOST FABULOUS PRICES.

New York COilector-Money Osed oy
Monarchs Long Before the Christian
Era-Artistic Work.
Is a coin collector a cranks The average
man thinks he is. To the uninitiated it
seems pure waste of time to occupy days,
months and even years, in the collecting of
battered ancient coins. Professor Edwin
Froissard, numismatist and archRologist,
shed good deal of light on this subject,
while talking with reporter. The professor
is a good authority on numismatics More
over he was in communicative mood
what makes people collect coins?" said
the professor. "Well, I'll tell you. In the
first place, they do so from a natural desire
to preserve. In other words, they can't bear
to see anything destroyed. The second mo-
tive is feeling of curiosity, a desire to be-
come acquainted with history. And indeed
it is one of the best and most satisfactory
ways of doing so, for it brings us into con-
tact with the period to which the coins be-
long. The French have very appropriate
name for coins They call them 'monu-
ments, and SO they are"
The professor was gradually becoming en-
Unused. The next moment he dived down
into a small safe and produced box contain
ing innumerable envelopes, all filled with
coins.
PERFECT CONDITION.
'Now, here are some Egyptian coins Of the
period of Ptolemy | and H. These coins rep
resent phase of Greek art"
Professor Froissard here handed one Of the
coins to the reporter. 1t was about the size
of a silver half dollar, but much heavier,
being of pure gold. On one side were the
profiles of Ptolemy and his wife; on the
reverse Ptolemy II and wife were repre-
sented. The engraving is very fine. The
professor then proceeded to explain.
These coins arc made of the purcst gold
They are worth $50 to u numlsuatiat Oh ac-
count of their rarity and perfect condition
The remarkable state of preservation in
which old coins are found is du. to tie fact
that the ancients boarded their money, put
ting it away i'll secret places. hiding it in
vases, etc. To this very day coins arc found
in the exact condition in which they were
originally struck at tine minis The oldest
coins which have ever been found were struck
about 700 B. c. In other words, they ar,
over two thousand five hundred years old
They were struck III the Greek cities of ASH
Minor from native and natural metal
called electroid or pale god.
This whitish green color is caused by the
silver in it. The coins are plump or globular
in form, and rudely stamped on one side with
a design pertaining to the particular city.
The coinage Of the Greek cities, states and
colonies soon assumed an immense impor-
tance, each city or state having its own type
1t is tho object of collector to obtain all the
types, as they are Of very high artistic merit
r.
collectors of Greek coins in America, but
those we have are advanced and critical in
their tastes. There are Greek coins owned
by our collectors here which are excessively
rare and cannot be found even in European
museums No one can form good collection
Of them without expanding a small fortune
aud yet the whole collection will not fill over
two or three small trays. l know one gen
tleman who has such a collection, and it is
valued at 5000.
THE finest purely Greek coins belong to
the period extending from $50 B. G. 10 800 B.
c. This includes the reign of Alexander the
Great The 'drachma' and 'di-drachma'
were coined about 400 B. G. They are of
pure silver. The only emblem on them is a
representation of grain of barley with the
husk on"
FINE ENGRAVING.
Here Professor Froissard exhibited some of
the odd looking pieces of money.
"The tetra-drachma contains on one side
the head of Persiphon, and on the reverse a
splendid engraving of 'Biga,' or victorious
chariot. This is emblematic of victory
Around the profile on the diverse side is the
inscription of the city to which the coin be-
longs. In this case it is, as you see, Syracuse
This is the exact condition in which these
coins were found in the excavations. No
two Of them are alke-that is, cast from the
same dies, although they resemble each other
in general design. The coins of the time of
Alexander the Great are remarkably fine in
execution. On one side is the portrait of the
helmeted head of Alexander. On the reverse
a winged figure of Victory is represented
You will observe how remarkably fine the
engraving is, and its superiority to that on
the Roman coins which will show YOU
THE latter are very interesting histor-
ically. Their silver COINS unfortunately,
are only the size of dime, and there is con-
sequently no scope for any design. They are
called 'denarii.' Roman art was inferior to
the Greek. But the Roman bronze coins
make up for the deficiency of the silver coins
They are very interesting. There are a
larger number of collectors of these coins,
because they are not so rare, and are easier
mastered than the Greek They are only
one-fifth as valuable on an average.
THE largest bronze coins are about the
size of an American dollar They bear an
engraving of the head Of the reigning Roman
emperor, and on the s1verse side some. his.