The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1890-09-28
PAGES IS to 16.

airy, but solid pecuniary advantage the re-
verse Trajan nodded in silver on the gold
coin of Platina. Valiant gives" Numis-
mata Pr9stantiori, 1862 "a coin OF Marcus
Aurelius, impressed on the reverse with the
head of Faustina and legend DIVA Faust
and makes the value of the piece 40 livres
equivalent TO francs). Mionnet, 1927, re-
peats Beauvais and makes the value 40
francs. Is the reverse head Faustina the
elder or Faustina the younger? The an
sswer must be Faustina the younger, wife OF
mother having died in al and he having
come to the throne in 16l. But Faustina the
younger was called "Diva Augusta" or
Diva Pia,' not Faustina Diva. Ergo the
piece quoted as authentic by valiant, Beau
vals, Mi0nnet, and several others, is piece
made up of Marcus Aurelius diverse anu
an Antonlnus reverse.
THE FIELD OF ONE COIN
Nav be inlaid within the borders of another.
l know an example OF this work which would
make Trent, heidelberg, Bradstreets, these
great print inlayers, shudder 1t is didra-
china with the laureated head of Jupiter
on the reverse of the Pegasus The work
manship of the diverse is evidently differ
ent from that of the reverse, but the field is
so pure, the coin seems so frank, that one
could not dare to doubt it, Yet the head OF
Jupiter comes from consular medal, and Is
inlaid on a didrachma of Corinth in the
place of Minerva.
Beauvas gravely asserted that the medal
lions, coins made of various qualities OF
copper, were all antique and authentic.
These medallions were of higher class
than the currency, aristocratlc coins, not
marked with the initials of the Senatus
Consuto, are eagerly sought after, and
Beauvais will have it that all are authentic,
two centuries after the Paduans struck the
COmmOdus AntOniuS which the Bibintheque
Rationale has expelled from its authentic
numismatic collection.
Formerly 1t was not with coins as with
DOCKS. Condition was lesser factor than
rarity. Now the coin collectors are with the
book collectors in regarding the condition
above the rarity. The Old-fashioned numis-
matists deploIe this. The rubbed pieces
which served archaeology and history are
lying in boxes Of the dealers; the well-pre-
served ones, little circulated, therefore little
useful in their lifetime, bring fabulous prices.
The wide-awake counterfeiterS FURNISH,
carve, cement and restore.
Poor Gerard Labrunie, after he had
changed his patronymic TO Nerval and tried
to persuade his friends that he was descended
of the Emperor Nerva. bought all the coins
with the effigy of Nerva that he could find.
He explained that it was his duty not to let
his great ancestors portrait fall into the
hands of the bourgeois. OF one piece,
bronze with an obelisk and the legend
1uSuSL Ou tlt IcNtISf, ut WAS
particularly proud, because it was unique.
He described it. The diverse has the
legend: Imp. Nerva Caes. Aug. p.
NJ. TT. PCos ii PIP" 1t is a coun-
terfeit. Nerva was made Emperor by
the Senate and the Pretorans on the day of
Domitians death, September Is, &C. He
died in 9S. His second Consulate, recalled
on the coin, corresponds to the year 96. The
coin could net be struck in So by Trajan,
Nerva's successor, in honor of Nerva, who
was living. 1t could not be struck by Nerva
in honor of DOmtian, whom the Senate had
disgraced. The coin is Nerva with an
altered reverse. The original was Fortune
holding horn of plenty and a rudder, and
the legend Fortuna Augusta" The coun-
terfeiter erased the last letter of the second
word. substituted "Memorie" for the first,
an obeisk for the igure-did his work ad-
mirably, but could not command his ears Of
a cOunterfeiter not TO appear on it.
An intensely moral study, the study Of
numismatcs. And for collectors who have
long delved in books, seductive as Africa to
Stanley. BibiophobiSts who have made
New York third in the love for books should
become numisinatists also. The Courier
de PArt, which writes reprovingiy of New
Orleans because it has 100000 inhabitants
and no art museum, what will it say if it
hears that New York has 100000 and no
numiSmatic museum.