Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-08-07
GREEK COIN TYPES.
Was Their Origin Religious, Commercial
or Merely ofhcialP

OF mSKSly OAuCi1At
From the Saturday Review.
All numismatists have been interested in
the discussion that has been in progress
during the last ten or fifteen years con-
corning the character OF the first types
generally representations of animals. less
frequently floral devices or human figures
that are to be seen on the primitive coinage
OF Asia Minor and Greece. Two main the
cries have been prevalent for their expia-
nation: The one has been urged by DR..
Curtius and DR.. Head. the other by Prof.
Ridgway. The former school will see MOTH
ing but religious emblems In these strange
archaic representations OF beasts and other
things. It holds that the state wished to
dedicate Its money to its tuteiary god or
Of Athens. the lion Of Miletns. the tortoise
OF Aegina are all alike sacred types, re-
ferring to the worship Of Arternis or Ath-
ena, Apollo or Aphrodite: that X the primi-
tive artist engraved the attribute rather
than the deityaon the.coin.ft was simply De-
cause he was conscious OF his inability to
produce an adequate representation OF the
city,s patron or patroness on the confined
space OF a half inch die. When art Inn
proved and die sinkers became skilrul, the
detties themselves began to be portray
Cd In the coinage OF the fifth and later CEN
turtles the gods head normally appears on
one side Of the piece the emblem that was
originally the sole type Is relegated to the
other. It has even been suggested that the
first mtntS were established in tempies-a
theory for which the evidence is most incon-
elusive. The ona inscription which does un-
d0ubtediy establish the existence Of a tenn
pie coinage is on a piece so late that no ar
gument as to primitive practice can be
drawn from 1t. But, setting aside. this addi-
ton to the theory OF the purely religious
nature OF early coin types, 1t cannot be
disputed that much can be urged in favor
of the view. Mr.. George Macdonald. while
granting that the archaic figures are often
representations of the embiems of the gods,
produces non-religious reason for their
appearance.
The other modern theory as to the origin
OF coin types has been vigorously set forth
by Prof. Ridgway, who denies the religious
Interpretation of the devices and sees IN
them Indications of the exchange value OF
the primitive pieces. The standard cur
rency of most early countries has been the
OK or sheep-every one knows the Latin Pc
cunia derives from pecus It is q tempting
notion to suppose that the first coins were
Intended to be equivalent to the OK. or
other unit of exchange prevalent in the
country where the new devices OF metal
money had been introduced Many early
coins bear the representation of cattle. 9TH
ers show sheep, tripods and other objects
which we know to have been used stand
ards of value. Most Of the early coinage of
pieces, displays such types. Pollux tells us
that Bous. the primitive OK unit, was origi-
naiy used as an equivalent word for the
slater, the primitive coin unit; when IN
archaic religious or legal formulate an or
was mentioned, later generations paid or
onered the piece Of money as a correspond
Ing contribution. But 1t would be danger
Gus to press this view too far or we should
have to adopt the absurd hypothesis that
the value unit of Teos had once been the
griffin, or that of Miletus the Iion since
these are the first representations found on
their coinages both of which go back to
n he nv ion n
money
Mr.. Macdonald rejects both these accept
ed views in favor of the simple theory that
the early coin type merely reproduees the
state seal Of the Issuing state. The COM
munity youched for the purity and good
weight of the piece by sealing 1t with the
device which 1t habitualIy appended to doc
uments, weights and measures and so
forth. AS was the case In the cities of me-
dievai Europe. many states used religious
emblems as their coat of arms, but others
used commercial types and others again
"canting heraldry," making a pun on the
city name, without any religious or other
arriere pensee. Thus, to compare things
ancient with things modern, Athens used
Athenes owl, or Ephesus the stag of Ar
temus. just in the same way as the city Of
London uses the red cross with st. PauPs
sword in the canton. or Venice uses the Hon
of st. Mark. On the other hand, Cyzicus
used the funny or Cyrene the siiphium
plant purely commercial devices Illus
tratfng the chief industry Of the CITY as
much as Bristol shows the castle and ship,
Canada the beaver or Iceland the stock.
fish IN its shield. But. quite distinct from
each of these we get the punning type
Trapezus showed a temple on it's coins An
coma an elbow, Selinus parsley leaf, just
as oxford now gives US an OK fording q
river. Bern bear or Munich q monk 1t
seems to us that this lucid, simple, yet
many-sided explanation Of the early coin
types is absolutely conclusive 1t leaves US
with many religious emblems. such as the
one school Of commentators pointed out
and many commercial emblems to please
the other, yet shows that the type of the
coin Is only religious or commercial at
second hand. so to speak 1t reproduced
the state seal, and the device of that seal
might be settled by either Of the two ten
denotes which prevailed among the earl
choosers of municipal device, or might
even be settled by mere canting heraldry.