W. C a r e w H a z l i t t Coinage of the European Continent

Introduction 5
more centralised constitution have had the opportunity of
seeing. Nearly all the seigniorial magnates of France,
Germany, and the Netherlands have been handed down to
us in this way, as they presented themselves to their contemporaries.
It is
something to be able in the thalers of
Mecklenburgh to realise ad vivum the lineaments of the great
Wallenstein ;
in those of Transylvania we get the striking
effigy of Bethlen Gabor and the other independent waiwodes
;
the feudal coinage of France and the Low Countries
presents us with the likeness of many a grand lady or
seigneur, of many a haughty and imperious prelate, in all
the pride of life and all the pomp
of circumstance : the
Princes of the house of Medici merchants and standardbearers
of Florence before they sat upon the throne are
here, and the Dukes of Parma, Modena, Milan, Mantua, and
Ferrara, almost breathing and speaking on the metallic discs
which received the impress of their features centuries ago ;
and we may take up
Normandy, or a ducat of Foscari or Faliero, equally
a silver denier of Robert the Devil of
fresh as
when they were submitted for approval.
Setting aside, however, the question of the relative claims
of these four classes of archaeological record, the varied
utility of each in elucidating the others is not to be forgotten
or ignored. Every possessor of a cabinet of antique coins
must be better qualified to conduct researches on that division
of the subject with greater ease and success if he has upon
his shelves the best modern books on the other three.
Obscure points or indistinct inscriptions on a German or
Italian medal are often susceptible of being explained by
some parallel or cognate characters or design on a coin or
jeton executed about the same period, possibly by the same
hand ;
and the engraver of many pieces of money is only
known to us from the fact that he was also a medallist,
whose work is marked by his style, if not by his cypher.
The earliest efforts of some men, who subsequently attained
celebrity, were directed to die-sinking. 1
1
Attention may be drawn to the interesting indications afforded by M.
Armand (Les Medailleurs Italiens, 1883-87, 3 vols. 8vo) of the intimate relation-