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

Descriptive Outline of the Coinages of Europe 299
are less easily procured, while those of Ferdinand III.,
Leopold I., Charles VI. 1 and all the later reigns are abundant.
The German gold the ducat or florin with its divisions and
as the call
multiples has a tendency to grow less plentiful,
for it is
extremely limited, and the heavier values, ascending
to 10 ducats, are too costly to hold in the absence of some
special recommendation. Those of Leopold I. are among the
commonest and the least inviting. The rarest and most
desirable are, perhaps, the minor parts of the gold unit and
the favourite Hungarian pattern. In the majority of cases,
where absolute rarity is an attribute, it occurs that the coin
was struck at an obscure mint or under special circumstances.
The continental numismatists and experts have hitherto
enjoyed a monopoly in the acquaintance with these niceties.
Since I 876 the mints of the German Empire have been :
Berlin (A. or AA.), Hanover (B. or BB.), Frankfort-on-
Maine (C. or CC), Munich (D. or DD.), Dresden (E. or EE.),
Stuttgart (F. or FF.), Karlsruhe (G. or GG.), Darmstadt
or JJ.).
(H. or HH.), and Hamburgh (J.
Making Westphalia our starting-point, it is necessary
to refer to our Catalogues, and to mention that in 1 179 this
district became part of the See of Cologne, after
Westphalia. ,
. .
, /. , ,
having formed a feudal -
, ,
duchy, which determined
in the person of Henry the Lion ;
that portions of it were
acquired at a later date by Prussia ;
that it was one of the
Napoleonic kingdoms from 1 806 to 1813; and that it
then reverted to its former rulers. Westphalia comprised
the territories between the Weser, the Rhine, and the Ems :
Eastphalia (Ostphalcii] those between the Elbe and the
Weser. The former naturally embraced within its confines
places of coinage and numismatic monuments which recalled
its successive rulers and numerous feudal subdivisions.
The most conspicuous coins in this district are those of
the Archbishops of Cologne, the Bishops of Paderborn and
Munster, the Abbeys of Corvei and Hervord, the Counts of
Salm, Bronkhorst, and Mark, and the town of Dortmund. The
1
A \ thaler of this prince, struck in the last year of his reign (1740), has
been attributed to the Prague mint, and is said to be scarce.