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

Introduction 63
contenting himself with the proportion which falls in his
way from season to season, unless he is a second
Fortunatus, he will become aware at all events of one fact,
that the supply of desirable articles will always exceed
the means of securing them.
An additional plea for a representative programme,
rather than a general or special one, lies in the consideration,
which to some may not be material, that too great an
abundance of a particular class of property, and still more
of any given section or department, is
a sure mode of entailing
commercial loss ;
for the very superfluity of examples
exercises a depreciatory influence. It is sometimes wiser to
be incomplete.
From the immensity of its range
and the multifarious
character of its subdivisions the continental series is perhaps,
above all others, the one where representative treatment can
be adopted with the largest degree of convenience and the
least amount of scruple.
In arranging continental coins in the cabinet in such
order as may facilitate, where the collection is extensive and
varied, reference to any piece, the political changes in Europe
and the fluctuations of empire from the Middle Ages down to
the eighteenth century have rendered it in numerous instances
a task of difficulty to decide on the allotment of numerous
groups of coins struck by foreign rulers for territories over
which their jurisdiction was more or less titular. Such are
the money issued by the French for parts of Spain and
Italy, by the Spaniards and Austrians for parts of the
Netherlands, by the Poles for Lithuania, by the Russians for
Prussia and Finland, by Venice for Dalmatia, Albania, and
other colonies, and by the Teutonic Order and the Margraves
of Brandenburgh for Prussia. Probably the simplest and
truest principle is to allow the soil or locality which purports
to have produced the currency to govern its distribution.
The subjection of coins to cleaning processes is a matter
which requires caution and experience. The removal of
superficial incrustation by soap and water, in the case of all
but proof pieces, is unattended by much risk of damage,