The coins of the ancient Britons Author:John Evans Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III. ARRANGEMENT. It now remains for me to say a few words as to the manner in which I have arranged the coins of the Ancient Britons in the follow... more »ing work, and to notice some of their general characteristics, especially in relation to their geographical distribution. It will be seen that the plates of the coins form two distinct series : the one lettered A to I, and the other numbered I. to XVII. The former comprises the unin- scribed coins, and the latter those which bear inscriptions, as well as a few anepigraphous coins which can safely be assigned to certain districts. In the uninscribed scries the first five plates contain the principal types of the gold coins; the next two, those in silver and copper ; the next, those in tin ; and the last, those of the Channel Islands, which, however, more properly belong to the Gaulish series. The classification of the uniuscribed coins in accordance with the metal of which they are composed may possibly be regarded as unscientific. It must, however, be borne in mind that the silver and tin coinages commenced at a much later period than the gold, and that generally speaking they follow different prototypes. It would of course have been much more satisfactory had I been able to arrange all the coins in accordance with the different districts of the country in which they were probably struck; but, as I have already observed, there are not at present sufficient facts on record to enable me to do so, though in the description of each particular coin I have, where there was any circumstance to guide me, pointed out its probable home. I have, moreover, in the last two plates of the gold coins, grouped together various types which appear to be peculiar to Surrey and Sussex. In the other three plates the types may be regarded as ...« less