THE DUNEDIN EXHIBITION.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 2283, 18 November 1889, Page 2

THE DUNEDIN EXHIBITION.

Mr jj. ZANDER'S COIN OOLIiEO- | TIOiN. < '

A. very int creating feature at iko Duuedin Exhibition will bo the collection of co : n3 heloaging to Mr H. Zander, of Anhbuttoa. The collection la a very complete one, embracing tho coinage of ail tho countries of tho world, and extending back to c tho timo when metal v/aa first boftinning to bo used aa the medium of oxohanne. The collection bas boon got together by Mr Zander at great troublo undoxpnnao m his travels round iho world, aud ilioro is no question thatih ii by far the best' and most oomplote m New Zaaland. Tho general run of people are inclined to look upon the collection of coins as a hobby that if not oxactly frivoloUß io not muoh bettor, oni which at tho same timo i 3 an expenplvo taste to gratify. A brief oonslderation, hovrevar, will dispel euoh an idea as thin, and it will bo fojn that besides the pleasure tho pursuit of his amusoment afllirda the ooliector a fruitful lino of study is also opened up to him.- Of ooardo if as m modern times tho coinage of a coun'ry mecoly bore a representation of the monarch's head togother with horaidio symbols, numismatics would not ba a fruitful science, but the inhabitants of the ancient world considered that there wero other übob boßides paying scores to which tbeir money might bo put, nnd their coinage w«a made the moans of! commomorattng notable occurrences of their time. Foatly all tho great polilloal events wero depicted on tho coma ; on them we find illustrations of the art, commerce, nnd Booial life of the peopleß who lived m tho morning of the w/rld, on them too llva the works of many great soulptora, and they contain the only portraits we hnvo of oome of the most remarkable men who have ever lived. Tho diroot historic^! value of the undent o tins Is very great ; to them we owe maoh of our knowledge of events that took plaoo otmtnr es before the Christian ura, and . wltbont them much that we know of the ' oommerce of the Greeks and Rormna ' would probably neves h*ve oome to light. I At wbftt peilod the growing neoesaliija " of olvil(«»tloD reqalrod aomo sort of ' ourrenoy as a medium of exchange we ! have no Information. Tho testimony of J some of the ancient writers goos to show . thatfrnoney of wood aad of leather was

Ibe "ooia of the realm" of several of

the nations of antiquity, aourrenoy Mmoet as rode as the shell money of the barbarous tribes of West Africa m our own day. Those makeshifts disappeared m f'.vor of metal coin, which, as the epaalmen ■ that have descended to our time show, was »t first of a very trade character. The ;>lqo6b were of no definite shape, and merely boro • mark, or two, Impressed by the p itillo authority, to iadloato their valab and •athentlclty, but by regular gradations the art of minting was dsveloped till iho petfeotly olroular, evenly impressed and milled edged oolna now la use In all the civilized oountiles of tbe world ne«e evolved.

Having aald thus muoh *boit enfna m the abtoraot, a reference to the colle :tlon being sent to Dunndln by Air Z nder may be latoiostlng. The oolluotlou oo^aprla«n soma eighteen handred pleoes, and it would ba Imposolble to gtvu here anything him a detailed deiorlptlon, for which parpono « good-rzed volume would be required. All that can be attempted, therefore, la to briefly lndloato In what tho collection constats. To bofjla with the moat ancient oolna In the oerlosj thoae of tho Komna world aro the fa* cot to cl*)m attention l'hg lot Is very representative, begluplcg •bout 80 8.0.| and thonaofoisv*cd lnoladlnf? Impeeirtl ooinsgo, what «re known »a family ooins, those vt tbe By^mtloe Empire, and of the Gothic nsaipjM ot the throne of tho C'amra, and commencing with the tillvec dcnftrlun, and tbo bronze sestertia?, thosymbolc, dovloesauil legends on whlo^i are pat ly heatben, we iresoh the time when thcae a;e replaced by symbols of a Oarlatlnu olittraacor. Then follow the JBJugliah colus, extending from 1290 down to ibe pceeeat duto. Iq appearunaa thore la but litilq djfferonoa batween the ooioj o? Edward 1., the earliest wo boo J^ the collection, and thoio of his eooaejßora op to the tlms of Honvy VII. The representation of tbe king's head In merely » oonventlonal one, and It is uot till tbe latter velgn that any Attempt at n true pontralt of the reigning monarch Is made, and than also an entirely different typa and better wotkm&oßhlp are not!oe*blo. We ■cc, too, tb»t dut ing the rotgn of Good Qaeen liess auothor modifioßtlon makes its appearance, for then, for the fiat time m the English coinage, tho money was milled, that la tho odg<a serrated. The collection of the colas durltg tho Staart and tho present dynasties la very complete. Thore aro coma of the obnldlousi

oleoes— money of nooeealty— inaued by Oharlea I. during his trouble wllh his P*rliamont, and when be was unable to

use his regular mint. The Maunday money finds complete representation, and there fs a foil act of tho Jubilee money, 'there being a fivo-poand 4 two- pound, onepound, and half sovtrelgn m gold, and fivo Blillllngr, four shilling, half otown, florin, one nhillmp, sixpenny and threeponny plooea m stiver. There ace also aorno of tbo model ooltiagu, <>. par^ny trad half-penny, ooneistlng of a brasj ocntro enoloaed a oopper tim, and ono of the limited nambec of medals whloh wore struck when the Pttnoo of Walea was Installed Maaonto Grand Master In 1875. Many of the looa] tokens and coins also find a plaoe Id tbe collection. The Geiman oollootion is vailed and Interesting. It Is not to be beiten tny where, some of the pteoss balng of great value and rarity. There are old Saxon and Polish coins from 1223 to 16(30, Polish from 1600 to 1750, and PrmsUn and German from 1600 to d*t*, Therein old BUmbarg, Lubeok, Frankfort, \Vu*tambcrfi, .Hanover, Anhalt and Llppe ntonoy nalore, and to enumerate the different klada of thaleta, guldens, crowns and mnrks would tike up too maoh apace, though the boar thslor nvA the vhtory lhalor~th.it attack after the battle of Sedan — deserve » reference. The modern Greek coins are draohmal and a fraction of adraohma tn silver, aud varlons multiples of n lepta m oopper. There is some ancient Greek money m the Roman oollootion . The netles commences with provfDs of Louis 3£IV, and thoro ia a representative lot of gold, sliver and bront«3 money of the Empire and Repabllp. The United States collection is large, containing dollars and their various fr»otiona nod multiples (n gold, There are quarter dollars and half dollars, equal la value to » shilling and two shillings of Bnglloh money, a very minute coinage, and thoie ate silver and trade dollars of various coinages from 1794 to those moat recently struck, md there p,ro v^louo cent pleoo^ Ip rjllypr, n^okel, and oopper. Some of tho.BG ara now 'getting very *»re, Among (ha cents «ro the varieties known »b tbo chain and liberty cap, also tho Kentucky and Lnulolana oent?, There Is r ellyor b^lf-dlmo of 1?94, a Fr«nkliu ponny, a yirglnlw half-ponny of 1773, aud several of thp tokens, struck during the war, Qreeobacks of various denominations $re popreoentort, and ijhere Jn a good oollootion oi Ooofoclorßto p»pcr money from que dollar up to one hundred dollars, The Q«nadl»n coins nro of the existing ourrenoy. Thora Is a good shoir of Aaitrlau RQd. Hungarian monoy, lnolndlng "a thaler of M*i* xwreifc I f«*»J o« the older coins of Denmark, Sweden and Norway are to bo found, ns wpU p a large Bcnount of the exlatlng P^W J.™ RuEßlra monoy dates from'l74B, aod inoludoiplooeb of Potos the Groat and hla flaeooßsum, In the SWlsa oolnagft we u2u old money of difforont cantons, and also the present oatronoy from two frwi»> 49wn to ope centime. Under t^e be»alng ,

oi Italy thore la a good collection cf Papal moaoy, Inoludiog colna of Pope Adrian VI of the date 1522, together with the money iaeaed daring the Napoleonic oocupancy nf tho oountey, aud of the preheat kingdom. Some nnooramon Portugese ooins oppear m tho collection, ii nd there is a set of tho OlagaloEO coinage. Indian money is well represented, and there la t* ppommon of the pagoda, a coin ■itruolc at M.uir«B daring t!)o roU'.T) nl Goorge 111. Thore are Mexican coins both of the Empiro and Rapublic, InolndlDg '.be rtoru Maximilian dollar and hulf dollnr ; Chilian, Poruvhn, Vonijzuolan and Bolivian money find a place In tha collooUon. Two gold coins of the Phllliptae lelando nee there, and there is a good sot of tho queer looking Japanese and Ooineßo inonef t For the benefit o? the uninitiated it aiuy bo nald that the old Japanese money ia ehapod something like a brick en v nmall acalo, and tho Onineae like the washoca used with tin nails, there boing a round, oc a *quace hole pauohod through the centre aooording, we aoppoao, to the v*lae of the pleoe. Soma of the renent Japaneue coinage, and lomo Hong-K>ng money ia aloo shown. The Spanish oolluotion is a Urgo one, and oontalnn man; rnrß nnd Interesting oolno. In thin lot there la a btotva medal atruok m 1778 In honor of Oharlcs 111, and also two of the oolno known bb Armida ponnioa. There ace ulao Rpooimono of the ooincge of Sauantra, Pdnoe Edward Island, Baeoos AyreD, KoumanU, Nicaragua, GaitsmaU, Colombia, Brazil, Qoiania, ]New Granudu, Demarata. Ooota B(o», New Branswiok, Jam«ioa, Jeraey, Gaernaey, lele of Man, Straita Sattlemeuta and macb othe«" money that cannot be referred to m detail hero, Ihoro are a ooapla of Morocco ooinn dated 1273 and 1289 cunpeotlvely, alau 'orao curloua old Barmese oolnage. There ia a full eet oil Hawaiian monoy, already very rare, baoanße on account of lightness or some other reason the issue was leoallad a week or two after It had been atiuok. There is a Hebrew coin, very anoient indeed, tho preotae value ropreaented by whioliij not kuo?m. 1U a^o l-ai b:en oatimated at Bomething like 3000 years, but no certain information on this" bead can be forthcoming. A oafioaity m tho collection 1b a sixpenoe whioh hat boon alampod tho reverse way ; tho Queen's heal find accorapunying lßtttrin^ being sunk m the rootal i( btoad of nianding out m rolief. Buch coinn as this uco not permitted to leave tho Mint, and that tho one under notice gut abroad shows laxneea on tho part of somoouo, A biacelei, brooch, and pair of earringn made of ancient o!>inn are included m tho collection, and there m also an it t creating diep'uy or tho token coinage of the world. The qoiua wero on view m Mr Zander's wludow on Saturday, and attnoted a groat d<al ot attentioa, thu footpath m front of, tho shop being »t times quite blocked by the throng of persons eager to inspect them.