From
The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction,
No. 358 Vol. XIII, No. 358., Saturday, February 28, 1829
Coinage of the Ancient Britons.
In 1749, a considerable number of gold coins were
discovered on the top of Karnbre, in Cornwall, which are
clearly proved to have belonged to the ancient Britons. The
figures that were first stamped on the coins of all nations
were those of oxen, horses, sheep, &c. It may, therefore, be
concluded, that the coins of any country which have only the
figures of cattle stamped on them, and perhaps of trees,
representing the woods in which their cattle pastured,-were
the most ancient coins of the country. Some of the gold
coins found at Karnbre, and described by Dr. Borlase, are of
this kind, and may be justly esteemed the most ancient of
our British coins. Sovereigns soon became aware of the
importance of money, and took the fabrication of it under
their own direction, ordering their own heads to be
impressed on one side of the coins, while the figure of some
animal still continued to be stamped on the other. Of this
kind are some of the Karnbre coins, with a royal head on one
side, and a horse on the other. When the knowledge and use
of letters were once introduced into any country, it would
not be long before they appeared on its coins, expressing
the names of the princes whose heads were stamped on them.
This was a very great improvement in the art of coining, and
gave an additional value to the money, by preserving the
memories of princes, and giving light to history. Our
British ancestors were acquainted with this improvement
before they were subdued by the Romans, as several coins of
ancient Britain have very plain and perfect inscriptions,
and on that account merit particular attention.
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