THE first Spanish American silver coins were struck in Mexico soon after the establishment of a Royal Mint in 1535 or '36. At first the smaller denominations of the Peso were issued, Cuartillos de Real or Pesetas and Reales de a cuatro or Tostones, according to Torquemada. As the Viceroy Mendoza says that counterfeit testoons appeared towards the end of the year 1536, the above statement is probably a correct one. The large dies and the heavy presses required for coining Pesos de ocho may not have been ready for use for some years afterwards. As the earliest pieces coined in America that bear a date are of the year 1589, the succession of the undated pieces cannot be ascertained, except by the alteration of the legends. The improvement in the designs for fifty years is not noticeable, and nothing can be gathered in that way towards classifying them.

As a confirmation of the fact before stated, that no silver money was coined in Spain from 1516 to 1555, we notice the absence of any ordinances relating to the coinage of this metal during that period. Heiss quotes one of 1537, concerning gold, and one of 1552, concerning vellon, only. He describes but three gold and no silver or copper pieces as of Spanish origin during those years.

The designs on the American silver pieces of Spanish origin remained the same until the time of Philip the Second. The obverse had a plain Norman shield, quartering the royal arms of Castile and Leon enté in base Granada, on the field; a large crown above, the name of the sovereign and part of his title as the legend. An initial on one side of the shield indicates the Mint, and one on the other that of the assayer or mint-master. On the reverse the field bears two crowned columns, usually standing in the sea, with the motto PLUS ULTRA Sometimes borne on a label and often abridged. An Arabic figure on the field designated the value of the coin in reales or eighths of the peso. The legend completes the title of the sovereign.

Charles adopted the columns and motto about the year 1519, in Flanders, and some coins struck there have this design, the motto reading PLUS oultre. We cannot here give the mythological origin of the supposed pillars Calpe and

Abila, set by Hercules at the Straits of Gibraltar, with their motto, NON or NEC PLUS ULTRA. Charles, in allusion to his New World possession, proudly dropped the limiting term. The Colonna family of Rome bore two columns in the sea on their arms also. Medals were struck in Flanders that bear the

new device of the emperor. One such is figured in the first volume of Bryant's History of the United States, page 340. The columns and motto are not a portion of the Imperial or Royal arms, but must be considered as a personal device, at first adopted by Charles and perpetuated on the American coins. Heiss says that he has not seen gold coins with this device struck in America before the reign of Carlos II, 1665.

From about 1747 to 1758 the reverse bore two globes (dos mundos) between the columns under a large crown, with the additional motto in the legend, VTRAQVE VNVM with the date and mint-mark in legend also. The obverse bore a shield slightly indented on the sides, and with an escutcheon of three fleurs de lis, in pretence at the heart point, the denomination and repeated mint-mark on the field also. The name and titles formed the legend.

Shortly after the accession of Carolus III in 1758, the head of the sovereign was placed on the obverse, with DEI GRATIA added to the name in the legend, and the date below. On the reverse the shield was placed on the field, crowned, between two columns bearing the usual label. The crowns over them, however, and the sea below, were omitted. The titles, abridged, mint-marks and denomination, were in the legend.

Many rough pieces known as cob money, or cabo de barra in Spanish, because they were not struck on regular rolled planchets, but on disks cut by shears from the head of a bar, appeared from American Mints after 1621 under Felipe IV, until 1758, and for some years during the colonial revolution.

No columns were ever placed on the pieces struck in Spain, until recently in 1850, on the twenty and ten real pieces, or dollars and half dollars of Isabel II. It must be remembered that the Spanish real has been for many years the twentieth of a dollar, equal to our half dime. The four real Spanish piece, or peseta, when circulating here, was known as a pistareen. The absence of the columns on Spanish silver coins served to distinguish them from the Mexican and Peruvian pieces. The deviations from the above descriptions will be noticed in the proper place.

It may be interesting to note that in the early colonial times of the Spaniards in America, gold and silver were abundant, while home made products were much in request. The price of these last therefore was exorbitant, and continued complaints are found scattered through the documents of that time, of the cost of clothes, arms, furniture, etc. The same state of things occurred recently in California, and is still existing at all the remote mining districts.

We trust that American numismatists will be lenient on this first attempt to describe the interesting coinage of the Spanish and Portuguese colonies in America. The subject has not before been handled, as far as we can ascertain, by any numismatist as a distinct study. Coins of American Mints have been included in other works, in most cases singly and with doubts as to their origin. For the first time, a number of Spanish American pieces are figured in the work of Alois Heiss. He has not, however, undertaken any systematic or exhaustive account of them as a distinct product of the American Mints:

all that we propose to offer in succeeding articles is a selection of his American pieces, adding a few that are undescribed by him, and thus inaugurate this department of American numismatics.

[To be continued.]

J. CARSON BREVOORT.

ROMAN FAMILY COINS.

ANTONIA GENS.

THIS family was patrician and plebeian; the former bear the cognomen Merenda; the latter bear no surname under the republic, with the exception of Q. Antonius, propraetor in Sardinia in the time of Sulla, who is called Balbus upon coins. Mark Antony, the triumvir, pretended that his gens was descended from Anton, a son of Hercules. We are told that he harnessed lions to his chariot to commemorate his descent from this hero, and some of his coins bear a lion for the same reason.

No. 1.

39 and 37 B. C.

M. ANTONIVS. IMP. COS. DES. ITER. ET TERT. (M. Antonius, imperator, consul designatus iterum et tertium.) Head of Mark Antony to right, crowned with ivy; below, a lituus; the whole surrounded by a wreath of ivy and grape. Rev. III VIR R. P. c. (Triumvir Rei Publicae Constituendae.) Bust of Octavia (or Cleopatra?) over the cist of Bacchus, which is between two serpents. A medallion or tridrachm struck in Asia.

No. 2.

M. ANTONIVS IMP. COS. DESIG. ITER. ET. TERT. Accolated busts of Mark Antony and Octavia (or Cleopatra? which, still remains to be proved), to the right, the former with a crown of ivy, the latter with a head dress. Rev. III. R. P. C. The mystic cist between two serpents, upon which, standing to left, is Bacchus (Mark Antony?) in female dress, holding a thyrsus and a vase. Medallion or tridrachm, struck in Asia between 39 and 37 B. C.

No. 3.

Same as No. I. Rev. III. VIR. R P C. Quiver, with bow and arrows, around which two serpents are entwined; to the left, a trident; to the right, a caduceus. Medallion or tridrachm, struck in Asia 39-37 B. C. These coins refer to the orgies of Antony in Asia, who wished to pass himself for a new Bacchus, and his wives Octavia and Cleopatra for new Ariadnes. When he made his entry into Ephesus, the women met him dressed up like Bacchantes and the men and boys like Satyrs and Fauns, and throughout the town nothing was to be seen but spears wreathed about with ivy, harps, flutes and psalteries, while Antony, in their songs, was Bacchus, the giver of joy and the gentle.

These coins were called cistophori from the mystic cist on the reverse. Borghesi says that the head surmounting the cist is that of Octavia, while Eckhel thinks it is Cleopatra. It seems to me, however, to be too small to ever ascertain with certainty. M. Dumersau, in his description of the cistophori of Asia, thinks that the head surrounding the cist may be Octavia, while the one associated with Antony's may be Cleopatra. The cistae were small