now seen in how far this was achieved by black and white printing. The element of color, scattered throughout the text, so vivifying an element of the illuminated manuscript, could never be satisfactorily translated into presswork. Hence the blank spaces (see the last Bible pages) which we find here and there, where initials are to be added to the printed page by the illuminist. Attempts in the direction of color-printing are not lacking by any means, however; witness the printed, stencilled, and partly hand-colored cut for a medical treatise (Case 17). Next to it, in the title-page to the "Voarchadumia,"

we see an endeavor to imitate colored writing by means of successive printings with colored inks, upon the same page. The title-page to "Dante," in the same case, is a simpler effort in the same direction. The most successful venture in this matter of color was made along less pretentious lines, namely in the so-called "chiaroscuro," which renders the effect of grisaille painting by superposed printings from several blocks, cut one for each tone on the print. Chiaroscuro prints were made but sparingly in Germany, while in Italy, the land of color, they met with considerable favor. The

Faith, Chiaroscuro, by Ugo da Carpi

success attending this form of color-printing can be judged by numerous examples shown; the possibilities of variation are apparent in the two impressions from the same blocks, shown in Case 18. Reference should be made to the "Triumph of Cæsar," partly shown in Cases 1 to 3, and to the Ugo da Carpi print in Case 4, which certainly deserve

attention.

Lest a mistaken impression should be given that wood-cut was exclusively used for the illustration and decoration of books, a number of wood-cuts, meant distinctly as pictures, have been exhibited in both the Italian and the German Room. In all these prints a distinctive, bold treatment of lines and masses will be noticed,- a treatment typical of the process, and well recognized by the great sixteenth century exponent of wood-cut, Albrecht Dürer, in whose hands it grew into a wonderfully flexible medium of expression. The four great wood-cut series of this master really should all have been shown completely on this occasion; in view of the fact, however, that his prints were shown exclusively in a recent exhibition, limitation seemed wisest, so his "Little Passion" only has been entirely exhibited in Cases 24, 25. These little scenes, full of grandeur, are flanked on either side by selected examples from his Apocalypse and from the Great Passion. The fourth of his wonderful series, the "Life of the Virgin," will be found (in part) in Case 30. The utmost

refinement of wood-cut, without sacrifice of strength, will be found in the prints of that other great German master of the sixteenth century, Hans Holbein. Without going into unwarranted lengths, attention should be called to the amazing sense of actuality, of animation, of space which pervades his little scenes of the Old Testament (Cases 39 to 42), and his equally famed "Dance of Death (Cases 39, 40). Of both these large series selected examples are shown. It is interesting to note that with the advent of Dürer and from 'his time onward, the artistic merits of the black and white wood-cut no longer outlines, but pictures with well-rendered modelling and planes-usually satisfied public taste without the addition of color.

Beside the great leaders, let us not forget the merits of other men, Hans Sebald Beham, for instance, with his delightful little Apocalypse series, partly shown in Cases 37, 38; Burgkmair's "Saints of the Habsburg dynasty" (selections Case 38); the chiaroscuro prints of Cranach, earliest of their kind (Case 34), and the various black and white woodcuts of that artist, and of Hans Baldung Grien, Schäuffelin, and other men of merit, which fill the cases of the second Print Room. It is a large field, as yet but scantily covered, with gap upon gap both in the German and Italian material, but these accessions of recent date leave room for hope that some of the present deficiencies may also be bettered in time. E. H. R.

Communion Silver of the New South Church, Boston

IN September, 1715, forty-four subscribers from the South End of Boston petitioned the town for a grant of that piece of land known as "Church Green" (now the junction of Summer and Bedford Streets) on which to erect a church. The petition was signed by several prominent men, among them Samuel Adams, father of the signer of the Declaration of Independence, Nicholas Boone, who had a shop in Cornhill as early as 1701, Samuel Greenleaf, and Eleazer Dorby. The petition was granted, and on January 8, 1717, the church was dedicated. The name "New South" was given to distinguish it from the Old South, and Mr. Wadsworth of the Old South and Dr. Cotton Mather of the Old North Church preached the opening sermons. Mr. Samuel Checkley was the first minister, and was ordained April 15, 1719. The next year, "Nicholas Boone bookseller" donated the first piece of silver, a beaker 55% inches high, made by John Edwards (b. 1670, d. 1746). A fine baptismal basin made by John Potwine (b. 1698, d. 1792) was given by Captain Eleazer Dorby in 1730; and in 1732 a second beaker by an unknown maker came to the church as The Legacy of Mr. James Smith Tobacconest." Mrs. Hannah How gave, as a memorial to her husband, Abraham How, who died February 12,

66

Many of the first silversmiths were noted engravers in their day, for instance, John Coney (b. 1655, d. 1722) engraved the plate for the first paper money; Nathaniel Hurd (son of Jacob) was more noted as an engraver of copper plates than as a silversmith; and besides the fine crests, cartouches, etc., which we find on the silver of Paul Revere the Patriot, one of his best known engravings is of "The Boston Massacre."

In 1814 the first edifice was replaced by a new meeting house designed by Charles Bulfinch, then one of the leading architects of Boston. It was built of Chelmsford granite, in the form of an octagon with four long and four short sides, surmounted by a graceful tower. which resembled the spires of Christ Church and Park Street Church, and its portico was supported on four fluted columns. Until 1868, when the land and building were sold to make way for business blocks, Church Green was one of the many residential squares that made old Boston so attractive. Rufus

Since 1905, the Museum has had all of this silver on deposit for exhibition purposes; and in May of this year the Society voted to present the eight pieces in our illustration to the Museum, where it may be seen in Case 28 in the Rotunda. F. V. P.

THE

Greek Electrum Coins

THE series of Syracusan coins shown in Case 4 in the Fifth Century Room during the past two years (cf. Bulletin, No. 47) has recently been withdrawn, and an exhibition of Greek electrum coins has been installed in its place. The large majority of these (331 specimens) belong to the well-known Greenwell-Warren Collection, and are now shown for the first time since their acquisition by the Museum. Thirty-two coins are from

*Canon Greenwell's collection of Greek coins (1016 specimens) was acquired by Mr. E. P. Warren, and considerably increased by him. The published catalogue-Regling, die griechischen Muenzen der Sammiung Warren describes 1769 coins; 1432 of these are now in the Museum, 1313 having been purchased in 1904 from the Henry L. Pierce Fund, the rest in 1908-1911 from the James Fund.

the Catharine Page Perkins Collection; four coins were acquired separately. The series includes one hundred and seventy-eight coins of Cyzicus, mostly staters (Sections 6-8), two staters of Lampsacus (Section 8), seventy-six hecta of Lesbos (Section 9), forty-two hecta and smaller coins of Phocæa (Section 9), and seventy coins from unidentified lonian mints (Section 10). Five gold coins of Lydia, two Persian gold darics, and two gold staters of Philip II of Macedon have been added by way of illustration (Section 10).

"There can be. little doubt that in the seventh century B. C. the Greek cities on the lonian coast adopted the Lydian invention of coining money; that is, of stamping the precious metals with marks or types as guarantees of fixed values. Gold and silver, which from time immemorial had been the universal media of exchange, had no real need of such warrants. They were weighed in the scales, and the generally accepted relation between them was in the proportion of 1 to 13%. The ordinary product of the rich Lydian gold-producing districts consisted, however, of an impure gold containing a large admixture of silver sometimes more, sometimes less, but always variable. The average mar

ket price of the impure metal, which from its silvery color obtained the name of 'pale gold' or 'electrum,' was considerably less than that of pure gold; it was roughly tariffed at the rate of about 1 to 10 in relation to silver, in contrast with 1 to 13%. In order to utilize this abundant natural mixture of gold and silver as a ready medium of exchange, some sort of warrant of exchange value would naturally be required on the part of the purchaser. Accordingly each ingot issued as coin soon came to be stamped with the signet or mark of the issuer responsible for its value, and this custom was so convenient that it was afterwards extended to the purer metals."

In the case of some of the earliest electrum coins, it is difficult to determine whether they are Lydian or Greek. The two coins, Nos. 299 and 300, were perhaps struck at Sardis. The obverse has a flat, striated surface; the reverse shows two rude punch marks. No. 311, with the fore part of a lion on the obverse and three incuse sinkings on the reverse, may belong to a later Lydian issue. In the reign of Croesus, the last and most famous of the Lydian kings, the use of electrum was given up, Quoted from Head, Historia Numorum, 2d ed., p. 564.

and a coinage of pure gold and silver took its place. Five gold coins of Croesus, with the fore parts of a lion and a bull facing one another on the obverse, are shown (Nos. 370-374). This coinage was brought to a close by the destruction of the Lydian empire in 546 B. C. The gold darics, first struck under Darius and named from that king, became the standard currency throughout the Persian empire. Their types are illustrated by the two examples shown (Nos. 375-376). The figure of the Persian king appears on the obverse; the reverse has an irregular oblong incuse design.

The Greeks in Asia Minor continued to strike electrum coins during a long period, the most famous mint being that of Cyzicus, an important city in Mysia, on the shore of the Sea of Marmora. The Cyzicene staters competed with the darics in Asia, and there is evidence that they had a wide circulation throughout the Greek world down to the time of Alexander the Great. Before this, however, the mint of Cyzicus had ceased to coin them, doubtless owing to the competition of the gold staters issued in great numbers by Philip II of Macedon from the proceeds of the rich gold mines in Thrace (Nos. 377-378).*

The Cyzicene staters can be dated approximately on grounds of style, the earliest specimens belonging in the sixth century, while the latest are assigned to the middle of the fourth. The development is, however, apparent only in the designs on the obverse; the incuse square, divided into four parts (see Nos. 72, 103), is retained on the reverse throughout the series. The coins, also, show little

*The above historical summary is taken from the articles on Lydia, lonia, Persia, etc., in Head's Historia Numorum. The fullest discussion of the electrum coins of Cyzicus is by Canon Greenwell, Numismatic Chronicle, 3d series, VII, 1887, pp. 1-125, pl. I-VI.

change in fabric; they remain to the end thick, shapeless lumps of metal. This conservatism, for which the coinage of Athens affords a parallel, is to be explained by the wide circulation of the Cyzicenes; it was feared that they would be less readily accepted if their familiar archaic appearance were given up. The coins are uninscribed, but are identified by the tunny fish, the badge of the city, which always appears on the obverse. On the earliest examples it is the main type (Nos. 1-5). Later, the magistrate's symbol takes its place, but the tunny is retained in a subordinate position, placed in the field (Nos. 67, 97, 99), or used as a ground for the design (Nos. 19, 33, 34, etc.), or brought into connection with it (Nos. 58, 107, figures holding a tunny by the tail). This unusual practice of magnifying the magistrate's symbol gave free play to the imagination of the engraver. The series of one hundred and seventyeight coins here shown includes more than one hundred and thirty different types, twenty of which are illustrated in the photograph. The types on the staters were apparently repeated on the smaller coins, sixths and twelfths, of the same issue (see Nos. 41, 42; 56, 57; 58, 59, etc.). A number of the representations seem to have been taken from the coinage of other Greek states with which Cyzicus had relations. The head of Athena wearing a Corinthian helmet (No. 30) recalls that on Corinthian staters; the female head on No. 88 is a faithful copy of a head on a Syracusan tetradrachm; the lion's scalp (No. 124) is the type of Samos. A close connection with Athens is shown not only by the archaic head of Athena