EARLY ILLUSTRATION OF A CELTIC MINT

 

Bob Van Arsdell writes:

This image deserves more attention than it's received. It shows an ancient British mint in operation – and it's in colour no less. It's been around since 1815.

It's creators made one of the few attempts to show what a Celtic mint in Britain looked like. They showed how mint workers made coins and the tools they used.

The image appears as plate XIII in Meyrick and Smith's The Costume of the Orignial Inhabitatants of the British Islands.

Usually, such an image would appear over and over in numismatic publications and everyone would immediately recognize it. One wonders why this one hasn't received wider appreciation.

That it appeared in a costume book might offer some explanation. If it had appeared in Ruding's Annals of the Coinage of Britain instead, it might have become more widely known in numismatic circles. Few would go looking for a numismatic image in a costume book.

....But perhaps something more nefarius happened.

Building an image – starting with nothing

Meyrick (the author) and Smith (the illustrator) understood the task ahead of them. Meyrick, an expert on armour, led the project.

The two men wanted to recreate an ancient mint accurately. More impressively, they described the methodology they used and were careful to cite sources. They sought images as close to the time of the mint as they could find to include in their illustration.

The resulting illustration is a composite of genuine ancient images, using the information available in 1815. In only one instance were they forced to use an inspiration from modern times. No ancient source was available for the mint building. So for that they had to guess.

They were bound to make mistakes – but pressed ahead anyway. However, they had no intention of dreaming things up.

Disassembling the Image

The image is made up of a general scene with two figures. Below, there are two coins. These four elements – scene, two figures, and coins at the bottom – must be assessed separately to appreciate Meyrick's accomplishment.

 

To read the complete article, see:
Imagining a Mint – a forgotten image? A Spectacular Early Illustration of a Celtic Mint in Britain (https://vanarsdellcelticcoinageofbritain.com/articles-numismatic_ccb3/van_arsdell_2025a_ccb3.html)

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