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William Crosse - William Sherard - 1715/6-02-10

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William Crosse, Pera

William Crosse - William Sherard - 1715/6-02-10
FINA IDUnique ID of the page  14437
InstitutionName of Institution. London, Royal Society
InventoryInventory number. MS 252/115
AuthorAuthor of the document. William Crosse
RecipientRecipient of the correspondence. William Sherard
Correspondence dateDate when the correspondence was written: day - month - year . February 10, 1716
PlacePlace of publication of the book, composition of the document or institution. Pera 41° 0' 33.12" N, 28° 57' 58.39" E
Associated personsNames of Persons who are mentioned in the annotation. Jean Foy-Vaillant, William Pilkington, Thomas Owen, Samuel Lisle
LiteratureReference to literature. Burnett 2020b, pp. 1521-2, 6211
KeywordNumismatic Keywords  Numismatic Literature , Roman , Greek , Roman Provincial , Coin Types , Alexandria Troas , Antioch , Rhodes , Seals
LanguageLanguage of the correspondence English
External LinkLink to external information, e.g. Wikpedia 
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Grand documentOriginal passage from the "Grand document".

'Pera, Febry 10th 1715/6
Hond Sr
I had reply’d to your Favour of 31st Decem. by ye English Shipps, but yt I was disappointed by ye Person who promis’d to call for my Letters. Your Packet for Consul Pilkington proceeded ye next day after it came to my Hands & I presume you may by this time have receiv’d an Answer. I am extreamly oblig’d for yor Trouble in giving me an Accot of ye most Useful Books p’taining to ye Science of Medals, & I do begin now to be convinc’t yt ye Business requires so much Pains & such an accurate knowledge of ye Roman Affairs, yt I shall prove very unequal to it. I have now run thro’ Monsr Vaillant’s Medals Lat’ & Greek & having exercised a little, I begin to Master ye Types: ye latter of those Books does, in my slender Judgmt of this Matter, seem to be an excellent Instructor to young Beginners, & indeed sufficient for that Part of ye Science: But then I observe, ye Author has not given any Judgmt of ye p’ticular Coyns as he proceeds, wch he has done in ye Lat’ ones; so yt how shall I be informed what are rare & what are obvious? wch all ye Practise in ye World will not teach. I remember to have seen in some Directory, fro’ yor Hand, for buying Medals, yt all Imper: ones wth Gr. Inscr’. are valuable, but yet I presume there are numerous exceptions to yt Rule, wch could not easily be laid down to those who have no Practise in this Business. The Town is at present so crowded wth Mob yt I have not been able to go over to Stamboul, to make any Discoverys. As for ye small silver wth Lat. Inscr.’ I have never made any accot of ’em, because yor Directions seem to slight ’em, unless they bear somewt remarkable on ye Rev. as a Temple, Arch, Horseman, &c. but upon second Thoughts I conceive yt all ye Emprs & Empsses who coyn’d but little Money are worth buying. As for Medals of ye Colonies they do rarely offer, except Troas & Antioch wch are of ye Lowest Value, but for all others I suppose they are ye most rare. By this time I hope Bror Owens cargo is arriv’d. He advises me of a Catalogue to be transmitted to me after you have selected what are for yor Purpose, & also about ye like number out ye Catalogue, not legible to Him, & yt he has reposd(?) in yt ye Power of setting ye Price (ye whole number amounting to about 400) but does not mention of what Mettal. I presu[me] that Part of ye Countrey is more fruitful of Good Medals than any other of this Empire. He desires ye Accot of ’em mu[st] be speedily made. The seal enclosd came fro’ Rhodes, it seems to me not ancient, but I am at a loss what to mak[e] of it. Nothing more occurs relating to these Matters --- Sr I would not be thought to expect Trouble & Ceremony of a regular Answer to these Triffles, I shall be very well satisfy’d if you’l please to comunicate to Mr Lisle as you sit by the Fireside together. I am
Sr Your very obliged & most humble Sert W Crosse
[Annotations by Sherard]
R Feb. 21 1715/16
Answ. Apr. 9'

(Royal Society, MS 252/115; Burnett 2020b, pp. 1521-2)

References

  1. ^  Burnett, Andrew M. (2020), The Hidden Treasures of this Happy Land. A History of Numismatics in Britain from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment, BNS Special Publ. No 14 = RNS Special Publ. No 58, London, Spink & Son.