What do we have here.

BustDMs

Just a random question…..what is this?

I know, just seeing if anyone else appreciates it.

Sapyx

Given the thin crinkly appearance of all the "coins", and how they appear to be laid out as a plate page for a book, I assume they're all foil pressings.

In the era before photocopying and high-resolution printing, you had few options to show pictures of coins in your coin book. You could meticulously hand-illustrate the coins, but that would require hiring an artist and would take some time. Installing pages of rubbings or foil pressings in a low-print-run book was considered acceptable. Foil pressings worked better than rubbings for ancient coins, due to the high relief and uneven surfaces of a typical ancient coin.

The other alternative is that they're electrotypes, which was long a standard museum technique for duplicating a coin in their collection. To make an electrotype, you make a plaster casting mould of your coin, make a wax cast model using the mould, then electroplate the wax copy with copper. You could then heat up the object, melting the wax away and leaving a thin copper shell - which could then be filled with molten metal of your choice, or you could just leave it as a shell and paste it into a book.

BustDMs

@Sapyx said:
Given the thin crinkly appearance of all the "coins", and how they appear to be laid out as a plate page for a book, I assume they're all foil pressings.

In the era before photocopying and high-resolution printing, you had few options to show pictures of coins in your coin book. You could meticulously hand-illustrate the coins, but that would require hiring an artist and would take some time. Installing pages of rubbings or foil pressings in a low-print-run book was considered acceptable. Foil pressings worked better than rubbings for ancient coins, due to the high relief and uneven surfaces of a typical ancient coin.

The other alternative is that they're electrotypes, which was long a standard museum technique for duplicating a coin in their collection. To make an electrotype, you make a plaster casting mould of your coin, make a wax cast model using the mould, then electroplate the wax copy with copper. You could then heat up the object, melting the wax away and leaving a thin copper shell - which could then be filled with molten metal of your choice, or you could just leave it as a shell and paste it into a book.

You are on the right track. Now finish the mystery.

sellitstore

Grand Tour souvenir?

BustDMs

@sellitstore said:
Grand Tour souvenir?

Nice thought but not correct. Go back to SAPYX’s guess and expand…..

Another hint.

Conshyboy

Gold silver and copper leaf reproductions

tcollects

I don't recognize some of those - are they really gold, silver, and copper old pressings of rare coins? what a cool thing

ELuis

Humphreys (Henry Noel). Ancient Coins and Medals: An historical sketch of the origin and progress of Coining money in Greece and her colonies; its progress with the extension of the Roman Empire; and its decline with the fall of that power, 2nd edition, London: Grant and Griffith, 1851, 10 sunken mounts containing 114 facsimile gold, silver and bronze foil coins (some oxidization to the facsimiles), some offsetting to text, a few leaves and mounts detached, some light spotting and small marginal ink stain, original embossed calf gilt, spine torn with loss at foot, a little rubbed with some edge wear, small 4to

BustDMs

@ELuis said:
Humphreys (Henry Noel). Ancient Coins and Medals: An historical sketch of the origin and progress of Coining money in Greece and her colonies; its progress with the extension of the Roman Empire; and its decline with the fall of that power, 2nd edition, London: Grant and Griffith, 1851, 10 sunken mounts containing 114 facsimile gold, silver and bronze foil coins (some oxidization to the facsimiles), some offsetting to text, a few leaves and mounts detached, some light spotting and small marginal ink stain, original embossed calf gilt, spine torn with loss at foot, a little rubbed with some edge wear, small 4to

We have a winner!

It is one of the coolest books in my library. More images in following post.

BustDMs

MrEureka

Very cool. I’ve never seen one of those. Are they rare?

BustDMs

@MrEureka said:
Very cool. I’ve never seen one of those. Are they rare?

They are pretty rare. I’ve only seen a few for sale in the last couple decades.

Most are basically dis bound as they were the first “perfect” bound book. The thick plates made it difficult to bind so they merely stacked the text and plates slathered on some horse glue and wrapped the leather around it. There was also a problem with the metallic foils coming free from the molds and being lost. I had to purchase two books to make one complete set of plates.

The ANA has a terrific copy in their rare book room. Anyone visiting the HQ should take the time to have a look at it.

sellitstore

@Sapyx actually got it right when he said " Installing pages of rubbings or foil pressings in a low-print-run book was considered acceptable. Foil pressings worked better than rubbings for ancient coins, due to the high relief and uneven surfaces of a typical ancient coin." He just didn't name the book.

His other suggestion was electrotypes and I knew that wasn't what we were looking at, but his guess of foil pressings was correct. We can see that they are in a book from the text at left in some of your scans but I didn't understand that you were looking for the title.

And it's quite possible that a few were purchased as Grand Tour souvenirs. I might have bought one myself had I toured Europe during the 19th century.

SmEagle1795

That is a very neat book! I hadn't seen that before.

Is there any additional information available on the coins which have been rubbed/imprinted? I'm wondering if the Colosseum sestertius is my example: it's not a 100% obvious exact match but it might be within the margin of error given the complexities with producing the foil copies. Some defining attributes in my eyes are the centering/shape and, more importantly, the spot of corrosion near the upper left which appears to be present in the foil as well:

BustDMs

@SmEagle1795 said:
That is a very neat book! I hadn't seen that before.

Is there any additional information available on the coins which have been rubbed/imprinted? I'm wondering if the Colosseum sestertius is my example: it's not a 100% obvious exact match but it might be within the margin of error given the complexities with producing the foil copies. Some defining attributes in my eyes are the centering/shape and, more importantly, the spot of corrosion near the upper left which appears to be present in the foil as well:

It is my understanding that all the host coins were in the British Museum.

TwoKopeiki

This is a very cool book. Thanks for sharing!

Bailathacl

Love that (Titus?) Colosseum Sestertius — outstanding.

SmEagle1795

@BustDMs said:

@SmEagle1795 said:
That is a very neat book! I hadn't seen that before.

Is there any additional information available on the coins which have been rubbed/imprinted? I'm wondering if the Colosseum sestertius is my example: it's not a 100% obvious exact match but it might be within the margin of error given the complexities with producing the foil copies. Some defining attributes in my eyes are the centering/shape and, more importantly, the spot of corrosion near the upper left which appears to be present in the foil as well:

It is my understanding that all the host coins were in the British Museum.

That sounds plausible: the BM's example has a similar border and was acquired in 1844. (Mine has an 1860s pedigree so I thought it could fit as well but if other coins were sourced from the BM, that makes more sense):