Delineation of Ancient and Modern Numismatics

§. XVI.
Nevertheless, it cannot be denied that the gold and silver coins of the ancients were already held by the ancients themselves like gems, and preserved in cimeliarchia treasure rooms/cabinets of curiosities. Those especially, which today are called medallions, prevailed over others due to their size and the excellence of their type. This is clear from the Digest the Pandects of Roman law, Book 28, on usufruct, in explicit words: "The usufruct of ancient gold or silver coins, which they are accustomed to use as gems, can be bequeathed."

§. XVII.
The royal right of striking currency belonged only to the highest Emperors and Republics; hence the coins of the Asiatics, Greeks, Seleucids, Arsacids, and the Islands.

§. XVIII.
Among the Romans specifically, this right belonged to the Senate; yet in such a way that superior magistrates (such as consuls, praetors, dictators, censors, and curule aediles) exercised that right by decree of the Senate, or by the order and in the name of the Senate. Hence the coins called consular or of the families, which were struck while the Republic stood. Regarding these, see for specifics in Abraham Gorlaeus' Treasure, and Carolus Patinus' Roman Families, cited above in the prolegomena § 4 and 5.

§. XIX.
But those superior magistrates who held the right...