Book contents
- Small Things in the Eighteenth Century
- Small Things in the Eighteenth Century
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Notes on Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I Reading Small Things
- Part II Small Things in Time and Space
- 5 On the Smallness of Numismatic Objects
- 6 Crinoidal Limestone and Staffordshire Teapots
- 7 “Joineriana”
- 8 “Pray What a Pox Are Those Damned Strings of Wampum?”
- Part III Small Things at Hand
- Part IV Small Things on the Move
- Afterword
- Select Bibliography
- Index
5 - On the Smallness of Numismatic Objects
from Part II - Small Things in Time and Space
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 September 2022
- Small Things in the Eighteenth Century
- Small Things in the Eighteenth Century
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Notes on Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I Reading Small Things
- Part II Small Things in Time and Space
- 5 On the Smallness of Numismatic Objects
- 6 Crinoidal Limestone and Staffordshire Teapots
- 7 “Joineriana”
- 8 “Pray What a Pox Are Those Damned Strings of Wampum?”
- Part III Small Things at Hand
- Part IV Small Things on the Move
- Afterword
- Select Bibliography
- Index
Summary
The small size of old coins and medals attracted the attention of collectors as well as antiquaries throughout the long eighteenth century. Whereas the metallic substance of numismatic objects often provoked narratives of moral decline and decay, the objects’ smallness proved to be a means of reinvigorating the influence they may have exerted on the Enlightenment’s historical imagination. This chapter pays particular attention to the emphasis John Evelyn placed on the smallness of old coins and medals in his influential treatise, Numismata (1697). For Evelyn, the smallness of numismatic objects ensured their historical preservation and enhanced their collectability as well as their usefulness as metaphors of mind, aides-mémoires, and didactic devices. Accordingly, coins’ and medals’ smallness also corresponded to the power they had to circulate and accumulate. The kinds of scale produced by the vast quantities of small numismatic objects that had amassed throughout history stands as a refrain throughout Evelyn’s Numismata, which transforms numismatic objects’ smallness and innumerability into long and far-reaching logics of association.
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- Small Things in the Eighteenth CenturyThe Political and Personal Value of the Miniature, pp. 79 - 94Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2022