A Description of Some Clay Moulds or Concaves of Ancient Roman Coins Found in Shropshire; By Mr. Henry Baker F.R.S.

says she has had four Husbands; the first Nicholas Woodcock, to whom she was married when about 28 Years old, and had four Children by him; all died young; but observed nothing of their Hair growing so. I am, SIR, Your most humble Servant, J. Ames. See some Cases of the Plica Polonica in these Transactions, No. 417. p. 50. et seq. C. M. XXV. A Description of some Clay Moulds or Concaves of ancient Roman Coins found in Shropshire; by Mr. Henry Baker F.R.S. Read June 4. 1747. HAVING been lately favour'd by a very ingenious Gentleman of Shrewsbury with the Sight and Use of some ancient Moulds made of Clay, bearing the same Types and Inscriptions that some of the Roman Coins are known to have, and being enabled, by the Assistance of our most worthy President of the Royal Society, to make out the Inscriptions and Types impressed on the said Moulds, I judged it might prove agreeable to this Society to see Specimens of so great a Curiosity as these Moulds seem to be, and to have some Account concerning them. Four of the five in my Possession were found in digging Sand, at a Place called Ryton near Condover (query whether Rutunium), 5 Miles from Wroxalter (i.e. Uriconium) in Shropshire, about a Mile from the Watlingstreet Road: These are all of the Size of a Roman Denarius, and little more than the Thickness of our Halfpenny. They are made of a smooth Pot, or rather Brick-Clay, that seems to have been well cleansed from Sand or Dirt, and well beat or kneaded, to render it fit for taking a fair Impression. Great Numbers of these were found, but, for want of Care, most of them were broke in Pieces. They are described No. 1, 2, 3, 4, in the Account below. The fifth, which is twice as thick as any of the rest, was found at Wroxalter; the Clay it is made of differs but little from the former; and the Impression on it is also of the Size of a Denarius, and of the same Time with the rest. See Tab. X. No. 1. Is probably the Reverse of a Denarius of Severus, mention'd in Mezzobarba, p. 268. from Noris de Pot. X.—Figura velata coram ara sacrificans.—Vota suscepta x. No. 2. On one Side—Caput Juliae Severi.—Iulia Augusta. On the other Side is the Reverse of a Denarius of Severus. Mezzob. p. 274.—Victoria gradiens cum fune super scuto.—P. M. TR. P. VIII. COS II. P.P. No. 3. A Reverse of Caracalla. Mezzob. p. 286.—Tropheum de Parthis cum duobus captivis assidentibus.—Part. Max. Pon. Tr. P.V. Cos. No. 4. Caput Juliae Severi.—Iulia Augusta. I remember no Account of any such kind of Moulds being found in other Countries, excepting some said to be found at Lyons; but I believe more of them have been discover'd at different Times in England; though I cannot pretend to say when, or where. I have been informed, that some Years ago, the Earl of Winchelsea had several Impressions or Moulds of this Sort (all joined together Side by Side) on one flat Piece of Clay, as if for the making many Casts at once: They were all of the Emperor Severus: And I have seen, in the Earl of Pembroke's most valuable Collection a Clay Mould impressed on both Sides, as N°. 2. amongst these also is, one of the Sides bearing the Head of the same Emperor, and the other Side a known Reverse of his. Four of the Five in my Hands are also of Severus or his Wife Julia, and the other is a Reverse of Caracalla, his Son and immediate Successor; so that all, we know of, may be said to be of the same Time very nearly. They are seemingly intended for the Coinage of Money; though it is very difficult to conceive in what manner they could be employed to that Purpose; especially N°. 2. which has an Impression on both Sides; unless we should suppose they coined two Pieces at the same time, by the Help of three Moulds, of which this was to be the middle one. If, by disposing these into some sort of Iron Frame or Case (as our Letter-Founders do the brass Moulds for casting their Types) the melted Metal could be poured into them, it would certainly be a very easy Method of coining, as such Moulds require little Time. Time or Expence to make, and therefore might be supplied by new ones, as often as they happen'd to break. These Moulds seem to have been burnt or baked sufficiently to make them hard, but not so as to render them porous like Bricks, whereby they would have lost their smooth and even Surface; which in these is plainly so close, that whatever Metal should be formed in them would have no Appearances like the Sand-Holes, by which counterfeit Coins or Medals are usually detected. London, May 20. 1747. XXVI. An extract of a letter from William Jones Esq; F. R. S. to Martin Folkes Esq; President of the Royal Society; containing a commodious disposition of equations for exhibiting the relations of goniometrical lines. THEOREM. Presented July 4. IN a circle whose radius is r, let there be two arcs, A the greater, a the less, each in the first quadrant; put s, t, f, and v, for the sine, tangent, secant, and versed sine of an arc; s', t', f', the sine, tangent, secant of the complement, and v', the versed sine of the supplement of that arc; let \( z = \frac{1}{2}A + a, x = \frac{1}{2}A - a \); or if \( z \) and \( x \) be put for the arcs, it will be \( A = z + x, a = z - x \). Then will the terms in any column of the following table, be proportional to their corresponding ones in any other column. From