British Museum Electrotype Display
REPRODUCTIONS. A Mounted Set of Twenty-six (26) British Museum Electrotypes. Includes the following electrotypes, each uniface with attached mounting pins, as referenced in Head,
Guide (from left to right): – Tray 1 – IONIA, Kolophon. III.A 27 // IONIA, Klazomenoi. III.A 25 // IONIA, Ephesos. III.A 28 // SATRAPS of CARIA. Maussolos. III.A 33 // ISLANDS off CARIA. Rhodos. III.A 38 // THRACE, Ainos. III.B 4 // ISLANDS off CARIA. Rhodos. III.A 37 // THESSALY, Larissa. III.B 19 // KINGS of MACEDON. Philip II. III.B 8 // MACEDON, Chalkidian League. III.B 10 or 11 // LOKRIS, Lokris Opuntii. III.B 24 // MACEDON, Amphipolis. III.B 7 or 8 // MESSENIA, Messene. III.B – Tray 2 – ARKADIA, Arkadian League. III.B 37 // BOEOTIA, Thebes. III.B 26 // ELIS, Olympia. III.B 33 // CALABRIA, Tarentum. III.C // CALABRIA, Tarentum. III.C 9 // CALABRIA, Tarentum. III.C 8 // CALABRIA, Tarentum. III.C 5 // CALABRIA, Tarentum. III.C 6 // LUCANIA, Thourioi. III.C 17 // SICILY, Katane. III.C 25 // SICILY, Entella. III.C 42 (there as Carthage) // SICILY, Syracuse. III.C 28 // SICILY, Entella. III.C 40 (there as Carthage). Coins as made, mounted on velvet-lined wood with most labels intact. A rare and attractive set suitable for display.
In 1859, the British Museum engaged the sealmaker Robert Cooper Ready to produce replicas of noteable Greek coins held in the national collection. Though he initially attempted to produce casts, Ready soon took to the newly developed method of electrotyping, which uses electrolytic deposition of copper on a mold to reproduce a form. The high-quality replicas produced by Ready were first used in a display in the King’s Library, with the coins divided into seven eras based on the contemporary interpretation of artistic growth and decline, as described by Barclay Head in A Guide to the Select Greek and Roman Coins Exhibited in Electrotype. Individual electrotypes from this set were later sold at the price of 2s 6d, with complete encased sets available for schools and museums.
