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XI.
BARCLAY

VINCENT

HEAD.

To the bibliographyof Head's works,whichwas promised

in the last issue of the NumismaticChronicle
, we are glad
to be allowed to prefixthe sympatheticnotice whichwas
contributed to the Athenaeumfor June 20 by one
who knew him well. We take the opportunityalso
of mentioningthat he was elected an honorarymember
of the Academia Romana of Bukarest a few days after
his death,but beforethe news had reached the Academy.

Barclay Head was one of the rare and happy men who
seem to have been bornto do a particularpiece of work
in the world,and to do it admirably. Most people will
thinkof ancient numismaticsas a small fieldof specialist
study, almost as a refuge of dilettantism. They will
admire the exquisite productionsof the mint of Cyzicus
or Syracuse,and pass themby. But Head saw that coins
are serioushistorical monuments,that they contain in a
nutshell the whole historyof the cities which issued
them,and that by an intensiveand comparativestudy of
them ancient historycan be made real and living.
He entered the Department of Coins in the British
Museum in 1864, and about 1870 was set by the Keeper
NUM.CHRON.,VOL. XIV., SERIES IV.
S

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250

BARCLAYVINCENTHEAD.

of Coins, E. S. Poole, to work on the newly planned

Catalogue of Greek Coins, of which the firstvolume
appeared in 1873 and the twenty-seventhin 1914.
Every scientificspecialist knows that compiling catalogues is the best of all training. The workof cataloguing thoroughlysuitedHead. He had unlimitedpatience,
an excellent talent for comparison,a sense of style in
art,and a great love of historicresearch. The preliminary work in preparingthe Catalogue of the Coins of
Sicily gave him his opportunity. The beauty of Sicilian
coins, and their value to Greek mythology,had long
been recognized; but no one had yet worked out their
value as historic documents on the political and commercial historyof the island. Brandis and Mommsen
had seen the laciina, but their pupils had as yet done
little to fillit.
Head's paper on the Coinage of Syracuse, published
in 1874, was but 80 pages long, but it revealed a true
historicmethod applied for the firsttime to the whole
of the coinage of an ancient city. Its value was immediatelyrecognizedabroad; the French Academycrowned
it,and the Universityof Heidelberg bestoweda Doctorate
on the writer. From this time Head's task lay clear
beforehim: to treat other series of Greek coins by the
same methodwhich had been successful in the case of
Syracuse,and so by degrees to make numismaticsnot a;
morass,but a cultivatedfieldwithpaths in all directions^
Hence came the great Historia Numorum
, published by
the Oxford UniversityPress in 1887, of which a new
editioncame out in 1911. It has enjoyed the honourof
being translatedinto modern Greek,and has become an
invaluable book of referenceto all who have workedupon
Gi;eek history. English historicalwritersgenerallyfind

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BARCLAYVINCENTHEAD.

251

much of their material in German books ; but in the

matterof numismaticsHead turnedthe tables. He won
the rare distinctionof being a correspondingmemberof
the Academies both of France and Prussia. A Doctorate
at Oxfordcame appropriately,though somewhatlate.
What kind of reputationhe had acquired throughout
Europe was best shownwhen he retiredfromthe British
Museum. A volume of numismaticpapers thenpublished
in his honour contained contributionsfrom almost all
the authoritieson ancient numismatics. Of the thirtyten wrotein German,fivein French, one in
contributors,
and
one
in Greek. It was an oecumenical offerItalian,
ing, and the day on which Sir John Evans, in the
name of the subscribers,presentedthe firstcopy of the
book to him was a fittingconsummationof his career.
.
The volume was well entitled Corolla Numismatica
of
Coins
of
was
the
Head
Department
Barclay
Keeper
and Medals from 1893 till 1906. He was also joint
editorof The NumismaticChroniclefrom1869 to 1910.
In England thereis not much endowmentof research;
but the British Museum serves,in fact, as a great institutionfor the purpose. The Museum never fostered
a betterexample of research than Head. In character
he was the typical studentof the sort at his best : sweettempered,of infinitepatience, perfectlyfree alike from
self-assertionand fromjealousy of his colleagues. He
was always ready to retracton Monday a view published
on Saturday, if good cause were shown. He always
weighedin even balance his own published opinions and
those of others; yet his mind was so well poised and
cautious that he seldom had to retract. More than a
specialist he was not ; probably he never published a
line on any subject but numismatics; yet so blameless
s 2

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252

BARCLAYVINCENTHEAD.

a career,and a success withinits own limits so complete,

can seldom have been exhibited in any country.

Bibliography.
Fromthislistare excludedthereviews,signedor unsigned,
workswhichHead contributed
of numismatic
to theNumisand otherperiodicals. The place of publicamaticChronicle
tion,wherenototherwisestated,is London.
1867. Accountof the Hoard of Anglo-SaxonCoinsfound
at ChanctonFarm,Sussex. Num.Chron.
1868. Anglo-SaxonCoins with Runic Legends. Num.
Chron.
1868. Noteson Ilion, numismatical
and historical. Num.
.
Chron
1870. Translationof Ernst Curtius"On the Religious
CharacterofGreekCoins." Num.Chron
.
1871. On somerareGreekCoinsrecentlyacquiredby the
BritishMuseum. Num.Chron
.
1872. BritishMuseum: Guide to the SelectGreekCoins
exhibitedin electrotype
in the Gold Ornament
Room.
1873. BritishMuseumCatalogue,Italy (withR. S. Poole
and P. Gardner).
1873. GreekautonomousCoins fromthe Cabinetof the
late Mr. EdwardWigan. Num.Chron.
1874. Historyof the Coinageof Syracuse. Num.Chron
.
1875. MetrologicalNotes on ancient electrumCoins.
Num.Chron.
1876. British Museum Catalogue, Sicily (with R. S.
Poole and P. Gardner).
1876, 1877. Noteson a recentFind of Statersof Cyzicus
and Lampsacus. Num.Chron
.
1877. The Coinageof Lydia and Persia. (International
NumismataOrientalia,pt. III.).
1877. Notes on Magistrates'Names on Autonomous
and
ImperialGreekCoins. Num.Chron.

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BARCLAYVINCENTHEAD.

253

1877. British Museum Catalogue, Thrace (with P.

Gardner).
1878. Himyariteand otherArabian Imitationsof Athenian Coins. Num.Chron.
1878. On an unpublishedarchaic Tetradrachmof Olynthus. Num. Chron.
1879. Note on a Find of Sicilian CopperCoins struck
aboutthe year344 b.c. Num.Gliron.
1879. BritishMuseumCatalogue,Macedonia.
of some of the principal
1879. Originand Transmission
Ancient Systemsof Weight. Journalof the
Institute
.
of Bankers
1880. British Museum: Guide to the Select Greek and
Roman Coins exhibitedin electrotype. New
edition.
and the Trsorde San'.
1880. A HimyariticTetradrachm
.
Num.Chron
1880, 1881. Historyof the Coinage of Ephesus. Num.
Chron.
1881. Chronological
Sequenceof the Coinageof Boeotia.
Num.Chron.
1881. BritishMuseum: Guideto thePrincipalGoldand
SilverCoins of the Ancientsfromcirc.700 b.c.
to 1 A.D. Secondedition.
[This is thesecondeditionof the Guide pubtitlein 1880; it appeared
lishedundera different
in six " issues,"each containingthe wholetext
but onlya portionof the 70 plates. Subsequent
editions,some with only seven plates,appeared
in 1883, 1886, 1889 ("third edition"), 1895
(" fourthedition")].
1882. The CoinsofAncientSpain. Num.Chron.
1883. Coinage of Alexander: an explanation. Num.
Chron
.
1883. Remarks on two Unique Coins of Aetna and
Zancle. Num.Chron.
1884. BritishMuseumCatalogue,CentralGreece.
1886. Greekand RomanCoins. In L. Jewits " English
Coins and Tokens."

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254

BARCLAYVINCENTHEAD.

1886. The Coins found at Naukratis. In W. M. F.

Petrie'sNaukratis(Egypt ExplorationFund).
1886. Coinsdiscoveredon the site of Naukratis(reprint
of the preceding,with introductory
remarks).
.
Num.Ghron
1887. ElectrumCoins and theirSpecificGravity. Num.
.
Ghron
1887. Historia Numorum,a Manual of Greek Numismatics. Oxford. (See also 1898and 1911.)
1888. British Museum Catalogue, Attica, Megaris,
Aegina.
and Philadelphiain Cilicia. Num.
1888. Germanicopolis
Ghron.
1889. Notanda et Corrigenda. I. N or M on Athenian
Coins. II. Two misreadcoinsofEphesus. III.
PhiladelphiaLydiae. I Y. LydianGoldCoinage.
Num.Ghron.
1889. British Museum Catalogue, Corinth and her
Colonies.
1889. ApolloHikesios. Journalof HellenicStudies.
1891. ArchaicCoinsprobablyofCyrene. Num.Ghron.
1892. BritishMuseumCatalogue,Ionia.
.
1893. Coinsrecentlyattributedto Eretria. Num.Ghron
1893. The Initial CoinageofAthens. Num.Ghron.
1897. BritishMuseumCatalogue,Caria.
1898. 'Ierro
'EAt/vi/cs
ttoi'Ey^etpStov
pa tcjvNo/xtcr/xarcov
. . . Kl (rvfnrXrjpwOev
fitTacjpao-Ov
No/Atcr/jtartK^
'I o)dvvov
. 2 vols, and plates.
V7TO
N. 2 opoivov
Athens.
1901. British Museum: Guide to the Departmentof
Coins and Medals in the British Museum
(assisted by H. A. Grueber,W. Wroth,and
E. J. Eapson).
1902. BritishMuseumCatalogue,Lydia.
1906. BritishMuseumCatalogue,Phrygia.
and Graeco-Indian
1906. The Earliest Graeco-Bactrian
Coins. Num.Ghron.
1908. EphesianTesserae. Num.Ghron.
1908. BritishMuseum: Coins discoveredin the British

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BARCLAYVINCENTHEAD.

255

MuseumExcavationsat Ephesus. ( TheArchaic

Artemisia.)
1911. Historia Numorum,a Manual of Greek Numismatics. New and enlargededition. (Assisted
by G. F. Hill, George Macdonald, and W.
.
Wroth.) Oxford
To thesemaybe added:Corolla Numismatica
: Numismatic Essays in
honourofB. Y. Head. Oxford,1906.

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