I have not been able,
however, to procure in the city any specimens of these, or of other
Norman coins; and in fact the native spot of articles of _virtu_ is
seldom the place where they can be procured either genuine or in
abundance. Greek medals, I am told, are regularly exported from
Birmingham to Athens, for the supply of our travelled gentlemen; and, if
groats and pennies should ever rise in the market, I doubt not but that
they will find their way in plenty into the old towns of Normandy. There
is not, at Rouen, any public collection of the productions of the mint.
Since the annexation of the duchy to the crown of France, no coins have
been struck here, except the common silver currency of the kingdom: the
manufacture of medals and of gold coins is exclusively the privilege of
the Parisian mint. The establishment is under the care of a commissary
and assay-master, appointed by the crown, but not salaried. Their pay
depends upon the amount of money coined, on which they are allowed one
and a half per cent.
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