CHAPTER XIV

The Coin Sales--My Stealthy Accumulations from Some of Them--Comparative Advantages of Large and Small Sales--The Disappointment over One at Genoa--The Boyne Sale--Its Meagre Proportion of Fine Pieces--My Comfort, and what came to Me--Narrow Escape of the Collection from Sacrifice to a Foreign Combination--Trade Sales Abroad--A New Departure-- Considerations on Poorly-Preserved Coins--I resign Them to the Learned--I have to Classify by Countries and Their Divisions--My Personal Appurtenances--Suggestions which may be Useful to Others--The Great Bactrian Discovery--Extent of Representative Collections of Ancient Money--Antony and Cleopatra--Adherence to My own Fixed and Deliberate Plan-- The Argument to be used by Any One following in My Footsteps--Advice of an Old Collector to a New One, 284