'Dearest brother
As I am an honest man I had no design upon You either when I shew’d you my Catalog or sent you my Medals, but since they do not fully answer Expectation, You shall find me very ready abl to make such Abatemt as Your Self shall think reasonable. Of the Gold, I told you before hand that Tiberius (& perhaps som one more) was a cast piece; & when you were pleased to accept them at a Guinea p’r piece, you plainly saw that many of them were of the later Greek Emperors. I reckon therfore, according to yr own Estimat, that they are worth 12 Guinea’s, valuing the Gold of the 3 Counterfeit but at one Guinea. Of the Silver, you mention 10 that are no more valuable than their weight in Silver; & 10 more of better worth; I suppose therfore that if those 20 be a hard bargain at 5s p’r piece, your having all the rest (wch are 71 Silver) at 12d p’r piece may make amends for it. Of the Seals, You judg there are not abov 4 valuabl: Let them therfore pass at 4 Guineas, and take in all the rest jobba, to render the price easy.
At this Rate,
the Gold amounts to £12 18s 0d
the Seals £4 06s 0d
the Silver £8 11s 0d
i.e. £25 15s 0d
And I hope you may find so many among the Greek & Roman Brass & Copper (besides the Trash) as may induce you to allow the whole £28 0s 0d considering the frank Proposal I made you that the 4th a quarter should be payable to my Son only in case he lived so long as to receiv the whol sum; but if it should please God to take him away sooner, then whatever was unpaid should be your own. Wherby you might understand I acted the part of a Merchant Adventurer, & not that of a crafty Chapman, with You.
[He offers to make more abatement if Covel wants, and asks him to decide the amount himself, valuing his friendship more than ‘the medals or the Mony’.]'
(BL, Add MS 22910, ff.519-20 = CUL, MS Mm VI 50, f.247; Burnett 2020b, p. 593)