'Mr Elstob calling on me in the morning, I took him with me to Sir Andrew Fountain’s Lodgings; where we were most agreeably entertained with a sight of a most valuable Collections of Medals and Coins, Greek, Roman, Saxon, &c. The chief remarkables: 1. Ten Nummi Restituti of Galienus. 2. Thirty-two of the said Emperour; with Reverses of different Birds or Beasts, or in different postures. 3. Nineteen Legions, and Twenty-six Divinities, of the same. [All or most of these he had from one person in Bishop-Gate-street: the same, I suppose, whom my Lord Pembroke mentioned to me the last winter]. 4. Three Salonina's, with three several Veneres (Venus Victrix, Faelix and Genetrix) on the Reverse. 5. The XXXạ Ulpia Legio of Galienus; a Duplicate of which (very Rare) he gave to Lord Pembroke. 6. Another of Galienus with Vict. aet. s. p. on the Reverse: in one of the Samples whereof (for he has three of 'em; all somewhat differing) the p is put 'twixt e and t: which occasioned Monsieur Vaillant's reading it Nept. as if the Medal had been struck in Memory of Some Sea-Victory. 7. Pescenius Niger. 8. Julia Mameias Aug. 9. Caracalla; with a Julia Augusta on the R[everse]. 10. Caracalla and Severus. [Capita Juguta] 11. Theodobertus Franconum R. in Gold. small. 12. Patin's Καισαρ Σϵβαστος (in brass) and three more cost him about 80 ll. He also bought up the whole Collection of the said Patin at Padua. 13. A Roman Head in Gold, set in a Ring, the Convex side being out; under which the Concave, of the same face, makes an Impression finer than the Prototype. 14. A Coin of Attila, King of the Hunns, in Gold. 15. Two Hundred and Thirty-Six Saxon Coins in Silver with Ten or Twelve of the Northymbrians in brass. [He gives 2s. 6d. for each piece of Saxon; which brings him in the Monopoly] 16. A Series of the Roman Coins de aere minimo (called also Sextula); which convinced me that Dr Smith's Medal of Caravsius and Allectus are of this Class, and not (as he would have 'em) de aere medio. 17. Thomas Simon's Tryal-piece of Charles the Second's Crown; with his petition round the Rim. 18. Henry the 7th's Shilling; the full weight of three of his Groats. [The Archbishop of York has a Couple of these.] 19. Half-Crown, Shilling and Six-pence, of the Common-wealth of England, finely milled, by Simon, who sets round the Edge of the Half-Crown In the third year of Freedom by Gods blessing restored. [The remembrance of this threw him out of King Charles the Second's favour.] 20. A XX? Xṣ and Crown-pieces of Charles I coined at Oxford 1642. 21. A Three-Shillings piece of the Carlile-Coin (in the Siege 1645) very fair. 22. King Philip's Coin after the death of Queen Mary, with Phil. R. Ang. Fr. Neap. Pr, and, on the Reverse, Fidei Defensor in a Laurel. One Shilling, value. 23. Half-Crown of the same (with the Arms of England) after the Queen's Death. 24. Queen Elizabeth's Scutu Fidei in Gold; as finely milled as Her Shillings and Sixpences. 25. A true Nero; with a Counterfeit Adlocutio carved on the Reverse. Sir Andrew shewed us also a lovely Wolf (with Romulus and Remus) which he had, cast in Brass, from Mr Wrenn; Monsieur Molinet's Cabinet de la Biliotheque de Saint Genevieve, richly stocked with Antiquities, particularly a Draught of the Dipondiu, which Sir Andrew himself lately transferred (with many more choice Rarities) from his own Cabinet to Lord Pembroke's; &c. He gave us a pleasant Account of the Italian plowmen imposeing on Travellers, by pretending to find Medals just as come up to 'em; and of Dr Battely's Labienus (with Cingulum on the Reverse) being onely a Copy of a Counterfeit.'
(Jones - Holmes 1985, pp. 312-14)
