File:British Coin 11a.jpg

English: A depiction of the obverse of a silver coin—an early medieval penny ("sceat")—from the figures decorating the margins of Moll's map of Gloucestershire, sold separately and as Map 16 in his Set of Fifty New and Correct Maps of England and Wales...

The illustration derives from figure 11 of Tabula II Nummi Britannici on Page 88 of William Camden's Britannia, Vol. I. Its note states "11. The eleventh hath an head with a diadem of two rows of pearls; perhaps for some of the oriental Emperors and not unlikely of Constantine the Great, both for the goodness of the face, and his being one of the first who carried that sort of diadem. He may well be placed here, as being born of a British lady. The reverse is a dove hovering over a cross, an emblem not unusual in the first times of Christianity; intimating, that the cross is made beneficial unto us by the Holy Spirit. Masseius and Ossorius testify, that the Christians at their first coming to Meliapor (the city of St. Thomas) found such a one there engraved in stone in his own time, as was verily believed. The like is reported by Bosius in the vault of St. John Lateran; and by Chissletius upon an altarstone in Besançon." The outer border of both sides is a snake devouring its own tail.

Notes: London: Sold by H. Moll over-against Devereux-Court in the Strand; Tho. Bowles, Print and Map-Seller near the Chapter-House in St. Paul's Church-Yard, and J. Bowles Print and Map-Seller over-against Stocks-Market. 1724.