The little wooden building in the court was formerly the cent-room, where copper cents were exchanged for nickels;[10] it is now the office of the agent of the Adams Express Company, who brings to the Philadelphia Mint millions of dollars worth of precious metals in the shape of bullion from the far west, to be converted into American Coin, when it is again transported by the same company to various points to be put into circulation. COINS. The ancient coins are chiefly arranged in upright cases against the walls in the doorways and the middle section of the saloon. The modern coins are placed in nearly level cases at either end of the room and in the circular or central cases. Of antique coins the portion labeled Cabinet Nos. 97, 98, 99, “Massilia,” are interesting as belonging to a Greek colony which settled about six hundred years before Christ upon the coast of Gaul, on the spot now known as Marseilles. This little colony fled their native country and the rule of a governor placed over it by a Persian monarch. They were distinguished for their civilization, and the work upon these small coins is the most palpable witness of that fact in existence to-day. GREEK COINS. Their surfaces, of gold, silver, and bronze, bristle with lance and spear, helmet and shield. On one of these coins Jove is seated and bearing an eagle, defying Alexander of Macedon, while on the obverse the same mighty conqueror impersonates Hercules. The oldest coin here is supposed to date back to 550 B.C. It is well to mention the fact that coins were never dated until the fifteenth century; and previous to that time the ages of coins can only be determined by the legends upon them, as answering to the page of corroborative history and the art era to which they belonged. No. 9 bears on the obverse the Macedonian horse, a favorite animal, which the then war-loving Greeks are said to have deified. At this period the haughty royal families began to chronicle in coin their line of descent. The kings of Macedon claimed Hercules for an ancestor, and in proof thereof the lion’s skin was a royal insignia. An old historian says, “The kings of Macedon, instead of the crown, the diadem, the purple, bear upon their effigy the skin of a lion.” Several pieces of money in this case, upon which are heads of Alexander, have rings in them, and were worn by gracious dames as ornaments. The value of this series of coins is priceless, as furnishing portraits of the heroes of that period which can be received without question as accurate, for the art patronage of the kingdom was regulated by the strictest laws. Alexander was especially jealous of how the future nations should regard his physique, allowing only three artists, during his reign, the privilege of drawing, painting, or modeling his head.[11] To such royal guardianship may be attributed the perfection to which Greek art attained; and it may well be a matter of regret that the same firmness in this regard was not universal.