The silver coins of our currency have much in common with the gold. Such parts of the designs upon these as are like what has been found upon the gold coins will call for no further remark. The reverse of the dollar of 1798 is noticeable for this; that the eagle grasps in his right talon a bundle of four arrows instead of three, as on later coins. From 1836 a pretty nearly uniform pattern has prevailed for the dollar and its subdivisions. The obverse shows a female figure seated. The face is of a pronounced Greek type. The drapery is Greek, with one trifling variation,--the fastening of the dress is shown upon the right shoulder. The ancient fashion of this garment put the fastening only upon the left shoulder. Upon these coins the cap of Liberty is not worn upon the head, but it is displayed upon a wand held in the left hand. The right hand of the figure rests on shield and scroll. The reverse shows an eagle with wings expanded as if about to fly. The shield covers its breast. Unlike the eagle of the earlier coins, it is with the right talon now that it grasps the olive-branch, and the left holds three arrows. The quarter-dollar of 1853 has the space above the eagle on the reverse filled with diverging rays. Apollo might not, perhaps, take it as a compliment to be asked to sanction much of our later silver coinage. The five-cent nickel coin of 1866 introduced some novel features upon its reverse. The shield is most prominent, and it is overhung by branches of olive. Above the shield appears for the first time on our national coinage the cross. Soon after this coin was first issued, a query was made in the "American Historical Magazine" as to the significance of this symbol in the place it occupied. The query elicited from some official connected with the mint a reply to the effect that the cross had not the slightest significance. The reply carried with it a confession rather humiliating to make or to admit. Something better than that ought to be said for a symbol that has figured in all the heraldic decorations of religion and chivalry. It might have been said that in colonial times, so early as 1661, coins were struck in Maryland, the reverse of which bore a shield, and that this was surmounted by a crown and a cross. But the strangest thing about this cross on the nickel coin is that it happens to be of a very unusual pattern. It is the cross of the Order of Calatrava, a military order of Spain, instituted in 1158, and continuing a very honorable existence down to the present day. When worn as a decoration embroidered upon the left breast of the coat, it is a red cross fancifully worked into some resemblance to the _fleur-de-lis_. Of the minor coins no special mention need be made. They present nothing unlike what occurs upon those already examined and described.