British Numismatic Society

Minutes of the Meeting of the British Numismatic Society, held at the Royal Philatelic Society London and over Zoom on Tuesday, 22 March 2022, Hugh Pagan, Vice-President, being in the chair and 54 other people present [19 in person, 35 on Zoom].

The minutes of the meeting held on 22 February 2022 were approved.

NOMINATIONS: Joshua Cattermole (Leicestershire) and Adrienne Susman (Hertfordshire) were nominated for Ordinary Membership.

ELECTIONS: Geoffrey James Bedingfield (London), Nigel Birch (W. Yorkshire), Thomas Bowman (Glasgow), Michael Plant (Norfolk), Michael John Playle (Kent), David T. Sampson (Cambridgeshire), Brian John Stone (Derbyshire), Suzanne Taylor (London) and Melvyn John Thouless (Norfolk) were elected to Ordinary Membership.

DEATH: Stephen Lawrence Skellern (W. Yorkshire, 1998) died on 28 February 2022 at the age of 79. 

Dr Barrie Cook then read a paper entitled Currency during the Great Debasement: the evidence from hoards.

The Chairman then announced the date of the next meeting and closed the meeting.

Almost ever since coins have been collected, collectors have been fascinated by the contents of hoards, and what caused their original depositors to bury treasure they never came back to reclaim. Treasure was, briefly, on the national British news agenda in April 50 years ago this week when a school caretaker and a team of builders excavating a school playground in Prestwich found no less than 1,065 coins from the time of King Stephen. Many of the coins came to market via the well-known Sotheby sale of December 1974 and others were retained by the British Museum and other institutions, yet a detailed record of the find was not published until the appearance of SCBI volume 48, by James Booth, in 1997.

Fast-forward 50 years, and the Prestwich (Duchy of Lancaster) Hoard comes under the spotlight once again when it forms the topic of the Society's fourth meeting of the year, which will be held at the Royal Philatelic Society London (RPSL), next Tuesday, 26 April. Once again this will be a hybrid meeting and broadcast over Zoom.

Our speaker, Dr Joseph Bispham, is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Numismatic Society and Secretary of the UK Numismatic Trust. He is a past president of the British Association of Numismatic Societies, and was awarded one of our Society’s North Medals for Services to Numismatics in 2008. His numismatic interests are the coinages of Stephen and the anarchy and the base coinages of the Tudors. He has a doctorate in material science and is a lecturer and consultant on historic structures and timber frame buildings.

The RPS is located at 15 Abchurch Lane, EC4N 7BW, three minutes' walk from the Underground stations at Bank, Cannon Street and Monument. Please be aware that Bank station is only being served by the Central line until mid-May. The 120-seat capacity of the Society's meeting room, located on the second floor (accessed by lift and stairs), allows for ample social distancing and features a huge ceiling-mounted screen, lectern and full AV facilities. 

Upon arrival at the RPS in-person attendees will be asked to sign the registration book (and sign yourself out when leaving the building). Adjacent to the building's foyer is the members’ lounge on the ground floor, which members and guests are encouraged to use if arriving before the start of meetings and where refreshments can be obtained for a fee.

To join the meeting online, please use the registration link in your email copy of E-News. Those who register will be sent log-in details via email. If you are using the desktop version of Zoom, please ensure that you are using the most up-to-date version before joining us. The meeting itself will commence with formal business at 6pm London GMT and Dr Bispham's lecture, entitled Revisiting the Prestwich Hoard on the 50th anniversary of its discovery, 1972-2022, will begin immediately after that.

So whether you join us in-person or online, we look forward to your company for what promises to be a most interesting evening.

If you've already devoured BNJ 91 from cover to cover, there's plenty of new material to catch up with on the Society's Blog, which celebrates its fourth birthday this month and now features almost 250 contributions on all matters numismatic.

Among the latest articles is a blast from the past, remembering through disfigured pre-decimal pennies the fight for free radio in the 1960s which will strike a chord with all those who supported Radio Caroline, Radio London, Radio Veronica and other offshore vessels broadcasting in the face of opposition from the BBC back then. Andrew Burnett discovers a new coin from the collection of Sir Hans Sloane, new member Joshua Cattermole looks at the circulation of Venetian soldini in England, while Gary Oddie revisits Bethnal Green's Columbia Market and catalogues checks from it. Gary also provides a follow-up to the Irish gunmoney material which makes BNJ 91 a must-have publication for anyone collecting Irish coins by drawing attention to a 1714 publication which demonstrates that these coins must still have enjoyed a limited circulation at that time.

Check out these and other recent contributions at britnumsoc.org