Minutes of the Meeting of the British Numismatic Society, held at The Travellers Club, London, on Tuesday, 25 October 2022, Dr Screen, President, being in the chair and 34 other people present.

Sir John Wheeler, former Chairman of the Travellers Club, welcomed those present.

The minutes of the meeting held on 27 September 2022 were approved.

NOMINATIONS: Bradleigh Cowlbeck (Suffolk), Mark Edward Henderson (Northamptonshire), Wayne Meredith Irwin (Canada) and Christian Edward Mahoney (Lancashire) were nominated for Ordinary Membership. Thomas Venneker (Belfast) was nominated for Student Membership.

ELECTIONS: Charlotte E. Bacci (Greater Manchester), Luke Mundy (Bristol) and Dr Courtney Reiko Nimura (Oxfordshire) were elected to Ordinary Membership.

RESIGNATIONS: Bonhams (formerly Glendining’s, London, 1986) and Charles Kyriacou (West Midlands, 2021) had resigned with immediate effect.

DEATHS: Robert Hatch (London, 1998) died on 10 October 2022 at the age of 79, and John Alexander Streeter (Hertfordshire, 2019) died on 18 July 2022 at the age of 87.

The Secretary said that no alternative nominations had been submitted to the list of names circulated on the ballot paper for the election of Officers and Council for 2023, and invited those present to submit signed ballot papers confirming the retention of the subscription rate for 2023 to be carried forward to the Anniversary Meeting.

He announced the formal termination of the Society’s agreement to host meetings at the Royal Philatelic Society London. From January 2023 the Society aimed to stage all future London meetings at the Society of Antiquaries and they would embrace a hybrid format, but the principal change would involve meeting on the fourth Monday of the month at 6.15pm.

He also announced that the Society’s Council had awarded the 2022 North Book Prize to Dr Andrew Burnett, for his ‘The Hidden Treasures of this Happy Island’. A History of Numismatics in Britain from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment (London, 2020). Copies of the three titles short-listed for the Prize were exhibited.

Prof. Bob Harris then gave the Howard Linecar Memorial Lecture, entitled Gambling and dreaming of wealth in eighteenth-century Britain.

The President then announced the date of the next meeting, invited those present to a drinks reception kindly sponsored by Peter Mitchell, and closed the meeting.

The Society's Anniversary Meeting next Tuesday, 22 November, will be the sixth to be held at Holborn's charismatic Swedenborg Hall. The Hall is located at 20-21 Bloomsbury Way, London WC1A 2TH. Please use the entrance in Barter Street. Doors will open at 6pm and the meeting commences at 6.15pm.

The main business of the evening will be Dr Elina Screen's Presidential Address, entitled Britain and the sea in the first millennium, 1: Coinage at the edge of the Mediterranean. The lecture will be preceded by Dr Screen's review of the year, the presentation of the North Book Prize for 2022 to Dr Andrew Burnett, and the launch of an exciting new section on the Society's website, which will go live on the evening of the meeting!

At the conclusion of the meeting all are welcome to stay for the Society's Anniversary Reception. This is being kindly sponsored by Dr Anthony Freeman to mark his 50th anniversary of membership.

The meeting is in-person only, so if you are in London that day we look forward to your company; the nearest Underground station is Holborn.

Commencing in January, the Society will be holding all its London-based meetings at our new venue, the Society of Antiquaries of London (SAL), on the fourth Monday of the month, commencing at 6.15pm.

The SAL is located at Burlington House, on the north side of Piccadilly, opposite the Fortnum & Mason department store. Proceed through the archway leading to the House and the SAL is on the ground floor of the west wing of the building, at the far end of the courtyard, entered through a pair of brown doors.

The nearest Underground stations are Piccadilly Circus and Green Park, both 5 minutes' walk away. Those attending meetings in person will be required to sign the SAL's Visitors' Book.

All meetings will take a hybrid format. Zoom invitations will be included within each issue of E-NEWS, as previously.

https://goo.gl/maps/hrb6xserRWorNPHe9

Although the Society transitions to a Monday meeting date from January, the Library open day remains as Tuesday, but the opening hours are now from 12 noon to 5pm. Our Librarian, Bradley Shepherd, is seeking to recruit a couple more volunteers to join the roster of invigilators who oversee the Library on Tuesday afternoons, so if you would like to help, and perhaps conduct your own numismatic research at the same time by consulting volumes on our shelves, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. today.

To commemorate the award of the Society's 2022 North Book Prize to Dr Andrew Burnett, copies of his volume ‘The Hidden Treasures of this Happy Island’. A History of Numismatics in Britain from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment will be offered to allcomers at a specially-discounted price of £125 until 31 December – but that price will be further discounted by an additional 25% to members of the Society, so reduced to £93.75!

The Society's newest Special Publication, no.15 in the series, entitled Interpreting Early Medieval Coinage: Studies in Memory of Stewart Lyon, which has been edited by Martin Allen, Rory Naismith and Hugh Pagan, is to be launched at the Anniversary Meeting next week. The recommended retail price, £45, is discounted to £33.75 for members.  (Details)

Copies of both titles will be available for purchase by those attending the Anniversary Meeting, but to be sure of yours on the day and to pre-order, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and your books will be brought to the meeting.

With several new posts every week, the Society's Blog provides an invaluable platform for disseminating some of the latest research being done on a whole variety of numismatic topics – and now there are over 300 articles to choose from!

Most recent subjects covered include the 19th century Great Yarmouth token issuers Joseph Hunton and Francis Reynolds, the numismatic contemporaries Francis Whelan and Hyman Montagu, observations on the coinage of Carausius, a thought-provoking paper on the subject of women in numismatics, and speculation on whether a journeyman moneyer's hoard of 37 Merovingian tremisses, found at Sutton Hoo, formed a very early coin collection!

Why not take the opportunity to subscribe to the Blog via email, and join over 120 others who already enjoy being the first to read about every new post? Just visit britnumsoc.org and access Blog from the header menu. Provide your email address and we'll do the rest!

If you are a UK-based member, why not make an early numismatic New Year resolution to pay your subscription by banker's standing order, like many of our members already do? Prompt payment of your subscription not only means you keep receiving E-NEWS, and your annual copy of the British Numismatic Journal, but you also save our Treasurer, David Young, a lot of time and effort spent chasing up outstanding payments. 

Fortunately, the Society is financially sound and thriving. Membership fees have remained unchanged since 2003, a situation which thankfully is not likely to change in the short term. Standing orders are a Treasurer's delight: to find out how you can set one up and help the Society at the same time, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. today.

November 22.  Society meeting (London)

November 23.  Platt Collection (London).  noonans.co.uk

January 13.  Society meeting (New York)

January 23.  Society meeting (London)

February 8-9.  Puddester Collection, Part I (London).  noonans.co.uk

March 24-26.  BANS Congress (Portsmouth). virginia.porter@royalmintmuseum.org.uk

March 30.  Silich Collection, Part I (London).  noonans.co.uk