The four pieces presented here are all from the collection of the late Dr. David Rogers. Although they are obviously connected, they were not acquired at the same time. Though all are Æ and the style is very similar to that of 17th century tokens, their origins remain elusive.
Author: BNS Blog Coordinator
An Early Norman Period ‘Productive site’ in Norfolk – Mike Cuddeford
Early medieval ‘productive’ sites are well known, but usually feature coins from the ‘sceatta’ series. Later broad-flan pennies are much scarcer and it is not until the late 12th century that multiple site finds tend to occur. This article places on a record a group of coins that, most unusually, appear to indicate an early Norman period ‘productive’ site and as such is noteworthy.
An Unusual Series of Card Advertising Tokens c.1930? – Gary Oddie
This note presents a group of eleven cardboard advertising tokens which bear a printed design on one side of a photographic image of a very worn Victorian bun head coin. One is a half penny and the other ten are pennies. Background research on the issuers reveals a range of business activities, and possible dates of issue, as well as some common factors. The rarity of the pieces and geographical spread across the country means that these pieces would not normally be brought together for study. If any readers can add further tokens or fill the gaps in the business histories, please get in touch via the blog.
An Unrecorded Series of Skit Notes – William Seville and his Striking Likenesses – Gary Oddie
Skit notes are items resembling banknotes but were never intended to be used as money. The most well-known of these is the “anti-hanging” note produced by George Cruikshank in 1818. Banknote catalogues usually have a separate section for these, often quite rare, pieces of printed ephemera.The recent acquisition of a skit note that is not catalogued, has prompted research into the life and career of its issuer. This, along with the discovery of two more unrecorded notes from the same issuer, but with different dates and addresses, suggests that several, and possibly many others are likely to have existed.
Coins from the Mint at Bury St Edmunds – David Palmer
A recently introduced website which details the coins from the Bury mint is described in the attached note. …. or here to go directly to the Bury website
Bedfordshire Tokens, Tickets, Checks and Passes – Supplement 1- Gary Oddie
Publishing a book in late 2023 that could have had the title Bedfordshire Tokens – Everything that isn’t Seventeenth Century was always likely to lead to the discovery of new pieces. This note adds illustrations of a few pieces that were known at the time of writing, but had not been located for photography, along with the predicted new examples of tokens used by farmers and Market Gardeners along the Greensands Ridge.
Henry VI Restored: A New Legend for the Halfpenny – Lee Stone
A new variation of the kings’ name for Henry VI Restored halfpennies.
A Contemporary Forgery of a Henry V Groat – Josh Cattermole
An interesting contemporary forgery of a Henry V groat, with an examination of its material composition.
An Edward IV Dublin (?) penny with cinquefoils by neck – Oisín Mac Conamhna and James Mayer
As much as will lay upon a sixpence – Laura Burnett
We are probably all familiar with the use of modern coins as adhoc scale bars in photographs of objects. A phenomenon so widespread, and accepted, that it is found in scientific journals as well as hurried snaps. We are also familiar with the use of coins as weights, either reflecting their expected weights in societies where they circulated, or re-used as weights once they had gone out of use as coinage. However, when spending a fun lunch hour taking part in the Early Modern Recipes Online transcribeathon last November I was intrigued to come across coins being used as a way to measure a quantity of ingredients, not by weight, but by area….
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