Author: BNS Blog Coordinator

The Seringapatam Medal: Celebrating the Victory over Tippu Sultan – T. S. Suryanarayanan

The Kingdom of Mysore founded in 1399 by the royal family of the Wodeyars was a dominion in southern India.  For a brief period (1760 to 1799), Mysore came under the Muslim rulers Haidar Ali (c. 1720-82) and his son Tippu Sultan (c. 1750-99). During this Muslim regime, the British fought four wars to capture Mysore. Tippu Sultan was defeated and killed in 1799 in the fourth war in the Siege of Seringapatam (Sri Ranga Pattana), the capital of the Kingdom of Mysore. The British celebrated their victory over Tippu who was a major block in their plan to conquer southern India, by minting a special medal to be granted to the soldiers and officers who were responsible for defeating Tippu. Called the Seringapatam Medal, they were struck in gold, silver gilt, silver, bronze and tin both in Birmingham and Calcutta.

On Collectors and Museums Part 1. Some Historical Opinions and Correspondence – Gary Oddie

In the February 1947 issue of Seaby’s Coin and Medal Bulletin, H.A. (Bert) Seaby wrote a provocative editorial with the title “The Collector vs the Museum – or – Can Museums be Too Greedy?” The main theme was the accumulation of duplicates by acquisition or bequest and the loss of material from the collector market. At that time the coins in question were the classical Greek, Roman, and typically precious metal pieces.  The subsequent 75 years has seen much change in the coin world, with the interested population increasing at least twenty fold and almost everything small, round and metallic being collected and studied somewhere. Another factor in expanding interest in British numismatics was the invention of the metal detector and its effect on hardening and polarising the positions of members of some groups. On my mind when I first noticed the Seaby editorial were the recent increased scope of the Treasure Act and the trial and conviction of two

read more On Collectors and Museums Part 1. Some Historical Opinions and Correspondence – Gary Oddie

Illustrating Buckinghamshire Seventeenth Century Tokens – Gary Oddie

This note was started several years ago with the finding of some old printing blocks that showed seventeenth century tokens of Buckinghamshire. It is easy to take for granted the progress in technologies for photographing and printing images of coins over the past few decades. The processes used to be much more involved, and incorporating illustrations was the bottleneck and the main cost in the production of a printed work. The source of the 210 blocks was easily identified as Manton & Hollis (1933) and three “extras” were traced to Hollis (1937). The decision to use printing blocks was not obvious as that time, as options for collotype plates, screen printing and half-tones were widely in use in numismatic publishing (e.g. in the BNJ).

Boxed Coins Issued for Jubilees and Coronations – Gary Oddie

The finishing touches are just being made to a new book on Bedfordshire tokens etc. The net has been cast widely and a small group of boxed coins has been found issued by local councils and companies to celebrate Coronations and Jubilees. These are just ordinary coins in specially printed boxes. They were given to anyone aged 70 or over on the day of the event. Once separated from the box, this is just an ordinary coin and would be spent and the box discarded.This note will list those boxes known to the author, with the expectation that many more once existed.

A New Die Pair for Edward III Berwick Pennies by G. O’Keefe, D. I. Greenhalgh & D. Martin

The extremely rare Edward III pennies of Berwick were described by Blunt in 1931 as class VIII and re-defined by Withers in 2006 as types 11a,b,c. The last of these,11c, had only been added to the corpus in 1999 by the discovery of a single example with a new obverse legend. This coin was described by Lord Stewartby as “unique” when it appeared in Part 4 of his sales at Spink in 2016. Now this only child has gained a sibling which, surprisingly, has lost its bear’s head!

A Henry V or VI York Penny Conundrum – Dave Greenhalgh

A research project on medieval pennies has solved a long standing question of Late Henry V pennies of York and their position within the series culminating in their re-positioning to the reign of Henry VI. Note that opening the document in an Ipad or some other devices may result is image issues; if this is the case then it is suggested you download the article and then open it. If there are any further problems please notify bnsresearchblog@gmail.com

The Obverse Die for the Macniven and Cameron Imitation Spade Guinea c.1970 – Gary Oddie

This note has been prompted by the recent analysis of the die used to strike the obverse of the Imitation Spade Guinea (ISG) produced for the bicentenary of the Macniven and Cameron company in 1970. In the 19th century the company used many ISGs to advertise its ranges of pen nibs. The note traces the history of the study of ISGs and where further information about the company can be found. XRF analysis shows the die to be made from a high Nickel-Chrome steel with most surfaces contaminated with traces of brass (Copper and Zinc) from the tokens being struck. The die face, however, shows maybe 3% brass impregnated into the surface. This is likely metal dust trapped within the surface scratches and damage in the top few microns or tens of microns at the most.

Unrecorded 17th Century Tokens From W.S. Lincoln & Son – Gary Oddie

The chance find of an old sales catalogue, from W.S. Lincoln and Son, dedicated to 17th century tokens, and listing 1006 pieces has resulted in this short note. The list must have been published sometime between 1889 (Williamson published) and 1932 (Lincoln business failed).  The 27 pieces listed as ‘not in Williamson” have been investigated to see if they had been rediscovered by the time of Michael Dickinson’s publication in 1986. With much help from Nigel Clark and Michael Dickinson, the list was solved, to leave just three pieces that have not been seen or catalogued since. They are out there somewhere.

“So, how rare is my coin?” – Rob Page

The database behind the online MCHBI app (link) provides endless scope for statistical analyses. Below, I provide a link to a list of Medieval coins found in hoards deposited no later than 1544, the cut-off date for the MCHBI database. The list is sorted in decreasing frequency of occurrence, and the number of hoard coins per ruler is shown. There are some minor sub-divisions; for example, the Tealby coins of Henry II are listed separately from the Short Cross coins of the same ruler. The list presents Medieval coins currently in the database, many of which now reside in museums and are therefore not available in the marketplace for collectors. The dataset has some issues. For example, if some coins are known to have been present in a hoard but we have no knowledge or estimate of the number, then these coins will not appear in the lists. The MCHBI hoard records are gradually being edited and improved, so this

read more “So, how rare is my coin?” – Rob Page