Author: BNS Blog Coordinator

St. Kitts Cut and Countermarked Coins: A Re-examination – K.V. Eckardt

As a whole the cut and countermarked coinage of the West Indies has suffered from a lack of contemporary documentation and incorrect attributions. Of course this series is not unique in this respect. However, closer study and the uncovering of contemporary sources has greatly assisted in our understanding of the series and in correcting past errors of attribution. The action taken on the island of St. Kitts is interesting in that proper local legislative processes were followed and a quantity of coins were cut and countermarked in accordance with the local Act, however, they were not released into the local economy. Action taken on the island of Tortola in February 1801 created a potentially embarrassing predicament for the Leeward Island Governor-General, Lord Lavington (Sir Ralph Payne). The Tortola Act had been passed onto Whitehall and was disallowed putting Lavington in a situation preventing him from allowing the St. Kitts countermarked coins entering circulation on the island. However, a clever solution

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Henry III Class 7 Pennies – Part 5, Dies of Phelip of London – Addendum – Robert Page

Since uploading the article on Phelip dies in June, and updating it in September, three more coins of Phelip have emerged, and these are described in this brief article. Two are examples of known dies, and one represents newly discovered dies, with some unusual features. An update is also provided on the number of known class 7 coins and dies. Earlier article: Henry III (Posthumous) Class 7 Pennies – Part 5, Phelip of London – Die Illustrations, updated Sept.’21. 

Counterfeit Shillings of George III 1816-1820 (iii) Metallurgy – Gary Oddie

The previous notes have presented details of the reference collection of counterfeit shillings of George III dated 1816-1820 and a description of the pieces in terms of the appearance of the metal. This note will present a few typical pieces from each group along with a few outliers and determine the metals using XRF analysis. The results confirm the three main groups of counterfeits; (1) ‘tin’ based, (2) the ‘copper alloys, brass and copper’ pieces and (3) the ‘silver’ pieces that are genuine coins. Two odd-coloured silver pieces have been found to contain significant amounts of nickel, a metal not used in coinage applications until after the 1850s. Many of the pieces show traces of mercury (200-500ppm) likely from previous silvering, though is only just above the Limit of Detection using this XRF machine. Those pieces with complete silvering show the highest mercury contents (>3000ppm) suggesting the silvering was created using evaporation of a mercury-silver amalgam.

The Coinage Trials of 1651 ‑ The Third Side of the Coin – Gary Oddie

This short note presents the background to the coinage trials held at Whitehall on 8 May 1651 and the details of the grained edges that were specified as part of the trials. The sequence of events can be found in the book; “The Answer of the Corporation of Moniers in the Mint“, published in 1653, which is a compilation of several documents, letters and pamphlets. These trials heralded the introduction of grained and lettered edges to the silver and gold coins to ward against counterfeiting and clipping. The grained edges of the trial pieces produced by David Ramage and Peter Blondeau are looked at in detail, along with the grained edges that can be found on later ‘milled’ coins. Features of the grained edges confirm that the Blondeau patterns and later pieces were edged using a Castaing type machine, the design and operation of which is described.

Will Bassett of Cambridge/Cowbridge – The Last Piece of the Jigsaw – Gary Oddie

The 17th Century Cambridge token of Will Bassett (W/D 15) shares the same obverse die as a Cowbridge, Wales piece (W/D 30). This was first noticed in 1963 and subsequent research at both ends of the claim have led to the conclusion that the Cambridge piece was manufactured in error and that a subsequent issue was made for Cowbridge. The evidence is revisited and after some initial doubts, a newly discovered piece conclusively attributes Will Bassett to Cowbridge in Wales.

Counterfeit Shillings of George III 1816-1820 (ii) The Observed Metals – Gary Oddie

The previous note presented details of the reference collection of 1,490 counterfeit shillings of George III dated 1816-1820. This note will look at the metal composition and plating based on the data gathered in the previous spreadsheet. Simple plots of the weights and densities of the pieces allow them to be separated into three groups ‘tin’, ‘copper alloys, brass and copper’ and ‘silver’ counterfeits, mostly consistent with visual observations.