Author: BNS Blog Coordinator

The ‘Sizewell C’ or ‘Near Leiston’ hoard: a summary – Alex Bliss, Richard Ambrose, Dr Adrian Marsden and Hugh Pagan

Excavation by Oxford Cotswold Archaeology near Leiston (Suffolk) in April 2023 resulted in the discovery of a small package manufactured from lead sheet. This had been buried at the junction of two field boundary ditches. Unwrapping of this material revealed that it enclosed a coin hoard of 321 coins buried in the early 1040’s, comprising 319 pennies and 2 cut halfpennies. The coins correspond to the reigns of Harold I, Harthacnut and Edward the Confessor. This note provides an initial summary record of the find.

Presentation and Analysis of a Henry I Overstrike Penny – Lyle Curtis Molina

The purpose of this research note is to present a description and analysis of a Norman penny from the reign of Henry I, which exhibits a Type V overstruck upon a Type IV.  While this overstrike does not challenge the currently accepted order of coins of Henry I’s reign, it may present unrecorded examples of Mint/Moneyer combinations for both the Type IV and Type V strikes.

O’Neill Money: The Irish “Rebel Money” of the 1640s, the battle flag of the Confederated Catholics, and Eoghan Ruadh Ua Néill – Oisín Mac Conamhna

Irish “Rebel Money” has long been a numismatic enigma, as no record of its production survives. This note highlights that the encircled cross potent on the obverse of the coinage was the emblem on the battle flag of the Confederated Catholics, and attributes the production of the coinage to Eoghan Ruadh Ua Néill, the only Irish general since the advent of firearms to defeat a regular British army on an open battlefield; and dates the coinage to the immediate aftermath of the battle of Binn Bhorb (Benburb) in June 1646, two months after Ua Néill received approximately £10,000 in silver from Rome. 

Revisiting Some Unusual Edward I Class 1c Pennies – Gary Oddie

A few years ago Dave Greenhalgh published a blog about some unusual reverse dies of Edward I Class 1c pennies. Three examples of reverse dies were presented where the beaded inner circle was misaligned relative to the die sinker’s circular guideline. It was hypothesized that this could be an error or a privy mark of a particular die sinker. These suggestions just didn’t “feel right”. In this note I would like to suggest an alternative and simpler hypothesis – that a single curved punch bearing the beaded quarter circle was used to create the sections of the beaded inner circle. When entered incorrectly, the beaded inner circle is misaligned relative to the guideline. A further example from Berwick-upon-Tweed will be presented to support this hypothesis. The hypothesis is also testable on other reverse dies.

The Numismatic Value Double Struck Coins can Provide (A Reattribution and an Attribution of two Norman Coins) – Lyle Curtis Molina

This research note follows upon the author’s first research note published December 18, 2024, on the BNS blog, and its purpose is to demonstrate that even coins with some form of double striking error can still provide valuable information.  This research note will examine two coins which exhibit a form of strike error associated with double striking and will add additional Moneyer and mint combinations to the corpus of the “Mints and Moneyers of England, 1066 – 1158.”

Some Unusual New York Hotel Tokens – Gary Oddie

This Blog is presented in four parts, reproducing (with minor edits) previously published notes from the past decade. It begins with a query as to why a small group of New York Restaurant tokens have denominations in shillings and pence. A few years later, with no progress having been made, the request was repeated. A catalogue of the known issuing establishments and the denominations issued is then given. And finally, thanks to a reply to one of the earlier requests, a possible explanation is found as to why tokens denominated in shillings and pence appeared in New York restaurants in the middle of the nineteenth century.

An Analysis of Strike Error Coins – Lyle Curtis Molina

The purpose of this research note is to provide some guidance and structure for beginning numismatists of British hammered coinage who find an interest with some form of striking error within the Anglo-Saxon and Noman series.  The scope of this research note is to: 1) provide examples of strike errors to illustrate aspects to keep an eye out for when examining a coin; 2) provide a framework to help analyse strike errors; and 3) demonstrate practical application of this framework.