The long term effects of inflation have left us with a debased coinage that is overdue for reform. Our highest denomination circulation coin – the £2 piece – is no longer even capable of buying a copy of the Sunday Times or a Starbucks coffee. Lower denominations are fast becoming functionally useless. Rishi Sunak’s COVID-19 stimulus programme represents money printing on an unprecedented scale and this heaps further inflationary pressure into the system. Contactless payments are on the rise and without some drastic action coin use may become obsolete. What should the Royal Mint do? Perhaps go back to basics rather than deluging us with yet more “collectible” and “commemorative” offerings.
Author: BNS Blog Coordinator
A new farthing reverse die for David II of Scotland’s first issue – Carl Savage
A new farthing reverse die of David II of Scotland’s first coinage is described.
A New Variety of Light Coinage Henry IV Halfpenny – Alex Bliss
The halfpence of Henry IV are divided into two broad issues: a ‘heavy’ coinage struck for the mainstay of the reign, and a ‘light’ coinage of lower weight standard ordered in 1411 but produced only from 1412 onwards. Of the ‘light’ coinage, fewer than twenty examples were thought to be known by Withers – though more have been brought to attention in recent years thanks to the efforts of metal detectorists. This note describes a new variety of Withers type 3 recently discovered near Cambridge, displaying a different obverse legend to those listed in the relevant ‘small change’ guide.
A New Obverse Variety of Henry V Halfpenny for Withers Type 9 – Alex Bliss
‘Page 28 of the Galata ‘small change’ guide to halfpennies of Henry IV, V and VI currently lists different two obverse legends for Henry V type 9. Whereas the standard issue usually reads: +hENRIC REX ANGL, there is also a less common variety (9a) inscribed: +hENRC REX ANGLIE F. However, this article describes two newly-discovered examples representing an apparently unrecorded second variety of the main type (provisionally assigned 9b). On these two pieces, the obverse instead reads: +hENRIC REX ANGLIE.’
Bedwyn to (or from?) Watchet: A Remarkable Instance of Die Alteration on a Penny of Edward the Confessor – David Guest, With comments by Stewart Lyon
Instances of pennies in the late Anglo-Saxon period with altered mint signatures are exceedingly rare. This note discusses a Radiate Small Cross type penny of Edward the Confessor of Watchet that was struck from a reverse die showing clear signs of alteration to the mint name. The author argues that the die had first been cut for use at Bedwyn and then altered for use at Watchet. Stewart Lyon was asked to comment on the paper and has kindly supplied an alternative reading.
Coin Hoards
Of potential interest to metal detectorists, as well as numismatists, is a new section on the BNS website section which gives links to BNS papers on coin hoards. These papers cover the whole British Isles and are sub-divided by county, so it is easy for one to find accounts of hoards from a particular region. BNS online papers are available for papers published up to three years ago, and currently cover publications up to 2016; papers published in 2017 will soon be added to the online collection. Visit the BNS Hoards Section Also of interest is the developing BNS Coin Gallery which is constantly growing – it currently focuses on the period from the Iron Age through to end of the Stuarts, and currently shows mainly English coins, though it is planned this year to add a comprehensive range of Scottish and Irish specimens. Visit the BNS Coin Gallery For anyone interested in joining the British Numismatic Society please note
Laurie Asher Lawrence and his First Collection, Part II: The manuscript Catalogue – Hugh Pagan
This is the second part of the note on “L. A. Lawrence and his First Collection”, previously posted on this blog on 14 July 2020.
Laurie Asher Lawrence and his First Collection, Part I: Professional Life, Playing Cards, Family, Houses – Hugh Pagan
This note will deal, in two parts, with the professional life and family circumstances of the eminent numismatic scholar and coin collector, Laurie Asher Lawrence (1857-1949) ; and with the evidence that his surviving manuscript catalogue provides for the content of his first coin collection, disposed of by him in 1903.
A Notice of Counterfeiting and Punishment from 1653 – Gary Oddie
This short note describes a contemporary reference, from 1653, to the counterfeiting of silver coin using pewter and the unusual punishment meted out to the perpetrators. The main actors were mutilated and hanged and their accomplices received severe corporal punishment.
Exchange of dies between London and Canterbury in the 1290’s – Denis Martin
In a recent article on the BNJ Research Blog David Greenhalgh discusses the possible exchange of a LON/DON reverse die recut to read CAN/TOR. In reply to a comment posted by Ian Heavisides, David added the following response. “We know that dies were sometimes sent from London to Canterbury and back again when there was a need at Canterbury (the class 6b Cant[erbury] comes to mind)” It is the purpose of this short note to amplify the final comment in the above statement.
BNS Research Blog 