Author: BNS Blog Coordinator

The John Casey Fund

The purpose of the fund, financed from a generous bequest to the British Numismatic Society by the late John Casey FSA (d.2016), Reader in Archaeology at the university of Durham, is to provide grants for research by individuals into the coins, medals, tokens, jettons and paper money of the British Isles, the British Commonwealth and other territories that have been subject to British rule. It is envisaged that the annual sum of money available for distribution from the fund will be around £3000 and that within that total each grant made will normally be for a sum of not less than £500. Applications will be particularly welcomed from younger scholars enrolled with higher education institutions, although applications from independent scholars and from other researchers will also be considered favourably. Purposes for which grants will be made may include travel costs, the acquisition of specialist software, the costs of metallurgical analysis and of image reproduction, and similar expenses directly related to

read more The John Casey Fund

An Intriguing Edward I Penny mule of Berwick – Denis Martin

The BNJ of 1977 included an article by C.J.Wood examining early penny dies of Edward I from the Berwick mint. In it he mentioned a mule coin of type Ia/IIa which displayed a double initial cross although there was no indication as to where he had seen an example. The author of this note has been looking out for this die combination for many years but only recently, like London buses, two have come along. Annoyingly, the first to turn up had the region of the initial cross poorly struck up although in other respects it had the other features mentioned by Wood. Fortunately, the second coin to come along was much more conclusive…..! CLICK HERE TO READ THE RESEARCH NOTE To provide comments on the article please scroll down to the bottom of this page.

Link

BALLINDALLOCH WORKS CHECKS Contemporary Documentation Discovered – Eric C. Hodge

Contemporary records for any research are often difficult to trace and harder to place in context. The legal documents discussed in this brief article specifically identify known persons, places and issues of the Ballindalloch Cotton Works in more detail than previously understood. They corroborate the issues of checks to the value of 5/ and 7/ and give more insight into the reasons for their short period of issue.

The writer would appreciate details of any known Ballindalloch Works checks not listed in Table 1 of the article.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE RESEARCH NOTE

To provide comments on the article please scroll down to the bottom of this page.

 

A new privy mark on a Robert II groat prefigured on false coins – by David Rampling

In 1853 Dr Aquilla Smith published a find of fourteen Scottish coins from the County of Fermanagh in Ireland. The lot included two false groats of Robert II displaying a large cross pattée behind the king’s crown, a feature hitherto unrecorded on genuine coins. The purpose of the current note is to record what appears to be a genuine coin having the large cross privy mark. CLICK HERE TO READ THE RESEARCH NOTE To provide comments on the article please scroll down to the bottom of this page.

Privy Mark Crown on the Sixpences of Elizabeth I – by Walter Wilkinson

The earliest of five crown (“coronet”) privy marks has been found to consist of two separate punches.  These are the main body and a central part taking the form of a lis.  It is suggested that the lis was struck first in error, the die sinker believing that the newly introduced lis privy mark on Mestrelle’s milled series also applied to the hammered coins. CLICK HERE TO READ THE RESEARCH NOTE To provide comments on the article please scroll down to the bottom of this page.

Lidanport: a New Mint-Place for Edgar’s Pre-Reform Coinage by Rory Naismith

This article discusses a coin which recently came to the author’s attention, and which was found near Nizy-le-Comte, dép. Aisne, France, 2018. It forms part of a growing body of Anglo-Saxon coin-finds from France. However, having been found outside the UK, it is not included in the major British-based corpora of coin-finds such as the EMC or PAS. The coin in question is a silver penny of the ‘Circumscription Cross’ type, which was widely produced in Edgar’s reign (959–75) prior to the major coin-reform of the early 970s. The most intriguing feature of this coin is the name of the mint-place found on the reverse, which is otherwise unknown in the reign of Edgar or indeed of all Anglo-Saxon kings. This coin therefore represents a new mint-place for the reign. CLICK HERE TO READ THE RESEARCH NOTE To provide comments on the article please scroll down to the bottom of this page.

Confirmation of a Previously Noted Variety of a Charles I Tower Shilling by David Holt.

A Charles I Tower Mint shilling Sharp Type D2/2 mint mark harp was mentioned by Michael Sharp as existing in the 1989 edition of the British Numismatic Journal (59) Page 214.  A photograph of the coin was not included in the article, nor was any provenance given, and no example has come to light in the 29 years since publication until very recently. Consequently, this variety was omitted from the Holt/Hulett/Lyall Tower Mint shilling update paper published in the 2014 edition of the BNJ as proof of existence was not established. An example recently came up for sale in a provincial auction and is now in a private collection; it is illustrated in this research note. CLICK HERE TO READ THE RESEARCH NOTE To provide comments on the article please scroll down to the bottom of this page.