General

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

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 Die Study of Victorian Shillings Dated 1865. Part 1 – Validating the Statistical Methods – Gary Oddie

For some years the equations proposed by Warren Esty have been used to estimate the number of dies used to strike a particular issue or coinage. The equations are used to give point estimates of the number of dies and the coverage and also 95% confidence limits on these numbers. However, the equations are based on assumptions, and as reasonable as they are, it is still only a model, and therefore the question has often been asked “do you believe the results?”The acquisition of an 1865 shilling with the die number 102 (a rarity according to specialist collectors) led to the realisation that a study of the die numbered coinage can be used to test the statistical models. This is simply because we know what the answer is, as the dies are all numbered.A virtual collection of 184 shillings dated 1865 was gathered and used to systematically test the statistical methods with increasing sample size. This confirms that the equations

read more A Die Study of Victorian Shillings Dated 1865. Part 1 – Validating the Statistical Methods – Gary Oddie

“MCHBI” – A BNS Online Map Application for Medieval Coin Hoards in Britain and Ireland – Rob Page

The British Numismatic Society is pleased to announce the availability of a new feature on its website which allows users to explore Medieval Coin Hoards in Britain and Ireland (“MCHBI”). This brief article shows how to access the website and some examples of the products that can be generated.  The facility should prove of interest to numismatists, historians, archaeologists and metal detectorists.  With nearly 1900 hoards uploaded and increasing daily it is already the largest compilation of Medieval hoard data from Britain and Ireland, and will be continuously added to in order to keep it as up-to-date as possible.

Bedford Numismatic Society Open Day: 23/10/2022 – Gary Oddie

This note presents the recent history of the Bedford Numismatic Society, how it survived the decline of membership over the past few decades and how its numbers have steadily risen over the past decade. The informality has been the main key to success and when it was proposed to hold an open day to recruit further members it was supported throughout by all of the members. The second part of the note describes the planning and operation during the open day which has potentially found six new members from the 20+ that came on the day. The final section is left empty and will be completed in a few months’ time when we know how successful the event was and which areas of advertising were the most useful.