General

As much as will lay upon a sixpence – Laura Burnett

We are probably all familiar with the use of modern coins as adhoc scale bars in photographs of objects. A phenomenon so widespread, and accepted, that it is found in scientific journals as well as hurried snaps. We are also familiar with the use of coins as weights, either reflecting their expected weights in societies where they circulated, or re-used as weights once they had gone out of use as coinage. However, when spending a fun lunch hour taking part in the Early Modern Recipes Online transcribeathon last November I was intrigued to come across coins being used as a way to measure a quantity of ingredients, not by weight, but by area….

A Day at the Museum – Part (ii) Moving The Shillington Hoard – Gary Oddie

This note describes a visit to Stockwood Discovery Centre (The Culture Trust, Luton Museum) by members of the Bedford Numismatic Society. The motive for the visit was to help with the safe removal of the hoard of gold aurei that had been found at Shillington, Bedfordshire, found 1998-1999, along with another hoard of denarii and a bronze mirror found nearby. It was a privilege to be asked and a pleasure to help with this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to look at 127 gold aurei dating from  AD 14 – AD 79, one of the largest hoards of Roman gold coins found in Britain.  

A Day at the Museum – Part (i) The Search for the Lesser Elongated Squirrel

On 25 July 2023, the author and two members of the Bedford Numismatic Society visited Wardown House Museum and Gallery, in Luton. The “behind the scenes” visit had two main motives. Firstly, inspection and photography of the Museum’s collection of Bedfordshire tokens and also to work through the museum’s holdings of Anglo-Saxon and Norman pennies struck at the Bedford Mint.A follow-up visit to the Stockwood Discovery Centre on 15 August was arranged to view the Bedford Mint pennies, on permanent display there, and also to help the museum with the safe relocation of the Shillington hoard of 127 gold aurei found in 1998 and 1999. This will be written up in a separate Blog. Whilst on site the opportunity was taken to make an elongated penny using a machine in the visitor centre to be described here.

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.