Next club meeting Monday 4th. October 1999.

At Reading Library, King's Road. Entrance off Abbey Square.

Meeting commences at 7.00 pm.

Some of the archive films of the Royal Mint were shown by Kevin Clancy of the Royal Mint.

There were three films in all, one was silent and all were black and white. It would appear that there is quite a lot of film snips and cuttings of the Royal Mint but they are in very poor condition and it costs about £100 to refurbish a small section..

The first film was from around 1900 and showed the minting of sovereigns. The bullion arrives at the mint and is weighed. It is then rolled into strips of the correct thickness, the strips being hand fed into punch machines to give the blanks. The blanks were annealed by heating and then hand fed into the machines to produce the finished coin. All coins were inspected for discoloration and then dropped for a ringing test to see if any were cracked.

The second film with audio was from around 1930 and explained the minting of silver coins.

The silver bullion arrived at the mint in ingots weighing 1150 ounces. These were melted and formed into strips, blanks were stamped, and annealed then fed into a machine to give 6000 coins an hour.

The third film was the longest, about twenty minutes and was made for television in the early fifties. In this film Sir. John Betjeman is talking to Jack James the Deputy Master and other members of the Royal Mint staff. This time we saw the minting of Cupro Nickel coins and the process was much the same as the previous films. It did explain more about the annealing process and how important it is in the minting of coins. A country that was having its coins manufactured by the Royal Mint decided to mint the coins themselves. They missed out the annealing process and all of the coins eventually turned green. Next was a visit to the engraving department where the process was explained. Starting with a seventeen inch model this was eventually reduced to coin size. The reduction process takes four days on a mechanical reducer. After this came a visit to the Royal Mint's collection where we saw Sir Issac Newton's coin cabinet. From it came Symonds petition crown, Maria Theresa thalers and an explanation of why the Royal Mint minted these coins, a 1933 penny and the information that there were three of these pennies in museums and three in the foundations of buildings. Copies of Royal seals kept from Saxon times were also displayed.

Three very interesting archive films. An interesting conversation then arose between the members present and Kevin.

There were four dealer tables open.

Twenty members attended.

This is a talk entitled "Funny Money" to be given by Bryce a club member.

This will be an interesting talk and a chance to see some of the more unusual numismatic items.

The Cutlery in use at the Club meetings was supplied by John for members use. It does not belong to the Library. Would members who use it please return it to the refreshment box ?

The Club has received a letter from Reading Library asking if we have any members who are willing to give talks on numismatics to other groups and societies in the area. The Committee would like to take part in this exercise as it may help to increase membership and will also allow the Club to ask for speakers from other societies. Do we have any volunteers please?

A New Coin Fair has been started in Luton by Mr. Eddie Smith at the Chiltern Hotel, Waller Avenue. It is only a short drive from the motorway to the hotel. Exit J11 on the M1 and take the A505 to Luton, cross the first roundabout and take the next left to the Chiltern Hotel.

Coins, Medals, Banknotes and Militaria from 35 dealers.

Tuesday 26th. October. The Linecar Lecture. Professor Glyn Davies, "The single currency in historic perspective."

Coin Fair. Sunday 3rd. October. The Chiltern Hotel, Waller Avenue, Luton.

Coinex London 8/9th. October. Hotel Marriott, Grosvenor Square, London, W1.

Coin Fair. Saturday 23rd October. Commonwealth Institute. Kensington. London W8.

This was a short talks by members meeting. Bob Stephenson - "A seige coin of Cyprus".

Albert - "A right Royal occasion" and Frank - "Do you need a title"

27 members attended.