May 21^st. 2001.

Next club meeting Monday 4^th June 2001

• This is the club's AGM and Annual display Competition for the Michael Broome Cup.

Meetings are held at the Abbey Baptist Church, Abbey Square, commencing at 7.00 p.m.

May meeting.

John Keyworth gave us a talk on English Banknotes from an historical perspective, with particular emphasis on the techniques used to defeat forgers. There is an exhibition on forgeries currently running at the Bank of England Museum.

The first notes issued by the Bank of England in the 1690's were really just receipts for money placed in the Bank. There were three important things that these notes allowed. They kept an account, they allowed withdrawal and they provided a 'running cash' so that it was not necessary to withdraw the entire deposit at one go. They also contained the form of words 'I promise to pay NNN or bearer' which, in effect made the notes transferable.

Mr. Keyworth explained that there is a technical difference between forgery, which is the alteration of an existing item and counterfeiting, which is the creation of something entirely new. Of the two, forgery was more prevalent in older times, for example, altering the value of the note.

To counter this, the Bank began to make notes with more intricate designs, used watermarked paper and intaglio printing. In addition, there were so called 'secret' marks, which would only be known to the cashiers. Interestingly, this is in direct contrast to the situation today, where considerable effort is spent in informing the general public of security devices.

The punishment for forgery, or even possession of a forged note was generally felt to be too high (capital punishment in the early 18th century) which led to complaints such as the famous 'restriction note' by George Cruikshank.

(This picture courtesy of the Museum of the American Numismatic Association)

Banknotes with 'identity', those made from essentially the same printing plate, were not introduced till 1855 and colour not used till 1928. Thank you to Dr. Keyworth for a very illuminating talk.

There were four dealer tables at the meeting. The member's display was given by Maurice Bull with a selection of English banknotes, very much in keeping with the theme of the talk, thank you Maurice.

AGM and Display Competition

The Annual General Meeting

This is probably the most important meeting in the Club's calendar.

This is the club member's opportunity to hear how their club is being run by the elected committee and comment on any aspect that he/she cares to. There will be reports by:

• Chairman: Reviewing the events of last year and what we hope to achieve in the next year.
• Treasurer: The financial condition of the club.
• Program Secretary: The speakers for the next season.

Included with the newsletter is the balance sheet for 2000/01

The annual display competition for the Michael Broome Memorial Trophy

There is no theme to this year's display, only that it should have some connection to numismatics. The competition is open to all members. The winner has the prestige of keeping the Michael Broome Memorial Trophy on their mantlepiece for one year with their name engraved upon it. The entrants are judged by all members present and it is not always the most expensive coins on display that win the competition. Displaying members must give a small explanation on their display, maximum 5 minutes, before the votes are cast by all members present. One vote to each member present and the display with the greatest number of votes is the winner. The winner will be announced after the AGM.

All entrants for the display competition will be given free entry to a raffle. At the end of the AGM the winning ticket will be drawn from the hat. The prize for the winning ticket will be a bottle of wine.

Dealer's tables

Dealer's tables will not be allowed till after the AGM proper has finished.

Skittles Evening

Thank you to the two dozen or so members who turned up for the skittles evening. A great time was had by all. Congratulations to Betty and John who had the highest scores in the first game and to Julia for winning the knockout competition. A special mention for Paul who spent most of his time putting up the skittles everyone else was knocking down and to John for keeping score.

British Museum Trip

As previously announced, a visit to the British Museum and the Bank of England Museum will take place on Wednesday 25th July 2001. The British Museum part of the trip will include a 'handling session' in the student's room and I would be grateful for some indication of the coins people wish to see at the next meeting. We are hoping that the trip to the Bank of England Museum in the afternoon will include a demonstration by Ron Hughes who worked as an engraver for the Bank.

Committee member

In addition to Mark's sad absence, Tim will be coming off the club's committee at the end of the season and we now need two replacements. Would all members please give serious consideration to standing? The club cannot continue without a full committee.

Future Events.

• Coin Fair. Saturday 16^th June. Commonwealth Institute. Kensington. London W8.
• London Coin Fair. Saturday 23rd June. Cumberland Hotel, Marble Arch, London W1.

30 Years ago.

On the 4th May 1971 Mr. B.H. Grove spoke to us about Roman Coins and their Relation to History.