Next club meeting - Monday 1^st. October 2001.

• The Coinage of the first three Tudor Monarchs Henry 7th, Henry 8th, & Edward 6th by J Bispham

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

The meeting was devoted to short talks by members. 21 members attended and were entertained as follows:

The evening kicked off with a talk by Tim on the Emergency Inflation Coinage of Westphalia. Tim gave a brief overview of the history of the region and a summary of the political and economic situation leading to the great inflation experienced in Germany after World War I.

The two obverses and four reverses were discussed, as well as much background information on the effigies and emblems depicted. We were told that the coins, in fact, never saw circulation because the production could not keep pace with the rapid inflation. The pieces were mostly given to schoolchildren as commemorative medallions.

The second talk by Maurice was entitled The History of the Pound. Beginning in the 11th century Maurice gave a brief history of many gold coins up to the present day. Included in the talk were many fine slides of the series, such as guineas, ryals, nobles, laurels and sovereigns.

Much information was given on the varying values and weights of the coins in question, the continual revaluation between each issue and the all important gold/silver value ratio. Following on from the sovereign Maurice covered the issue of treasury and banknotes, concluding with the current £1 coins.

Michael's talk covered A 19^th Century 1d - a Perry Barr 1d token of William Booth. Michael informed the audience that as a boy he and his pals played in the actual farmhouse of William Booth. Also that while purporting to be a gentleman farmer William Booth was in fact a forger of coins and banknotes, particularly those of provincial banks. Despite the many precautions taken William Booth was eventually caught, tried and sentenced to death. In the past 150 years some examples of printing plates and bank tokens have been dug up near the farmhouse and are now in the Birmingham museum. The William Booth token is very rare and was subsequently copied for Victorian collectors - a forgery of the forgers penny.

Finally, Tony spoke on Collecting Medieval Coins by Date about early Chinese coins of the Sung dynasty. Tony gave a brief history of the early dynasties and their coinage. We were informed that these early coins were cast, mostly in either iron of alloys of copper. For approximately 100 years, from around 1180, coins were dated, primarily as an anti-forgery device. Several examples were available for inspection. Study has shown that the several gaps in the series are probably due to the fact that at this time the Chinese also used paper money in the form of letters of credit. This shows just how much the Chinese were in advance of Western culture.

Upon completion of the talks the audience selected the talk to receive the Mark Myhill memorial shield. The recipient is to be Michael, well done!

There were 4 dealer tables and Tony provided the Member's exhibit, a short quiz on Chinese coins with examples.

The club auction is scheduled for the 7th January and lots will be required by early December. This may seem some way off but please start thinking about finding some items for entry. Again the success of this event is entirely down to you the membership. If we can all find just a few items we have a great evening.

For those who have not yet renewed their subscription for 2001/2002 these are now due and remain at the same rate as last year -£12. Please send your subscriptions to Maurice or hand them to a committee member.

Notice

The car park outside the church hall is no longer available for members to park their cars.

Davidson Monk Coin Fair at the Commonwealth Institute 2^nd October

Coin Fair. Sunday 14^th October. National Motorbike Museum, Birmingham

Coin Fair (Coinex) at the Marriot Hotel - 5/6^th October

Spink Coin Auction - 3^rd October (Coinex)

Baldwins Coin Auctions - 8/9^th October

30 years ago Peter Clayton gave a talk entitled 'Numismatics and the Wine Trade'. Excellent colour slides and expert commentary were well appreciated by club members.

20 years ago the meeting was devoted to the subject of medals. Some splendid medal displays were exhibited by guests from local Medal Clubs and Mr Tamplin gave a talk on recipients of specific awards.

10 years ago our member Graham gave an informative talk on the life of John Wesley and the foundation and progress of Methodism.