February 19th 2002.

Next club meeting Monday 4th March 2002.

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

Ken

It is with much regret that at the last meeting the chairman reported the death of long time club member, Ken. As many of you will have been aware Ken had been quite ill for some time, an illness that he bore with considerable fortitude. It is therefore quite remarkable that in such circumstances that Ken managed to come along to so many club meetings. But then again Ken had a life long interest in all things connected with numismatics.

Ken was a well established figure on the coin scene in southern England for many years. When did it all begin? - a very long time ago because some of you have known Ken for well over thirty years. He was well known for his various numismatic ventures and always gave much encouragement to new collectors. He was never short of good anecdotes to whet their appetite and it is very likely that just about every coin collector in the locality has at least one piece in their collection purchased from Ken.

Our deepest sympathies go out to Ken's family. He will be sorely missed at our club. Among the many friends and relatives who attended the funneral, which took place at Reading crematorium on Wednesday (13 February), were 8 members of the club.

February meeting.

The evening was devoted to a coin quiz given by Alistair McKay. 15 members spent an enjoyable, but somewhat embarrassing evening, trying to answer questions on coins. We were split into 3 teams of 5 and took questions in turn. 3 points were awarded if the assigned individual answered correctly by himself, 2 points for a correct answer from the team and one point if another team answered correctly. With everybody happy so far the quiz commenced in high expectation.

Then the fun began with questions such as these:

And these were the easy ones!

There were questions on denominations and their fractions for some obscure country and many on the ancients about emperors, deities, features and values. This was one of the best interactive meetings held by club in recent times. Despite the pain we all found it very entertaining, so it is likely to be repeated next year.

Spring social

The Spring social will be a skittles evening at the Red Lion pub, Theale on Saturday 2oth April. The price is the same as last year, namely £8 per head. Will those members wishing to attend please give their names (and monies) to the chairman at either the March or April meeting. We need a minimum of 15 persons to cover the costs, so why not come along.

Future Events.

BANS Congress

The next BANS Congress will be held 5~7th April in Belfast. For those interested the details will be on display at the next meeting.

British Numismatic Societv

The programme for 2002 is as follows:

Unless stated otherwise meetings are held at the Warburg Institute, Woburn Square, London

Past Events

30 years ago, George Berry entertained members with his vast knowledge of tokens. His talked was entitled 'Shopping in the 1660's - 17th century tokens in action'

20 years ago, Marion Archibald, the well known expert on early English hammered coins was due to give a talk on Viking coins. Unfortunately due to a train strike she was unable to attend. Michael Broome stepped in at short notice to talk about his researches into Maria Theresa Thalers.

10 years ago, Peter Clayton spoke on Roman coins. The subject 'The Times Roman Style' showed how news in the present day newspaper 'The Times' would have been imparted to the Roman Empire through the reverses of the coins in use at the time.