April 25th 2003.

Next club meeting Monday 12th May 2003.

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

April meeting.

There were 22 members and 5 dealers tables.

The talk this month was given by club member Tim Hayward on the coinage of Maria Theresia. To set the scene Tim gave an overview of the history pertaining to the Austro Hungarian Empire in the 18th century.

The period circa 1720 - 1765 was one of political ambitions, wars, treaties and alliances, the details of which are somewhat complex. Suffice to say the main ingredients were that:

Eventually at the end of the 7 years war (1756 - 1763) there followed a period of stability in which Maria was able to rule peacefully, although throughout her life her greatest fear was another war. The 7 years war ended somewhat strangely, prompted by the death of Elizabeth of Russia. Her successor (nephew) admired Frederick of Prussia and consequently withdrew the Russian troops. Other factions then also left the battlefield, plus Fredrick, now old, no longer had the passion of his youth for long wars. Thus the various disputes were settled by treaties and alliances.

One particular interesting snippet of information given was that sometime during the War of Accession (circa 1740's) was the last time a British monarch (George II) rode into battle and also confirmed the order of knighthood on the battlefield.

In the second part of his talk Tim took us on a tour of the Hapsburg territories in the 18th century. Using a map to show their relative location Tim gave a brief history of each region and displayed coloured pictures of their respective coats of arms. Then when Tim projected slides of various coins the reasoning for showing each States coat of arms became abundantly clear. On the majority of coins the reverse was a stylised eagle or shield amongst which were the heraldic arms of the issuing state (or states). Thus by knowing each States coats of arms it is relatively easy to identify the region to which the coin belongs. That is until on later pieces the coins contained a plethora of heraldic arms, which Tim endeavoured to decipher.

Some of the coins Tim brought along from Maria Theresia's reign To conclude the talk numerous slides of Maria Theresa coinage and other notables (Francis, Frederick) were projected. For each piece Tim gave further information on background history, mint marks, and variations/similarities in the designs. Denominations went from the small copper 1/2 Kreutzer up to silver Thalers with many illustrating the young and older heads of Maria, and the Holy Roman Emperor Francis. Tim also explained that the reason for the occasional odd denominations (eg. 17 Kreutzer) was to align with other coins subjected to revaluation and weight adjustment.

Twenty two members were on hand to show their appreciation for such a good talk given by one of our own members. Many thanks Tim

Spring social

Fifteen people attended the skittles evening at the Red Lion. We were especially pleased to see Jean, who came along to catch up with old friends and enjoy the fun and games. In past years the Jean and Mark were strong supporters of our clubs social events and often hosted the Summer garden party at their home. In the traditional opening game, the boys' beat the 'girls' narrowly, with Gaye being the highest 'girl' scorer. Maurice and Michael had an exciting play off which ended with Maurice taking the honours (and the wine!) as highest 'boy' scorer. In the second game - the normal knock out version of hit a skittle or lose a life - Michael beat Mick who promptly got his own back by beating Michael in the 'Irish' version of the knockout game. In the Irish version only one skittle must be felled each go, any more or less and a life is lost. Both food and drink were up to their usual high standards at this popular venue. The chairman then said a few words of thanks to all the members for participating and presented the winners with their prizes. As time was still on our side, an extra game was played for couples, which was won by Maurice and Betty. In this game the Mick and Geeta managed to send 3 balls right through the centre of the pack and not fell a single skittle.

Shot of the evening must the Maurice's full power delivery into the sidewall that then diagonally scythed through the pins like a reaper cutting corn.

This highly enjoyable and successful event will be repeated again as part of our 40th year celebrations.

Summer Social

The summer social, scheduled to take place on the Wednesday 13th August, will be a visit to Birmingham Museum coin department in the morning and the Matthew Boulton Museum in the afternoon.

Birmingham Museum 10.30am - We have requested a short talk from each curator followed by a viewing of some of the coins in the collection. There are very few coins on public display but the museum holds a reasonable selection of the following coins:

Members need to indicate to the secretary any particular items of interest they wish to see, otherwise the undersigned will request a representative selection.

Matthew Boulton Museum 2pm - Actually in Boulton's house and the exhibits cover all aspects of his business. The curator will be providing us with a conducted tour around the galleries. Entry is now free.

Transport - yet to be decided depending on numbers.

Numbers - may be limited to about 12 persons to visit Birmingham museum so please advise your interest early, either at the May meeting or to the secretary asap.

Future Events.

Past Events

The guest speaker 30 years ago Mr R Sharman, who stood in for Mr P Raynor. The subject of his talk was Sources of Royal Mint silver in the 18th century.

20 years ago George Berry spoke on Victorian Tokens and how he had traced old established firms to the present day.

In 1993 the annual coin fair was held.