December 23^rd 2003.

Next club meeting Monday 5^th January 2004.

• This will be a talk on the Anglo-Irish Coinage of Elizabeth I by Chris Comber.

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

December meeting.

At the December, meeting 24 members heard Charles Farthing give a talk on the `Medallic History of the Jacobite Movement.

The first part of the talk was devoted to the political events that led to the downfall of the Stuarts. The speaker explained how the intransigence of Charles T, a firm believer in the divine right of Kings, led to his downfall. Charles II was much more accommodating, but his brother James was like his father and was soon had problems with the authorities. What made matters worse was the fact that James wished to return England to the Catholic faith. Things came to a head with the birth of his son James III, the Old Pretender. Fearing this would herald the Catholic return the Protestant leaders invited William of Orange to be king and James II was forced to flee. This then was the backdrop that fuelled the Jacobite ambitions for a return to power well into the 18^th century.

Using the medals of the time Mr Farthing spoke about the principal events that occurred right up to the death of the Old Pretender in 1788. In chronological order we were shown medals commemorating:

• the birth of the Old Pretender
• the flight of James II
• the landing of William of Orange
• the coronation of William & Mary
• the campaign of James in Ireland, 1689/90
• the invasion of 1706 & battle of Dunblane
• the marriage of James III to Clementra Sobieska
• the birth of Bonnie Prince Charlie, the Young Pretender
• the 1745 invasion, battle of Culloden and the aftermath
• the periodic medallic reminders of the Stuarts claim to the throne

Throughout the talk the speaker presented a great deal of detail on the various battles, the marriage of James III, the meaning behind the numerous satirical medals, the continued efforts to keep the Stuart's claim in the public eye and the romantic flight of Bonnie Prince Charlie after the collapse of the 45.

One of the ironies of all these events is that despite the desire to restore the Catholic faith James III insisted that his son be bought up as a Protestant. Another irony is that James III, Charles and his son Henry are all buried in Rome in a, monument paid for by the British Government.

As it is coming up to the clubs 40^th anniversary we have been looking at ways to mark the event. The first such opportunity occurred at the last meeting. Graham Kirby very kindly donated a white metal Baptist medal, which the chairman placed in a suitable case. As you are all aware our meetings take place in the Reading Abbey Baptist church and so it was very appropriate for the club to present the medal to the Pastor of the church hall where we meet. From short impromptu thank you from the pastor I think it is fair to say he was very pleased. He even recognised the Baptist Hall depicted on the medal as that in Aylesbury, where he had spent some of his early days in training for the church.

Future Meetingss

The club auction will take place at the February meeting. So please bring along your coins, medals, tokens, banknotes and any other numismatic material to the next meeting and hand them to any committee member. As announced at the last meeting, to encourage more entries the commission for selling at this years auction will be only 5%. There will be no charge for unsold lots.

If we all put in just a few lots we can make this an enjoyable and successful evening.

Future Events

Davidson Monk Coin Fair at Commonwealth Institute - 20^th December & 10^th January

Croydon Coin Auctions - 6th January 2004 (details and catalogue available at www.croydoncoinauctions.co.uk )

Birmingham Coin Fair, Birmingham - 11th January

Past Events

30 years ago, in December 1973 Simon Bendall gave an illustrated talk on Roman Provincial Coinage.

20 years ago Peter Seaby spoke on the coins of the British Colonies.

10 years ago the club auction, attended by 30 members, sold 206 lots. One lot, a 1924A Reichpennig made £300, which is probably still a club auction record.