Next club meeting Monday 1^st September 2003.

• The subject for the September meeting is short talks by members, competing for the Mark Myhill memorial trophy. As usual we are short of entries. Will members willing to give a talk please contact David or John so that the committee can schedule the agenda for the evening. The talk can be on any numismatic related topic and need only last for 10 - 15 minutes.

Meetings are held at the Abbey Baptist Church. Entrance off Abbey Square.

Meeting commences at 7.00pm.

The talk last month was given by John Theobold and entitled '400 years of unofficial tokens'. To begin with the speaker said a few words on 'what is a token' and gave several examples of 'substitute money'.

The first tokens were produced in Bristol under a disposition granted by Elizabeth 1st. Later the Commonwealth issued 'breaches money', which according to ones point of view may be regarded as token money.

The first significant issue of tokens occurred in the late l7th century, because of a chronic shortage of small change. Thus they were issued out of necessity to facilitate trade, mostly by local traders, but also by town corporations. The denominations were mostly halfpennies and farthings and they circulated in an area local to the issuer. The speaker showed several examples and explained how to interpret the symbols and letters. The numerous spelling errors were highlighted, down to the fact that many legends were spelt phonetically. The second major issue of tokens occurred in the late 18tb century. At this time there was a huge influx of workers into the factories, providing the labour for the Industrial Revolution. Simultaneously, the amount of official coinage being issued was paltry. Thus once again tokens, mostly copper halfpennies, were issued to provide an adequate amount of small change. They were generally of very good design and produced mainly in the Midlands, primarily in Birmingham.

The third major issue occurred in the early 19th century. This time there were both copper and silver tokens, the coppers being predominately pennies and the silver mostly shillings. As well as being issued by traders and manufacturers, some were issued by the Bank of England. Their issue was bought about by another shortage of money as a result of the Napoleonic wars.

John then spoke about the various types of tokens issued during the Victorian period up to modern times. These included advertising tokens, loyalty tokens, hop tokens, transport tokens, milk tokens and Coop tokens. The talk concluded with a discussion on a medallion of the Compton Pilgrim Benefit Society.

Summer Social

The summer social visit to Birmingham is very nearly upon us (13 August). If there are any members who have not yet signed up but now wish to go please contact John.

It is pleasing to note the majority of club members have renewed their subscriptions. For those few who have not yet renewed their subscription for 2003/2004 please see David at the next meeting or send same to the club secretary. The annual subscription is £13 + £2 for coffee if required.

40th Anniversary

The committee has begun discussing ideas for events to celebrate the clubs 40th anniversary in 2004. To assist in our deliberations you all received a questionnaire. It is disappointing to report that so far only 2 persons have returned the completed questionnaire to a committee member. Please take time to complete it so we can understand your level of interest. We need to know your views even if you have no interest - this will ensure the committee does not waste time arranging events that nobody wants.

Future Events.

9^th September Croydon Coin Auctions

Sunday 10^th September. Coin Fair, National Motorbike Museum, Birmingham.

16^th September Davidson Monk Coin Fair at the Commonwealth Institue, Kensington, London

30 years ago at the July meeting six club members gave a short talk on items from their collections.

Ten years later the club had a visit from the Aldershot Orders, Medals and Militaria society. Len Mathews and Hugh king explained the history of the medals on display.

In 1993 Michael Broome spoke about Turkish coins through the ages.