Next club meeting - Monday 1^st. December 2002.

• The Medallic History of the Jacobite Movement by Charles Farthing

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

For the November meeting we were privileged to have Barrie Cooke from the British Museum speak on Images of the Emperor on Byzantine coins. Covering the period from the 5^th to late 13^th centuries, Barrie explained the style and details of the portraits, and interpreted the meanings of the various devices, dress and iconography; To assist in the delivery of his talk Barrie projected numerous slides of the relevant coins, mostly gold Solidus, the quality and detail of which were truly outstanding.

Starting in the 5^th century it was explained that the use of money by the people of Constantinople was much further advanced than other Western countries. Furthermore the image of the emperor depicted on the coinage was very important, even though at this time the image was rather stylised. Nevertheless it was an important statement of who the emperor was. Thus when one emperor succeeded another the image on the coinage was changed very quickly, in some cases in a matter of days. The early three quarter portrait tended to depict a young man in military dress, even if de-facto the emperor was old. Later images were changed to a frontal portrait in civilian dress, sometimes holding a consular robe or other device to cconvey an importan message. On some coins the importance of the emperor was stated by the length of his beard - one coin Barrie showed was more beard than anything else.

As time went on more figures began to appear on the coins. Some had two figures depicting joint reigns while others represented members of the family. However, the emperor was always the most prominent figure. Other coins had representations of three figures, they being the deceased emperor, the current emperor and the heir apparent. Sometimes two heads were shown, one being that of the Queen, recognisable by the pointed crown.

Emperors were not above showing that their status was endorsed by greater powers. Hence in the 8^th century the reverse has the image of Jesus replacing the typical cross design of earlier reigns. Later the emperor is depicted along side the Virgin Mary, and one particular coin also had the 'hand of God' above the pair. Throughout the various reigns the prominence of the religious figures waxed and waned. On some coins the emperor was depicted as subservient to the religious figures, while at other times the opposite was true. Even when family or state figures predominated they usually still held crosses or other devices to signify a religious or governmental connection that would be readily understood the populace.

After the lO^th century there was a return to the military style of dress. One coin had the emperor leaning on a sword. After this time the gold is gradually debased and the design becomes more standardised with the emperor on one side and Jesus on the other. The style and workmanship also enters a gradual decline and the imagery clearly shows the emperor subservient to Christ, in some cases in a near grovelling posture. Finally at the end of the l3^th century the gold coins are replaced by crude silver pieces.

As with our previous speaker it is difficult to write a synopsis to do justice to this talk. To have an expert interpret and explain the messages in these coins turns a lifeless piece of gold into the authoritative public statements of ancient times. May we look forward to other future talks of such excellence.

Numismatic Interlude

With our club auction not that far away it is perhaps appropriate to write a few words on this years frenetic auction scene, and in particular three remarkable London auctions.

As most are only too well aware the cost of coins has risen sharply this year. A glance at the new Seaby catalogue bears this out, to the extent one could be forgiven for thinking there are many printing errors. However, the prices achieved at provincial auctions have been very strong and bargains hard to find. Good quality Bronze and Copper pennies are keenly sought, Edwardian 2/6 &2/- regularly exceed book prices and the appetite for Hammered seems insatiable. Early milled silver is harder to price because in the higher grades it is simply not around. In fact some 17th & 18th century milled silver on offer today would have been found in junk boxes 30 years ago. And yet amid this strong market the prices achieved in three London sales were quite remarkable, especially as the prices quoted below do not include the additive buyers premium of 17.5%

The first sale in May was the dispersal of hammered and milled coins in gold and silver put together in the 40's & 50's by Mr Slaney. The quality of the material was top drawer. Right from lot 1 it became apparent that many attendees, some of whom had travelled from far and wide, would leave empty handed. The prices were very high, for example:

The second auction of note, again at Spinks, was the sale of the Hughes collection of Pennies. The Soho pieces generally fetched 30-50% more than expected, but over £400 for an 1806 lustrous currency piece was astounding. As for the early copper and Victorian bronze - forget the catalogue prices! For example:

The third offering was the recent DNW sale of milled 2/6- 6d put together in the distant past, when choice material was readily available. Many pieces in really choice grade had pedigrees dating back to late Victorian times and had not been on the market for decades. Now the one thing the trade loves is good quality material fresh to the market, and they lapped it up. Just as with the Slaney sale forget the Seaby catalogue prices, this was for buyers with very fat wallets. Some examples of prices for choice grade pieces, where even some dealers were buying for their own collections, were:

The DNW sale
		Halfcrown
1663 £3500	1670 £2400	1679 £1700	1690 £2300	1693 £2300	1698 £980	James II £1300-3300
		Shilling
1663 £850	1666 £3300	1671 £2000	1677 £3900	1685 £2600	1699 £1100	1704 £1000
1707 R&P £1800	1710 £1450	George II YH £400-900
		Sixpence
1687 £1300	1693 £1600 this was a truly outstanding piece			1710 £460

However, in this crazy world there is still some reality. The Petition crown sold last week at Spinks made £30,000. Expensive yes, but compared to the Slaney specimen perhaps not.

The club auction will take place at the 2^nd February meeting so hopefully you have found pieces you wish to include in the sale. Material for entry in the auction is required on or before the January meeting, but preferably before. Please bring along your coins, medals, tokens, banknotes and any other numismatic material to the next meeting and hand them to any committee member. If we all put in just a few items we can make this an enjoyable and successful evening.

• Davidson Monk Coin Fair at the Commonwealth Institute 15^th November & 20^st December
• Birmingham Coin Fair. Sunday 14^th December.
• DNW Coin Auction - 9^th December at 61 Great Queen St., London
• Baldwins Auction (posponed from London Coin Fair) 2^nd December at 3, Robert St. (adjacent to Baldwins)
• Morton and Eden auction 11^th December

In November 1973 the club auction took place, raising £38 for club fimds.

Ten years later members were shown a video on metal detecting.

10 years ago Ralph Hayes gave a talk on toilet tokens, which in the l9^th century were associated with bathing, dressing and generally improving ones appearance. By the 20^th century the principal use was in hair dressing Salons.