The December meeting was a repeat of last years members evening. The main feature was a bourse (coin fair). Several members
brought along coins and numismatic material for members to browse and buy.December 2005.
Next club meeting - Monday 9th January 2006.
We still need volunteers since to date only 2 members have so far agreed to talk. Surely from 42 members we can do better than that. Your talk can be on any numismatic related topic and need only last for 10 - 15 minutes. So please have a go and contact either Frank or the secretary.
Meetings are held at the Abbey Baptist Church, Abbey Square, commencing at 7.00 p.m.
December meeting
The December meeting was a repeat of last years members evening. The main feature was a bourse (coin fair). Several members
brought along coins and numismatic material for members to browse and buy.
There was a good response to the request for members to bring bring along one or two items that for some reason were considered special (eg. recent acquisition. a long sought after piece, an unusual find, an oddity etc). Some eight items were displayed with a few brief words of explanation, namely:
Many thanks to all those who took the trouble to bring something along.
The 'guess the number of coins in the jar' proved popular, with guesses ranging from 314 to 1547. In fact there were 700,
guessed correctly by John. The next guess was oh! so close at 701- maybe a recount should be called for.
Finally there was a Picture quiz devised bv David. Gavin took the honours with the highest score. For those of us that did not manage to do the quiz it is enclosed with this newsletter so providing another opportunity to complete at your leisure.
Club Auction
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 January meeting and hand them to any committee member. The club fund commission for selling at this years auction will be 10% for the first £20 plus 5% for the increment above £20.(ie. "commission on selling price of £40 = £3).
There will be no charge for unsold lots. The committee reserve the right to question and discuss with vendors reserves and grades considered unrealistic.
If we all put in just a few lots we can make this an enjoyable and successful evening.
Future Events.
We are now putting together next years programme. If any member has an idea for a guest speaker, topics they would like to hear or suggestions for the summer social event please speak to a committee member. Also at a meeting soon we will be seeking your opinions on what you like/ dislike about the club. The questionnaire will be tick the box and completed during a meeting - so no excuses for not providing input.
Past Events.
Quote: Membership of Reading Coin club could reach 100 by June next year .... So read the prediction of the secretary in 1965. He went on to say that while the current membership was only 42 the tremendous blossoming interest in coins and medals meant the rate of new membershup was such that a role of 100 was perfectly possible by next year - and this was when the club was only 18 months old. The report goes on to emphasise the wide area that the Reading club catered for and the possibility of Joint meetings with other clubs.
Coming to the present time it is interesting to ask why no Joint meetings? Simple really - because most coin clubs created in the 60s boom have long since gone and several of the few left are struggling to keep going. In these harder times the fact that we still have 42 members and a vibrant programme makes Reading one of the premier clubs in the country and still catering for the numismatics needs over a wide area. Luckily for us some things don't change - and if you want it to continue think about joining the committee in June 2006!
In November 1975 the club auction took place - no details available.
A Merry Christmas and a Prosperous New Year to all Reading Coin Club members
And Finally
Continuing the theme of re-publishing articles and talks presented in the early years of the club here is one from the past on Indian coins.
Meeting of 1st December 1969.
An Outline of Indian Coinage by Miss Helen W. Mitchell
India's coinage is 2500 years old from an area of 1 1/2 million square miles, and it is therefore impossible to cover the whole subject of its coinage in a short lecture, A convenient stopping place would be the period when the Indian coinage became influenced by European countries, especially Britiain. The story of India coinage begins in the 6th century BC about a century after the beginning of coinage in the Western world. The coinage seems to have developed quite independently, with its own characteristics. One of the earliest accounts in literature was payment made in gold dust washed out of the River Indus and other great rivers. The earliest coinage were ingots known as "bent bars" about 1 1/2" by 2" long, 1/2" wide and 1/4" inch thick. At either end is a portion of a stamp and the reverse is plain. The stamping process had probably bent both ends and hence the name "bent bar". The area of the stamp was much larger than the portion of the blank to be struck snd only part of the type landed on the flan. It will be found that the use of a die much larger than the flan is characteristic of Indian coinage right up to 19th century. This is one of the main headaches in the study of coins of this period.
India's chief contribution to the coinage of the ancient world was the so called silver "punch marked" series, entirely indian in origin, owing nothing to outside influence. For nearly 6 centuries it was one of the great currencies of the sub continent. In the southern half of India they circulated without rival up to the 2nd century AD although in the Northern half the coinage reflected the influence of foreign invading countries. The "punched marked" series are an example of that rare phenomenon - a coinage showing no sign of development or modification even over a period of 6 centuries, and it is necessary to rely on the evidence of other coinages to date the period of circulation of this issue. The coins can be either round or square with the latter in the slight majority. Their method of production was something quite different from anything that was then known in the western world. The final cutting of the piece from a flat sheet of the metal left it with an average of five varied marks punched at all angles to each other sometimes overlapping and filling up the area of the coin. Seldom are two pieces found bearing the same punches in identical positions There are huge varieties of different punches, including the sun and various animals. A few of the coins are uniface but the majority have at least one punch an the reverse, generally a punch which does not occur on the obverse side. Never again in the history of the Indian sub continent do we find a single coinage which was used in every corner of the area.
The development of Indian numismatics has been uneven with the emphasis firmly on the northern area series, This was partly due to the coinage of the north itself which could be informative and attractive whereas in the South inscriptions are scanty and generally uninformative. Furthermore the study of Indian numismatics was, until recently, largely the preserve of India Army Officers and civil servants who were mostly stationed in the North.
Now follow the coins of the series of invaders who settled in Northern and Central India from the 3rd. century BC to the 6th century AD, the first being the troops of Alexander the Great. Bactra, occupied by Alexander's successors in the North West, gave to the world one of the finest series of coins ever known. The coins originally were wholly Greek in character in type, language and weight standard. (Colour slide examples of coins shown here were particularly outstanding). Gradually however as the territory extended into India proper Indian elements began to creep into this coinage such as the appearance of Indian inscriptions and effigies. These coins introduced into India the portrait head or bust and a combination of an inscription with a pictorial type, something quite missing from the coins earlier described. However in the reverse direction the Indo Greek rulers adopted the idea of the square coin and many purely Indian designs for their reverse types.
The next series of invaders of Northern India were the Indo Scythians and further West the Indo Parthians. Examples of this former coinage show that the Greek influence still persists with a slightly wider form of the Indian script appearing on reverse accompanying a representative of the Greek deity. In the Indo Parthian series occurs a further degradation of the Greek type but nevertheless the deity is still Greek, and Greek itself is still used on the obverse.
In the years preceding the Christian era came the next invasion, this time from the East when the dynasty of Kushan Kings was established. Greek elements are still present on their coinage although the script is an extremely corrupt form of the language and occasionally there appears one or another of the Greek deities. But the general effect is definitely more Indian, eg. the King wears a tunic and trousers with chain mail and on the reverse is the god Sheeva with the Indian humped bull. Of all the Kushan Kings the name of Kanishka is the one that deserves to be remembered. His reign was long and prosperous. His coins illustrate his efforts to conciliate the great multitudes of his subjects with all their different religious beliefs. He has reverses showing Greek deities such as Hercules, the Hindu god Sheeva and the Persian gods, Fire and Wind. There is also a very rare issue showing the Buddha himself. The copper issues of this series continued in circulation in remote places until the 19th century. The Kushan dynasty came to an end at the beginning of the 3rd century AD although their descendants ruled in Afghanistan into the 5th century.
Now in India proper a new force had arisen. For the first time in six centuries this force was entirely Indian in origin. It was the period of the Gupta rulers under whom Northern and Central India saw a kind of renaissance of all that was best in the Indian tradition. It was a golden age for the arts, science, mathematics and Hinduism. The true coinage of the Gupta kings is almost all in gold, with a small amount of copper. They are very chunky pieces in exceptionally high relief. For the first time classical Sanskrit is used for the inscriptions. The first Gupta King of importance came to throne in 320 AD and issued coins showing his marriage. This was a great event in the History of the dynasty as his wife brought with her a dowry of extensive territory in North East India including the area nowadays known as Nepal. The usual content of the Gupta coinage is to show the King not posing formally but in some kind of action, e.g. slaying a lion. The coinage shows Indian numismatic art at its best and not for another twelve centuries was there anything to match the pictorial artistry of this series. Even then coinage of the Mogul emperors in the 17th century was the work of craftsmen whose cultural sympathies belonged outside India, in Muslim Persia.
Between the decline of the Gupta empire about 500 AD and the conquest of Northern and Central India by the Muslims beginning about the year 1000AD a kind of dark age settled on India and equally on its coinage. The Indian princes during the period seemed to be content to make use of any currency already circulating in their territories and later if necessary copying it as best they could in an increasingly barbarous fashion. The economy of the country was in a state of decline and probably this was the reason why there was no incentive for the production of a respectable currency. We see independent and sometimes rival rulers producing coins of a single type rather than making their own designs to display their position of authority. One of the issues of this period was probably as unattractive as anything that has been issued in the history of numismatics. This is known in India as the Gadhiya paisa series meaning donkey or ass. Another series of silver coins originated in Afghanistan and worked its way south in popularity. The coins showed a seated humped bull and on the reverse a horseman. The period was about 850 AD and the series is generally known as the bull and horseman coinage. It survived until the end of the 13th century.
Later during the Muslim period the coins bore a religious inscription acknowledging the Muslim faith and the omnipotence of Allah. But they are terribly monotonous because the types are almost wholly inscriptional as the Muslim religion discouraged the portrayal of figures and portraits. The only exception came during the rule of the Mogul emperor Jahangir who reigned roughly during the period of James I. In the 13th year of his reign he substituted for the month of the issue which appeared on the coin of that time, the appropriate sign of the Zodiac. He also issued a _small series showing his own portrait.
In the Southern area after the 16th century we begin to see the coinages of the European countries such as France, Portugal and Britain. Further north the Mogul empire broke up about the end of the 18th century. The coinages which followed, those of the native states of the 19th century and the East India Company, are a subject which can be studied separately.