February 2006.

Next club meeting Monday 6^th March 2006.

• This will be a talk on City Views on European Coins by Barrie Cook from BM .

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

February Meeting

The last meeting was the annual club auction. Despite missing such stalwarts as John Newman, who always provided many lots to ensure a good show and then this year not having the benefit of a collection to disperse we still managed to attract a respectable number of lots. Thirteen vendors submitted 202 lots comprising coins, medals, tokens, books and paper money - some of very notable quality.

There was an excellent turnout of just under 30 members who paid a total of £1677 for the 132 lots that sold. While this means a significant 35 % of lots (70 in all) did not sell, the club funds still benefited to the tune of £134.

The top prices obtained on the night were as follows 1902 low tide 1d £55, Charles II hammered 2/6d £210, 1880 2/- £50, 1904 ld £45, 1743 1/- £75, 1950 proof set £60, 1937 proof set £170 and £58 for a selection of high value mixed world notes. At the other end of the scale the cheapest item to be purchased was a 2 cent piece from Argentina that made a mere 20p. Other notable bargains included a Bristol l/- for £20, a 1744 medallion by Kirk for £20, a Hereford 1797 1d token for £20 and a Queen Victoria Jubilee medal from the Mayor of Reading for £12. Some lots while not commanding huge sums brought forth some keen bidding, such as two lots of Jersey & Guernsey coins selling for £11 and £6 respectively, a bag of 18th century Irish coppers for £15.50 and a bag of forgeries for £13.50.

It is gratifying for the committee to hear that nearly everyone attending bought at least one lot. Other than those who have already been paid, vendors due monies from the sale of their lots will find a cheque enclosed with this newsletter

Committee

In order to plan the future of the club it is essential for the committee know yours views. At the next meeting we would like all attendees to complete the questionnaire devised by Gavin. It will only 5 minutes and merely requires you to score the questions 1 to 5. We will collect the papers at the end of the evening

Speakers

The committee is beginning to put together next years speaker programme. We would like to hear your suggestions for speakers - what are you interested in? or are you prepared to give a talk? If you have suggestions please discuss with the programme secretary David (or any other committee member) at the next meeting.

Future Events.

The Spring Social skittles evening is being planned for Saturday 8th April, at the Red Lion in Theale.

Those who have indicated interested and sign up at the last meeting should pay the monies to David at the March or April meeting, preferably the former. It is also not too late join the party- just let David know. The cost is £12 per head including food and prizes. Drinks are extra.

Future Events

Birmingham Coin Fair, at the NEC cycle museum -12th March

DNW Auction, Great Queens St London - 15/16th March

Croydon Coin Auction - 7th March

London Coin Auctions - 3rd & 4th March Hilton Hotel, Dartford Crossing, Kent, adjacent M25 Junction 1a.

Past Events

30 years ago members were given much background information on the prevailing political events in a talk entitled "Political tokens of the turbulent 1790's."

The February meeting in 1985 was devoted to a club fair and members evening.