January 2006.

Next club meeting Monday 6th February 2006.

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

Past Events

Next club meeting is on Monday, 6th February. 2006. Subject - The Club Auction.

We will try to have the lots displayed by 19.lOpm and start the auction at 8 pm in order to be completed by l0pm. With over 200 lots the auctioneer will set a quite fast pace and begin close to the reserve price. This means there will be minimum thinking time - so be prepared to bid smartly on items of interest.

All members have been allotted a bid number. The listing showing your number and bid number cards will be next to sign in book. Please pick up your paddle bid card prior to the start of the auction.

Finally, while some of the lots have been graded it is still up to prospective purchasers to verify the grading description is to their satisfaction prior to bidding, There will be no returns other than postal lots or coins that are subsequently shown to be not genuine.

Dealer's tables will be allowed after the auction.

January meeting.

This meeting was devoted to short talks by members and to award the Mark Myhill memorial shield. Five talks were given.

The evening opened with an illustrated talk by David on the Brighton Chain Pier and the growth of Brighton itself after enjoying royal patronage. The pier was completed in 1823 to cater for cross channel traffic and was immediate success. David showed a commemorative that depicted the 4 span pier suspended from chains and which spelt out some salient facts, eg 1100ft long. There were 2 entrances each with its own admission token, which David discussed as he illustrated each with a slide. Later Victorians issued several traders tokens depicting the pier, which David illustrated with slides and actual examples. The piers popularity waned in the face of competition from other Brighton piers and was finally demolished by a storm in 1896.


Graham chose to talk on the governors of Judea at the time of Christ - a tale of endless tyranny, brutality, intrigue and murder. The majority of the talk concentrated on the first ruler Herod I whose reign can be split into 3 distinct periods, Consolidation, Prosperity and Domestic strife. The first period was a time of battles, alliances, intrigues, marriages and murder. Then in the following period of stability there was much building and good deeds towards his subjects, albeit with a sprinkling of intrigue and political unions. However, in his final years Herod was somewhat paranoiac regarding threats to his position and repeatedly appointed successors and then subsequently had them killed, making at least 5 wills in the process. To conclude Graham spoke about the role Herod, and his successor Herod II, played in events recorded in the bible. (The full text of the talk is available in the club library archives).



The well-illustrated talk by Gavin covered the history of private banks in Winchester from 1787 to 1892. Most early banks had failed by the 1820's, but a few survived to be bought, amalgamated or taken over. Two banks that could trace their history back to earlier times were the National Provincial and Lloyds. Gavin explained that Lloyds can trace its beginnings to a bank set up in 1809 by Messer's Williams, Bailey, Mont and Jessop. NP was the amalgamation of what was once Daines bank set up by Walker in 1789 and Bulpeth & Halls bank set up by Knapp in 1787. To conclude his talk Gavin presented several pictures of the various premises occupied over the years and some examples of their cheques and banknotes.



Neil presented an illustrated potted history of key events related to Plymouth and its development. Beginning with Plymouth's most famous person, Sir Francis Drake, Neil went on to cover the Pilgrim Fathers, the civil war when puritan Plymouth was besieged by the Royalists, the Citadel fortress, the growth of the royal dockyard instigated in the time of William III, the famous Smeaton lighthouse now re-erected on Plymouth Hoe and Brunel's famous Tamar bridge erected to carry the railway to Cornwall. Coins and tokens were illustrated for each period and the talk concluded with pictures of modern Plymouth, rebuilt after being flattened by WWII bombing.



The final speaker was Tony who gave an amusing talk around his own early years as a coin collector, and a gentleman known as Fred who ran the Guildford coin shop from the late 1950's to late 1980's. Tony related several anecdotes on how he got started collecting coins, for example, his first ever purchase was a 4/piece but he selected the wrong date and a Charles lst 2/6d bought from Fred for 2/6d. Tony then provided us with several facts about Fred life and his time in the coin shop. Surprisingly, given Fred's deep interest in coins it was not his first passion. It was in fact finding and collecting ancient archaeological artefacts such as flints, arrowheads and axe heads. He also had interest in minerals, nice examples of which were often on display in the shop. To conclude Tony spoke about some of his early purchases from Fred, which he had bought along for us to see, viz: A coin of Creousus King of Lydia 550 BC bought for £12, a portrait denarius of Julius Caesar bought for £6.5, a Claudius sestertius minted in England bought for 27/6, a mint state Elizabeth 1/- £12 and a Newark 1/- £5

Several members made very complimentary comments on the excellent quality of the talks. However, as there can be only one winner the member's vote far the person to receive the M Myhill memorial shield went to Tony. Well-done Tony.



Spring Social.

The Spring Social skittles evening is being planned far Saturday 8th April, at the Red Lion in Theale. If you are interested in coming along to this fun evening please sign up at the next meeting. A sign-up list will be adjacent to the signing in book. The cost is £12 per head including buffet and prizes, monies payable to David. Drinks are extra.

Future Events.

London coin show - Holiday Inn, Bloomsbury, 11th February

Baldwin's Auctions -11th February, in conjunction with the London Coin show

Birmingham Coin Fair - Motorcycle museum, 12th February

Past Events

In January 1976 members heard a talk on Byzantine coins.

Ten years later Mr J Woolly spoke about military medals awarded to the Ox & Bucks light infantry and how he was researching the details of the recipients.