Next club meeting Monday 5th June 2006
The AGM is the meeting where the officer's report the status of the club and the membership voice their concerns/ ideas. It is also the time where the club committee is elected for the forthcoming year. Serving on the committee is not that taxing, but members may be reluctant to volunteer for the unknown. To assure you that it is not that difficult a summary of the principal activities of the committee offices is enclosed for your review. Then, if you feel reassured and are willing to stand for office please contact the Chairman (or any other committee member ) prior to the meeting. Why not have a go - you may find it fun and easier than you think
The second part of the evening will be devoted to the annual display competition, with the winner being awarded the Michael Broome Memorial Trophy for 1 year. The competition is open to all members and can cover any topic connected to numismatics. So to all members please have a go and enter a display. Those that do a display will receive an entry into a raffle, the prize being a bottle of wine.
May Meeting
This month the guest speaker was David Powell who delivered a profusely illustrated talk entitled `American Civil War tokens'. The American Civil war began in 1861 and lasted until the end of 1865. During this time the national currency was still being minted, but it failed to circulate at the very time it was most needed. As had happened in the past elsewhere traders and manufacturers saw an opportunity to provide tokens in lieu of official money.
The American Civil war tokens spanned a very short period, before the government outlawed their production because of redemption problems - only 21 months from 1862 to 1864. In this limited time some 1500 establishments from 400 towns in 22 states issued numerous pieces, mostly dated 1863 in copper or brass. They were mainly 19 to 20mm diameter and often struck from muled dies. Of the 22 issuing states there were seven prominent ones, namely Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan, New York, Illinois and Indiana. There were two distinct categories for the tokens, firstly `Patriotic' and secondly `Traders'.
The first group generally express patriotic sentiments in either words or their iconography and often do not identify the issuer. Similar such tokens had previously appeared in the UK in the late 18th century, for example the Middlesex political tokens that may have influenced these later American issues.
Mr Powell then went on to illustrate many examples of the `patriotic' tokens, typically:
The second group were issued by traders and known as `store cards. They were not dissimilar to the unofficial farthings of the mid Victorian era. Generally they had the name and address of the issuer with a description of the issuers business in either words or pictorial form. Again Mr Powell illustrated many examples. These mostly had pictures to illustrate the trade, eg mortise & pestle = druggist, scales = groceries, tools = hardware, agricultural implements = farm supplier and so on. Others were more general such as the beehive for the `hive of industry'.
To conclude his talk Mr Powell spoke briefly about Sutler tokens. These were tokens issued for use at specifically named forts. They are somewhat rare and not very attractive, being rather plain. These tokens, as with the UK truck tokens, could only be used with specific traders at his place of business and therefore gain an unsavoury reputation as the means by which unscrupulous traders could cheat, swindled and defraud their customers.
Many thanks to David Powell for providing interesting talk on such a specialist subject.
Questionnaire
One of the difficulties the committee often encounters is steering club activities in the direction of most interest to members. With this in mind a few weeks ago many of you were requested to complete a questionnaire. The results are included with this newsletter for your comment & review. Generally it appears members are well satisfied with club meetings and associated activities but less interested in external social events. Gavin will say a few words and lead any further discussion at the AGM.
Next years Programme
The programme for next year is still in the course of preparation. However, the 4th July meeting is the talk `Of Celts & Cartwheels' by D Symons (curator of B'ham museum) (talk deferred from 9th May)
Summer Social
This year the Summer social will be a visit to the museum of Wales on Wednesday 9th August. The museum has a good selection of Roman and Civil war coins and other pieces with a Welsh element. We will be given a conducted tour of the museum coin gallery by the renowned numismatist and curator Edward Besly, and a handling session from the reserve collection.
Numbers will be limited to 12-15 so it will be first come first served, unless massively oversubscribed in which case there will be a ballot. For the handling session we will break into groups of 2x6 or 3x5 due to space limitations. Details are still being developed but departure will be 9.OO or 9.30 to arrive 10.30/11.00 at the museum. After leaving the museum 13.00/13.30 we will adjourn to a suitable pub, currently being located. Provided there is sufficient interest transport will be arranged, the cost of which will be capped between £15 and £20 (coach prices will have risen steeply with the recent high fuel prices).
An enrolment form will be available at the next meeting, but for those unable to attend please call the secretary to book a place. If you are interested please register asap, it is hard to make arrangements for unknown numbers.
Library
The club has received the following books kindly donated by Jean Myhill.
The club has also purchased the following books from one of our members
Finally a copy of the CCNB newsletter is included with this communication
Future Events.
Past Events