Next club meeting - Monday 5^th December 2006.

• Subject - Winter bourse & Members Evening

The activities will be as follows

1. The main feature will be a mini coin fair. Tables will not be charged for & there will be a collective members table.
2. A cryptic quiz to be completed at leisure during the evening
3. A coin description quiz
4. Members to bring along one or two items that for some reason are considered special (e.g. recent acquisition, a long sought after piece, an unusual find, an oddity etc.). A brief written explanation as to why the piece is special to you. Display tables will be available.
5. Buffet

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

This was a talk by Tim Everson entitled Royal and Rose Farthings of James and Charles I.

Silver farthings first struck in the reign of Edward I had by the 16th century, become impossibly small. The last issue was in 1551 struck by Edward VI. Elizabeth I experimented with base metal issues – she mixed two grains of silver (the value of a farthing) with copper to make a decent size coin – but as this simply appeared to be base metal and with awful memories of the debased coinage of her father Henry VIII, the experiment was simply abandoned. Instead, she issued a three farthing piece but how practically useful this was, we do not know. This issue lasted about 15 years. In practise the public probably used lead tokens as farthings of which many are known today.

When James I came to the throne he was already familiar with copper coins from Scotland and he liked awarding monopolies (as gifts or to sell to raise money) so he negotiated with Lords Harrington and Lennox to issue copper farthings. Harrington had looked after James’ daughter and James was very much in debt to him – which may have influenced his obtaining the patent. The potential profit was enormous. Two shillings worth of copper would make £1 worth of farthings, which appealed to both parties. Profit forecasts ranged from a few thousand to £75,000 per annum. The first issue was only 5 grains of tinned copper and very unpopular – to get them into circulation 21 shillings worth was offered for £1. Harrington put his own mark on the coins which was originally hought to be a mintmark. They could be redeemed at the Token House.

Harrington died five months after the first issue and his son died shortly after, leaving the widows with£35,000 worth of debt and the farthings only brought in £500. However, she still had the patent and issued bigger and better farthings (9 grains and no silvering). Slides were shown illustrating these early issues – crown with crossed sceptre obverse, crowned harp reverse.

In 1616 the patent was granted to two London silversmiths called Woodward and Garret. However, they worked for Lord Lennox, so the next issues are generally calle Lennox farthings. They further improved the quality though the weight remained at 9 grains. Because of the huge profit margin counterfeits began to appear. Some privy marks are in fact counterfeit coins. Mascle and triangle mintmarks are in fact counterfeit.

In 1622 Lennox was promoted to Duke of Richmond and granted a formal patent. The quality of the farthings deteriorated slightly also in 1622 the Irish parliament authorised the issue of farthings, so a separate issue was made for Ireland – distinguished by having the obverse legend start at the bottom left of the coin. They were also a bit more crudely made.

In 1625 both James I and the Duke of Richmond died and Charles I granted the patent to the Duchess of Richmond. There seemed to be five or six different privy or mintmarks per year which Tim thought indicated five or six presses working, each with its own mark. Typical mint marks were a leaf or a mascle. The farthings were now known as Richmonds although they were the same as the previous issue. Some of the early issues have “CARO” clearly recut over “JACO”. In James I reign it is estimated that 10-20% of the farthings in circulation were counterfeit. By the reign of Charles I this had increased to probably 50%. The issuers were worried by this so in 1632 they changed the design the main difference was the introduction of a beaded harp. This was so successful that next year they changed the design again. The counterfeits show many errors in letters and in punctuation. However this also caused confusion with the public and some loss of confidence as it was not sure which coins were redeemable at the Token House. In 1634 the patent was transferred to Lord Maltravers and new design introduced again, Tim thinks designs by Briot, much neater and more letters, CAROLUS instead of CARO or CAROLO.

At one point the Token House refused to change the older farthings and would only change “double ring” farthings (inner circles introduced on obverse and reverse). This caused much discontent and even riots. Meanwhile in Ireland they were still producing oval (cylinder type) farthings after the riots a new patent was granted for Rose farthings and the older farthings were validated (although it is not known whether the old farthings were in fact redeemed. The Rose farthing had as their name indicates , a crowned rose in the design also a brass plug as an anti-counterfeiting device. The crowns were elaborate and double arched on both sides. In 1639 Maltravers bought out his partner Crane. In 1642 Civil war broke out and Parliament took over the mint and also the Token House. They asked the last incumbent of the Token house to produce accounts for his period in office (1636-41) and from this we know that in this period £49,000 of farthings were produced – equating to an output of approximately 35,000 farthings per day – a colossal output. He then left to join the King and Parliament appointed James East who produced the last issue of farthings between 1643 and 1644. These had sceptres below the crown. Finally in late 1644 Parliament banned the issue of farthings which resulted in 1648 with the issue of private traders tokens which we know so well.

Autumn Social

On Saturday 18th November 16 members and guests enjoyed a really good evening social at the Toby Carvery in Reading. Half of each table switched before the sweets and coffee arrived to allow all the people present to meet each other. The wine flowed freely and the banter covered a wide range of subjects, without too much mention of numismatics. Our thanks go to Frank for making the arrangements.

Annual Subscriptions

Will the few persons yet to pay their club subscriptions please do so at the next club meeting. If you cannot attend please send your subs to David.

Future meetings

The subject for the January meeting is short talks by members and we still need volunteers. Will members willing to give a talk please contact a committee member either at the December meeting, or by phone so that the committee can schedule the agenda for the evening. The talk can be on any numismatic related topic and need only last for 10 - 15 minutes.

Club Auction

The club auction is due to take place at the beginning of February. This may seem a long way off but you will need to start thinking about pieces you wish to include in the sale. Please bring along your coins, medals, tokens, banknotes and any other numismatic material to any of the forthcoming meetings and hand them to any committee member.

If we all put in just a few lots we can make this an enjoyable and successful evening. The auction commission charge will be 10% of the hammer price.

• Spinks Acution 30^th November
• Monks Coin fair, Jury's hotel Russel Square - 2^nd December
• Birmingham Coin Fair, National Motorcycle museum Sunday 10^th December.
• DNW Coin Auction - 13 & 14^th December

In November 1976 Dr. John Kent gave a talk entitled "Sixty Glorious Years, the Development and Content of Victorian Medals".

Ten years later members heard a talk on "Tudor Coinage" by Barrie Cook.

Ten years ago in 1996, John Crowley gave a talk on "Primitive Currencies".