December 2006.

Next club meeting - Monday 7th January 2007.

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

December meeting

As last year, twenty-six members braved a cold December evening to attend the members’ meeting and everybody appeared to thoroughly enjoy it. Several of the members brought along their own bits and pieces to trade and augmented the usual run of dealers.

Once again Henry Stanbrook provided hot sausage rolls and mince pies, cheese, biscuits and other goodies and both hot and cold drinks were available. Henry received a special vote of thanks for doing such a good job. Henry is due to come off the committee at the end of this season and we will be hard pushed to replace him. Please consider if you could support the club by coming on the committee for next season (full training will be given ?).

There was a tough quiz which Gavin Scott had organised, details given below and answers to follow in next month’s newsletter for those of you not there on the night. It was a close competition and some disagreement with some of the answers but at the end Michael Gouby won by one point from Frank Milward. Three members provided interesting displays, the first a recent acquisition, the second a display of Hop Tokens prompted by Duncan Pennock’s recent talk and the third on counterfeits, including a selection of over twenty-five one pound and two two-pound coins from recent years.

A very entertaining evening and no doubt one that will be repeated in next year’s calendar.



Future Meetings

The next meeting is the annual Short Talks evening. Disappointingly, at this late stage, we are still asking for members willing to talk on any numismatically related subject to try and win the Marc Myhill Memorial shield for this season. Please contact any member of the committee if you can present a talk.

The club auction is due to take place at the February meeting. Please bring along your coins, medals, tokens, banknotes and any other numismatic material to the January meeting 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.

Please also note that the speakers for the March and April meetings have swapped dates. Tony Holmes will now speak in April and David Powell in March

Numismatic Quiz

  1. What does DN stand for on Roman Coins?
  2. What does a large letter K stand for on the reverse of Byzantine coins?
  3. Which country used the denomination Perper?
  4. Which country issued a 1/48 of a shilling?
  5. What mint does K signify on French coins?
  6. Other than Russia, which country has issued platinum coins?
  7. In which year was the Governor of the Mint of Scotland abolished? (1603 1707 1817 1837)
  8. When did New Zealand start to issue its own 1d and 1/2d?
  9. Before 1707, what was a Scottish 1/- equivalent to in English money?
  10. “Not worth a damn” is derived from which coin?
  11. Until what date were the French title and arms retained on English Coinage?
  12. How could an Elizabethan petty criminal change 3/4d into 1d?
  13. Young head farthings were issued in 1895 – true or false?
  14. Black finish farthings were introduced in 1896 – true or false?
  15. Which Monarch issued English coins in 1557?
  16. What was the first year without IND IMP on English coins?
  17. Were halfcrowns issued in 1952?
  18. Which modern British coins have a reverse of three acorns and oak leaves?
  19. Who engraved the profile groats of Henry VII?
  20. Who was the first king to issue a gold halfcrown?
Future Events.

Past Events.

In December 1977 Mr. C. Jackson gave a talk on "Matthew Boulton".

In December 1987, the Club held its Annual Social Christmas party.

Ten years ago in 1997, Graham Dyer gave a talk entitled "Royal Mint Techniques, The Transition from Hammered to Milled Coinage".


Last but not least - A Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all our readers.