Next club meeting - Monday 3^rd. November 2008.

• Siege Pieces of Charles I by Anthony Travis

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

This was a talk by Graham Dyer entitled "Repent at Leisure: The Adoption of 500 Silver in 1920". The first slide was a picture of a sterling silver coin - ideal for coinage - easy to work and capable of taking details very well. In 1920 the silver coinage was reduced from Sterling (92.5% fine) to 50% fine. The result of this was that the post 1920 coinage discoloured, cracked and didn't take the impression well. This was expressed forcefully by Charles Oman, President of the Royal Society. The main reason for the debasement was the increase in the price of silver. The silver value was greater than the face value. Since 1816 our coinage had been a token coinage - the face value far exceeded the silver content. The critical price level was 66d per ounce. By 1919 this had risen from 25d in 1914 to 59.1 - very close to the critical value. The amount of silver coin produced increased dramatically during the war - the Royal Mint purchased 125 million ounces of silver during the war, which helped to push up the price.

The Government of the day had been monitoring the situation. It banned the export of silver and it tried to ban hoarding. It banned the purchase of silver coin for more than face value and it tried to fix the price of silver. Despite all these efforts it could not really hold down the price of silver. Austin Chamberlain was the Chancellor of the Exchequer at the time and he said in public in early 1919 he hoped that government action had protected the coinage but in private he realised that some action might need to be taken. He set up a committee under Lord Cunliffe to examine the problem. The Government was very aware that we had to think not just of Britain but also of all the Empire, which was much greater. Low value notes had been prepared (5/- and less). The 'Silver Committee' as it was called, listened to many witnesses, including the Deputy Master of the Mint (Cawston). The Mint was given a rough time by Cunliffe who felt that the Mint had not really been up to the task. They discussed the possibility of striking the 3d and 6d in nickel - there seemed to be a particular dislike of the threepence. Different finenesses were discussed, from 800,700,600 and 500. Fifteen trial halfcrowns were struck, in 800,600,500,400 and 300, the lower finenesses having a rather yellow colour. These were recovered from the Treasury in 1967 and placed in the Royal Mint Museum. The number behind the head indicated the fineness. The committee made five recommendations:

• Existing laws regarding the silver coinage to be rigidly enforced
• The Royal Mint to be enlarged and modernised
• Low value notes to be introduced
• 3d and 6d to be withdrawn and replaced with base metal
• high value coinage (1/- and above) should remain the same size and weight

The Treasury deliberated these recommendations but meanwhile the price of silver rose to 85d per ounce, so making a reduction in the fineness of the silver coin an absolute necessity. The Royal Mint was not involved sufficiently in the deliberations, partly due to Cawston's own diffidence. A second set of trials was produced in nickel and cupro nickel (cupro nickel was numbered 9) and sent to the Treasury. In January 1920 the Chancellor said that the first three recommendations had been accepted and notes were produced, though they were never issued. The fourth and fifth recommendation were sent to the cabinet. The cabinet rejected the adoption of nickel for the 3d and 6d but accepted a lowering of the fineness to 500 for all the silver coinage. A bill was passed in early 1920 authorising a reduction in the fineness of silver, with very little opposition apart from Oman, who was also an MP.

The final sting in the tail was that the price of silver dropped soon after and didn't reach the dizzy heights of 66d per ounce again until the late 1930s.

A lively discussion followed with many questions from members. Thank you to Graham for a very illuminating and interesting talk.

Will the few persons yet to pay their club subscriptions please do so at the next meeting.

The Autumn dinner/social evening is on Saturday 22nd November at the Round Oak in Burghfield, West of Reading for members and partners. The cost will be a fixed price of £25 per person for the meal and wine. If you wish to come please contact a committee member or add your name to the list at the next meeting. We will start collecting payments at the next meeting.

The December meeting will be a members evening along the same lines as last year. The main feature will be a bourse (coin fair). We need as many members as possible to bring along those unwanted items to sell and for others to buy. Tables will be available at no charge. For those with just a few pieces there will be a collective members table.

As this is a members evening we need you all to participate to make it a success. If you have any other ideas we would like to hear them - please contact a committee member.

The subject for the January meeting is short talks by members, competing for the Mark Myhill memorial trophy. As usual we are short of entries. Members willing to give a talk should please contact a committee member either at the November or 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.

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.

• London Coin Fair Holiday Inn, Bloomsbury, Russel Square - 8th November
• Bonhams auction - 15th October
• Midland Coin Fair, National Motorcycle museum - 9th November
• St. James Auctions, Knightsbridge - 6-7 November

Ten years ago was the Club Auction, including the Berkshire Token Collection.

Twenty years ago Tony Holmes gave a talk on "The Greek Empire, Subsequent to Alexander"

Thirty years ago Mr. A. Burnett talked on "The Origin and Development of Britannia on Coins"