20th February 2026

Next club meeting 2nd March 2026

 

This club meeting will be our annual club auction. The auction catalogue and terms & conditions accompany this newsletter.

 

Meetings are held at the Abbey Baptist Church, Abbey Square, commencing at

Text Box: Neil Beaton RIP It is with great sadness that we report the death of long-time club member Neil Beaton. Neil had been our club’s auditor for more years than any of us can remember and has contributed to the club in many other ways. Since 2000 he has given two full lectures, fifteen short talks and exhibited fifteen different displays. As an ex-commodore naturally many of his contributions involved ships and the sea or even the river Thames but a lot of us will remember him especially when it came to things to do with the West country and Plymouth in particular. Neil was an acknowledged expert on tokens but had wider knowledge of numismatics, including his time working at Pinches in London. He is pictured below with the Michael Broome Cup, and he will be greatly missed by all at the club. 7.00 p.m.

 

 

February Meeting

Derek Allen gave a talk entitled “An Irreverent Ramble through Victorian Obverse Portraiture”

 

Derek started his talk showing two images of the George IV – the first was an unflattering and disliked portrait of the king, and the second was a greatly improved obverse by William Wyon that made the king appear much younger. William Wyon was an excellent engraver and he was responsible for the early obverses of Queen Victoria – amply demonstrated by his bold and masterly portraits on the early bun head pennies on the intricate gothic styled crown.

 

1839 2-banded bun head penny

 

1847 Gothic crown

 

 

William Wyon

William Wyon died in 1851, but his designs continued for some years

 

The 1855 penny was not to William Wyon’s design but to that of his son Leonard Charles Wyon for use in Australia. The 1857 design for minting in Australia was a cross between gothic and bun head with a wreath of banksia leaves.

 

1855 Penny

1857 Banksia wreath

 

Young head bronze penny

Minting of copper coins ceased in 1860 when bronze coinage was introduced. The queen was unimpressed with the first bronze image by Wyon, only a handful got into circulation. As if Victoria was disappointed by her first image in bronze, the best engravers for the contemporaneous Spanish silver coinage couldn’t hide the plainness of Isabella II.

 

Although the queen’s profile was gradually aged, by the 1880’s the queen was in her sixties and Joseph Edgar Boehm was commissioned to produce the Jubilee Head, the younger bun head continued in use on bronze coinage until 1895 when it was superseded by the Old Head portrait.

 

 

Below left is a silver 20 reales of Isabella II. Below right is a caricature of the queen by an unknown artist

 


 

Joseph Edgar Boehm was the partner of Princess Louise, the fourth daughter of the Queen, who was herself an accomplished artist and sculptress.

 

 

 

Boehm

 

A statue of her mother by

Princess Louise

 

The Old Head design wore poorly in bronze

 

The club members heartily applauded Derek for his interesting and thoroughly enjoyable talk.

 

 

Future Events.

            London Coin Fair – Shortlands, London, W6 –13th June 2026

            Midland Coin Fair - National Motorcycle Museum –8th March 2026

            Spinks Auctions –1st April 2026

            Noonans, Mayfair, W1J 8BQ – 3rd and 4th March 2026

            Morton & Eden –Spring 2026

St James Auctions – 26th March 2026

Baldwins –18th March 2026

 

Past Events

In February 1976 members were given much background information on the prevailing political events in a talk entitled "Political tokens of the turbulent 1790's".

In February 1986 club bourse was held.

In 2006 the club auction was held.

February 2016 saw a talk by Tim Millet all about Convict Tokens

 Club Secretary