November meeting
The November meeting of Reading Coin Club was a talk given by Gerry Buddle entitled ‘A Rose in the Ear – The Coins of Shakespeare’, and was attended by 24 members.
Gerry began by explaining that Shakespeare’s play were written from 1589 to about 1611, and as such, any coinage referred to would have been struck from the mid-1550’s onwards.
There are various references to coinage as a form of payment. In Hamlet Act 2 Scene 2, Hamlet refers to Ducats – these would probably be equivalent to the gold Venetian Zuccino of the time. Others include Dollars (Macbeth Act 1 Scene 2) and Marks (Henry VIII Act 5 Scene 1).
Coins are also used in reference to gaming – particularly shove-groat shilling, which appears in Henry IV
Part 2 as well as The Merry Wives of Windsor where Slender is pick-pocketed ‘of seven groats in mill-sixpences, and
two Edward shovel-boards, that cost me two shilling and two pence a-piece.’ We can surmise that the mill-sixpences
refer to the early milled 6ds of Elizabeth I, and the two Edward shovel-boards being Edward VI
shillings. It is believed that the additional penny charged per coin may have been due to a silver
collar placed around the shilling to either strengthen it, or mark it as a gaming counter.
To put this theft into context, at the time in which The Merry Wives of Windsor is set, 1d would have bought a loaf of bread; 7d would be a day’s wages for an unskilled labourer; 5s purchased two coats and two pairs of britches; £3 is the annual salary of a maidservant and £30 that of a surgeon!
Shakespeare is renowned for his historical and geographical inaccuracies (most of Richard III for example!) and this extends to the coinage as well… In Henry IV Bullcalf refers to ‘Harry ten-shillings’, presumably meaning a half-sovereign (or Ryal) which wasn’t struck until over 50 years after the death of Henry IV! In Othello, a play set in Venice and Cyprus, there is mention of a cruzado – a Portuguese coin, and in Julius Caesar a drachma is mentioned, despite being a Greek denomination!
There are also a number of jokes or comments containing numismatic references within Shakespeare – particularly Richard II where we have the two lines ‘God for his Richard hath in Heavenly pay A glorious angel’ (Act 3 Scene 2) and ‘Thanks, Noble peer; The cheapest of us is ten groats too dear’ (Act 5 Scene 5). Additionally in Henry IV Part 1: ‘There's neither honesty, manhood, nor good fellowship in thee, nor thou camest not of the blood royal, if thou darest not stand for ten shillings.’
Gerry concluded his talk with an explanation of the title for his talk, ‘A Rose in the Ear’. This is derived
from a quote by Philip the Bastard in King John (Act 1 Scene 1), where he compares himself to a three-farthing
coin (the thinnest, smallest denomination in circulation – distinguished from the penny by a rose behind the
head of Elizabeth I):
As usual, we thank Gerry for a very informative and interesting talk, and we thank him for joining us.
Annual Subscriptions
Will the few persons yet to pay their club subscriptions please do so at the next club meeting.
Future Events.
- 5th-6th Dec – London Coins – Numismatic Auction - Bracknell
- 5th Dec – Cheltenham Coin Fair – Regency Hotel, GL51 0ST
- Dec – Midland Coin Fair – Birmingham
- 16th Dec – Timeline Auctions – Coins, Antiquities and Books - London
Past Events.
1 Year ago - Tim Everson gave a talk about Communion Tokens
10 Years ago - Frank gave an emergency talk on Ancient Greek coinage, as the speaker was unable to attend due to adverse weather conditions
30 Years ago - The Club Auction took place earning a the club a commission of £24.32