May 14th 2012
Next club meeting Monday 11th June 2012
Meetings are held
at the
NOTICES
May Meeting
Jetons were as a specialist counter for use in accounting.
The jetons were placed on a chequered board (from
where we get the term Exchequer) and used to calculate in a similar fashion to
that used on Abaci. Prior to the mid-13th Century, foreign coins (mainly Venitian) were used for this purpose.
At approximately the time when Edward I opened the
central mint at the Tower of London, production of jetons
began in England. These were struck in low-zinc brass using dies that had been
sunk using punches from the official coinage in various combinations.
Most jetons have a punch
mark in the centre of the flan (but not necessarily the design) – this is
thought to be a mark for (or from) the flan-cutter. Another theory is that it
deterred people from coating the jeton with
silver-wash and passing off as official coinage. Through the reigns of Edward
I, II and III, it seems that jetons were produced
when there was lower demand of coinage – the rarer the class of penny, the
commoner the jeton!
Some jetons are also found
with mitre – these are thought to have been especially commissioned and issued
by Bishops as the Church would have been the largest ‘business’ outside of
central government.
The reverses of jetons range
from a simple cross-moline to three lions
(Plantagenet Arms) to a sun/moon design. Earlier jetons
are rather more flamboyant, however under Edward II, the designs become a lot
simpler. This trend is reversed into Edward III when the original artistry
gradually returns.
You will find that not all jetons
have a portrait on the obverse – some are a lion rampant,
or a stack of crowns or roses – however the reverse designs are consistent with
the portrait jetons, and it is thought that this may
have indicated that the production was at a similar time – with different
obverses for different clients/departments.
Later under Edward III, the jeton
series moved to imitate the gold coinage of the day – with a standing or seated
king, some legends and a slight increase in size. There is a particularly rare jeton based on the Leopard.
Production of jetons in
England was phased out much later in the reign of Edward III and the first few
years of Richard II, when French imports were used instead.
As an addendum, some jetons
have been found with holes and/or clasps – these usually have a cross motif
‘outwards’ and as such are thought to have been worn as pilgrim badges or
broaches.
A huge thirty members were present for Philip’s talk,
and we expressed our appreciation in the usual way.
Future Events
Past Events
·
10 years ago – “Countermarked Coins” – Gavin Scott
·
40 years ago – “A
History of Banknotes” – Michael O’Grady
Club
Secretary
Chairman’s Report 2011/2012
While it is gratifying to
report that club nights continue to be well attended it is not so good news
with regard to maintaining our membership. In recent years we have marginally
grown our membership, but in the past year we have lost 5 members and gained 3.
Circumstances and long term non-attendance, plus some follow-up, has confirmed
the losses are most likely to be permanent. Thus, the current membership is 40,
2 less than last year. However, with attendances on club nights in the mid to
high 20’s our club is still one of the most active.
Staying on the theme of
membership feedback from other clubs has confirmed that most recruitment comes
from conversations with current members. There is a universal lack of success
in recruiting young members, possibly due to a lack of initiatives, but it does
seem to indicate that considerable effort expended in this direction may yield
minimal returns.
|
Re recruiting young members - What are the views of the Reading
membership? |
This past years speaker
programme covered several aspects of numismatics and I extend thanks to Henry
for putting it together. The 6 visiting speakers gave talks on Tokens, Jettons and a wide range of coins (Roman English, Papal and
the more modern Colonial). This year was very noticeable for the novel ways
that some speakers approached their subject, quite refreshing to the normal
academic delivery. Also congratulations to our
members who gave such excellent short talks and thanks to Peter Hall for the seasons first talk on Roman coins.
.
With regard to external activities the year began with
the Summer Social, a visit to the British Museum hosted by senior
curator Mr Barry Cook. Thirteen members were entertained in the coin room,
where we were able to examine at close quarters the rare coins requested by
members, (which are documented in the August newsletter). Members also viewed
the exceptional displays in the ‘Money Gallery’. Overall, a
very good day out.
The August 2012 social
will be a garden party + if possible, a visit to the Silchester
excavations.
Turning to other
social events the December bourse seemed to be popular and I extend thanks to Henry for bringing the food, Gavin for providing the
quiz and all those who bought coins along to make for a good evening. The
January member’s talks were again excellent and the February auction seemed
much improved on several fronts – well done to James for the organisation.
A very enjoyable evening was held by the 17 persons
who attended the April skittles evening, organised by Peter. However, take away
the committee and guest attendees and it is very apparent there is an ever
declining membership engagement with this event. With such low membership interest the committee
find it difficult to justify continuing with this event and consequently the
committee is contemplating not holding the Skittles evening next year.
With regard to possible joint meetings with another
club due to personal circumstances, and added duties, I have not had the time
to pursue this- neither has any of the persons contacted replied. Thus for the
time being this is on hold.
The Committee has run much as before, except that we
have used email for the majority of communications and minimise committee
meetings to 2 per year. However, as we were unable to find a fifth Committee
member we have run with just 4 persons. The Chairman has picked up the duties
of Publicity & the Library. This along with changing the rules to allow
committee service to be extended beyond five years has enabled a functioning
committee to be formed. For how long such manoeuvres will maintain a viable
committee is questionable since the present incumbents will not stand for ever.
|
Re the Committee -
What are the views of the Reading membership? |
May 2014 will be the clubs 50th
anniversary, a landmark that will require some form of celebration. Although
the details are yet to be determined the committee has discussed 2
possibilities in principle. – to have a national event
by hosting a conference (BANS or Token) or to have a local event. I have
already discussed the conference option with a few selected members and their
feedback, considered by the committee, has determined it would be either BANS
or a local event.
Since any celebration is primarily for the club
membership I need to have a feedback from the membership to gauge the general
level of interest. So at the AGM I wish to ascertain the following:
|
Is a BANS conference of interest and would you attend? Have you concerns if Reading hosted BANS? (eg
financial, logistics, labour) Would be a local event be of more interest & would you attend? (eg banquet, displays) Are such celebrations of no interest? |
I ask these preliminary questions because events such
as these, which entail a lot of work, are only rewarding if there is a good
level of interest.
MM May 2012
.
.
Club Secretary’s
Report 2011/12
At
the end of April, the Royal Mail increased the price of stamps by almost 40%! As
such, the annual cost to send the newsletter to each member has risen to almost
£10 – that’s out of your £14 membership fee! In the short term, the Secretary
has taken step to limit the clubs exposure to the price increase by bulk-buying
a few months’ worth of stamps. Whilst the committee acknowledges that not all
members have computer/email access , we would greatly
appreciate that if you are able to receive an electronic newsletter that you
let the Secretary know the appropriate address.
On
the subject of the newsletter, the format of this document has not changed in
many years. As such, the Secretary asks the following questions:
Does
the newsletter need a re-vamp?
What
items can be left out?
Any
ideas for new items?
Further
to the Club Census that was carried out last year, there are still a few gaps
in the membership records – 45 names (including a few ex-members); 37
addresses; 32 phone numbers and 42 emails (inc 11 not applicables)
– and a paltry 16 census returns of which less than half provided new details!
As such, in the next month or so the census form will reissued to those who did
not complete the original form – please do so this time!
On
a personal note, I would like to thank those of you who sponsored me to run the
Brighton Marathon – with your help, I raised £1200 for
Winston’s Wish. Thank you!
JAQ
May 2012
Programme Secretary’s Report 2011/12
This past year worked out
very well and the entire programme was delivered without a hitch, including the
additional activities (ie Summer Social, Christmas
Dinner and the Skittles evening). All the scheduled speakers attended.
As reported last year in some
areas it is becoming more difficult to obtain speakers who talk about main
stream English coins. Many of the old guard no longer give talks and the
majority of the new younger breed will not give talks and seem only to be
interested in the commercial aspects of our hobby. The better news is that we
can still find speakers who talk on subjects other than main stream English
coins
(ie tokens, tallies, colonial, para-numismatics
etc).
The membership also needs to
be aware that the costs of travel are causing charges for speakers to increase,
in some cases markedly.
As to next years programme it is as follows:
|
2012 |
2013 |
|
July – 2nd The Inimitable Banknote By – Pam West |
January – 7th Short Talks By – Club Members |
|
August Members Summer Social Garden Party + Visit to Silchester dig |
February – 4th Annual Auction For – Club Members only |
|
September 3rd Coin Weights &Tokens Of J Kirk By –Luke Shrager |
March – 4th Banknotes of Cyprus By – Andy Georgio |
|
October – 1st Antiques of a Bye-Gone Age By – Ross Cooper |
April – 8th Collecting 17th Century
Tokens By Feature By – David Powell |
|
November – 5th 18th
& 19th Century London Entertainments By – David Young |
May – 13th Some Rarities Of The
Shilling Series By – G Oddie |
|
December – 3rd Winter Bourse & Members Evening |
June – 3rd AGM & Display Competition |
|
To assist in the preparation of the 2014 speaker programme does the
membership have suggestions for topics they would like covered? |
For your information in
forming a view here is a summary of talks in the past 2 years:
English – (Charles I siege
pieces)
Roman – (Brown coins), (Beachy Head hoard)
Foreign – (Papal coins), (Empire
coins), (Numismatics of Cyprus), (Maltese coins)
Tokens – (Drinking),
(Medieval Jettons), (Guildford), (Market),
General – (Creating a Book),
(Coins of the Shakespearean era),
(Silchester
excavations)
Library & Publicity Report 2012
Last October, an audit of the
library was carried out. An up to date list is now posted inside the book
cabinet door and the principal findings of the audit are as follows:
1) In
the past 10 years just 2 books have gone missing. They are:
1)
Rawlin’s-Coins
& how to know
them’. 2) Coincraft’s-Standard
catalogue of English coin.
As Rawlins is not on the loans list of the
past 10 years, follow up is nigh impossible, unless any member here has it. The
Coincraft has been loaned & returned this year
but is now missing.
2) The loans from the library are
low. There have been only 90 loans in the past 8 years, that is an average of
just 11/year, and while 23 members have loaned a book, just 7 members account
for 77% of loans. With figures such as these the committee find it hard to
recommend spending club funds on new books. This of course begs the question
‘how many members refer to the library on club nights’.
3)
Generally
most of our library books are quite old (20+ years or more). For narrative
books this is OK since many are still very useful despite their age. However,
several price guides are now pretty useless, although again some are still good
reference books.
4) For most categories, apart from
world banknotes, we have quite good coverage. However, based upon usage the
committee felt that the copies of Kraus (1800-2000) should be updated. This has
been done for the 1901-2000 edition at a much reduced
cost.
|
So what are the views of the
membership regarding to maintaining/ enhancing the library? |
Recent additions to the
library are: 1) The Roman Emperor
Aurelian 2) Counterfeit Roman coinage.
Proposal to prune club records
Despite the reorganising and
tiding of the library it is very full so some pruning has been done.
There is very little filed
paperwork relating to the past decade (ie post 2000),
while the remainder (pre 2000) is mostly routine working letters and
communications of questionable historic value. There is very little evidence of
useful organisation – more a dumping ground in approximately date order.
Given that most historic information is
contained in the minutes, newsletters and selective papers it is therefore
proposed to dispose of:
-past
working correspondence and all duplication (of which there is a lot)
-pre 2009 BANS & BNS paper communications
(actually latest filed documents are 2005)
-auction
lists ( eg club, tokens, M Lucket )
Not everything is going, and
the retained records will be:
-Constitution
-newsletters and reports
-yearly
membership cards with Speaker programme details (+ speaker/ subject list for
past 48 years)
-Committee
& AGM meeting minutes
-relevant
historical records (cup winners, short talks, past notable obituaries and
papers
related to
Anniversaries, Reading BANS conference
and Jubilee celebration).
-post
2009 relevant *correspondence, BANS & BNS papers* (*=as decided by officer)
-
Library catalogue
-papers
related to publicity (both past & present)
|
Does the membership agree with the committee’s proposal? Any comments |
Note that with so much
internal and external communication now being conducted electronically
relatively few records are now being filed in the library. Consequently record
documents for the past 7 years are quite sparse. Also current working documents
are held in the Officers boxes. Officers
have been reminded to transfer relevant documents to the long term records,
making hard copies of electronic documents when necessary.
Publicity
From the discussions with
other coin and collectable clubs it is very apparent that collecting is an
older generation pastime. Not one of the organisations contacted have any young
members, neither have they been able to attract them. The committee therefore
feel that our initial ideas aimed at the young, such as hands on displays at
community events, would be much work for little return. Therefore this
initiative is shelved.
|
Interestingly, at least 2 clubs stated the majority of new members
come from contacts with existing members – so what does that tell you? |
However,
the committee did feel there is a need to raise the club profile with the
public at large.
As
a first step we have revamped the club leaflet. Several of you have volunteered
to table our leaflet at some of the events you attend. Many of the Berkshire libraries have agreed
to display our leaflet, a task made much more difficult by Berkshire being
split into 6 unity authorities who all operate differently. The central
libraries in West Berks (Newbury), Reading, Bracknell and Wokingham agreed to
distribute copies to branches in their borough.
The Maidenhead & Windsor Borough don’t have notice boards but agreed
to hold a copy in their club folders, but not at the small branches.
We
have had to tread carefully since any whiff of commercialism and the libraries
will not touch the leaflet.
|
It would be good if members can check if our leaflets are at the
libraries. |
Our
club has been registered on Borough ‘Clubs & Organisations’ website where
they exist. So far we are registered on
the sites of Reading, Wokingham and Maidenhead. The Bracknell website was
closed for a revamp and Newbury responded that their site is only for council
& public service info + local events. This policy seems to be becoming more
common due to recession driven staff cutbacks. However, for some sites I do
wonder at the value of registration since their complexity is such as to ensure
it is nigh impossible to find anything.
I
have also been looking at registering for ‘What’s On’
at other non-government sites and newspapers.
Getting hold of a contact, having to pay fees and a focus on a specific
dated event rather than monthly repeats are some of the difficulties
encountered. We still in the process of pursuing these avenues
|
Members suggestions / comments please. |
Later
this year we will submit a short promotional article to Coin News for their new
‘society page’.
Reading Coin Club
Annual
General Meeting Minutes - 6th June 2011
1.
Apologies
for absence - M
Martin and J Quincey
2.
Previous
AGM minutes
a. Approved - Michael
b. Seconded - Douglas
3. Chairman's
report - In Mick Martin's absence
his statement was read by Peter Hall -
Let me first apologise from being absent at this meeting due to a
conflict with family commitments.
It is gratifying to report yet again that the club continues to be strong in both maintaining our membership and achieving good attendance at club meetings.
Our membership currently stands at 42, compared to 41 last year. Meeting attendances continue to be near the mid 20's which is good by any measure. With several speakers having expressed their surprise at the unexpected size of the audience it suggests that the Reading club is probably one of the most vibrant coin clubs around. We have had a comprehensive and varied speaker programme, and I extend thanks to Gavin for a job well done. We have had six external speakers providing good informative talks covering coins, tokens and checks. Also congratulations to our members who gave such excellent short talks and thanks to Maurice for talking about the production of his books on Charles 1.
On the subject of speakers we are beginning to see more evidence of speaker reluctance. We are not yet short of speakers and there is no need for panic but the number of rejections appears to be rising, possibly due to the aging of the speaker fraternity and the reluctance of the younger breed to give talks, pressure of business and the rising costs of travel.
With regard to external activities the year began badly with a cancelled Summer Social due to both the chosen venues being unable to accommodate us. However, this year we are going to the BM and in 2012 a possibility is to visit the Silchester dig plus afternoon tea. In late November 20 people gathered for the very enjoyable Christmas dinner at the Hatch gate and this Spring 18 souls battled in the bowling
alley for a 'fun and frustrating' skittles evening. Many thanks to Peter Hall for organising the events.
Both the Christmas bourse and the club auction seemed to go well and thanks to Henry, Gavin and James organisation. With regards to the auction we had excellent attendance, over 20 bidders and yet only eight people made entries. The latter is disappointing to say the least.
The committee has operated very much as in the past. We have however, held fewer committee meetings (just three) since much correspondence has been accomplished by the use of email.
We have progressed the initiative to make the committee membership less restrictive- this has been explained in a recent newsletter and will be voted on later in the AGM.
The club secretary has managed to fix the problems with accessibility to our website and got us back in the listing in Coin News. Such avenues of information are absolutely vital in maintain our publicity and we need to do much more. With regard to the initiatives of
1)
Revitalising
the club auction, and
2)
Improving
publicity and increasing membership James and Alastair will give you an update of where we are at in their
reports. The committee has agreed what we need to be doing - we now need to do
it.
4.Treasurers Report - Peter Hall
Overall there was a deficit of £96, with a balance carried forward of £2,724, mostly in cash but also including some library assets. Room hire has gone up again to £441. Speakers expenses vary between £40 and £120. Social events are self financing - the committee does not see the need for subsidy although this could change. Members subscriptions will remain unchanged - subs have remained the same for five years. At this level the club just about breaks even. Thank you to Neil Beaton for auditing the accounts again.
a)
Approved
- Graham
b)
Seconded
– Douglas
5 Club Secretary's Report - In James Quincy's
absence the report was read by Peter again
This year has seen the launch of our
brand new website in November 2010, the address www.readingcoinclub.co.uk The new site has already led to one new
member, several other membership enquiries, and even
a visit to the club from the USA! The
main driver behind the decision for this launch was the discovery that Google
had inexplicably began
to refuse to acknowledge the existing site, which severely restricted the visibility of the club. Any ideas for addition to
/ amendment of the main site's content are more than welcome!
We also now have a WikiCollecting
page at www. en.wikicollecting.org.
The second main initiative undertaken by the secretary and
the committee has been to revitalise the
club auction. Various options for this have been discussed including angling for
higher grade / rarer material. We have concluded that our auction is primarily
an activity for the enjoyment of members
and a more commercial approach involving the general public is not considered appropriate at this time. If
anyone has any particularly strong views on how the auction can be improved or
revitalised please do not keep it to yoyurself - let
a committee member know!
We want to keep email addresses up to date, so if you
have change yours or now have one please let the committee know. I would like to thank those members who
have completed the form that was circulated.
6. Programme Secretary - Henry Stanbrook
I would like to give my apologies for my late arrival - it has taken me 4 hours on public transport!!
The following programme of speakers and events has been arranged for the forthcoming year-
4th July 2011 - Brown Roman Coins by P Hall
2nd August 2011 - Summer Social event - visit to the British Museum
5th September 2011 - Siege Pieces of Charles 1st (part 2) - A Travis
3rd October 2011 - Coins of the British Empire - C Moore
7th November 2011 - Numismatic History of Cyprus - T Everson
5th December 2011 -Winter Bourse and Members Evening
9th January 2012 - Short Talks - Club Members
6th February 2012 -Annual Auction (Club Members only)
5th March 2012 - Papal Coins - A Holmes
2nd April 2012 - Refreshing Change - Tokens and Drinking - G Buddie
14th May 2012 - English Medieval Jetons - P Mernick
4th June 2012 - AGM and Display Competition
7. Library and Publicity Secretary Report - A Mackay
In the past year the committee has examined ways that we can increase our membership. Although compared to other clubs our membership is very healthy, it is always desirable to attract new blood.
This year your committee has re-launched the website, it is now easier to find and a 'google search' on 'Reading Coin Club' our site now appears first.
We have discussed the possibility of hiring display
boards in Reading Library to promote our club
(our 50th isn't far away) and producing a leaflet to be distributed
to all local libraries.
8. Election of Committee
Vote to change restriction on continuous service of committee members - carried by the majority of members.
Nominations for the re-election of Mick,
James and Henry. Mick has nominated
Peter to serve.
Proposed – Doug Seconded-Mick. Alistair retires after serving three years.
9. Election of Auditor - Neil has been asked by the committee to stand again – The committee are very grateful for the work undertaken by Neil and are pleased to present him with a small gift.
10.
Election
of President - Gavin
Scott
11.
Election of Vice
President - Frank Milward
12.
AOB
John Quinn asked about the maximum number for the Summer Social - Answer 15
John Beamish asked what insurance the club had - Answer none, the Baptist Hall has Public Liabilities Insurance
Neil Beaton suggested that there is Officers Insurance for Committee Members - Action -the Committee will look into this, and see if BANS have a view.
Graham Kirby thanked the committee.
13. Display Competition -
only 2 entries from Neil Beaton and Gavin Scott.
Neil's display of counter marked Spanish dollars won.
AGM finished 21.00