Coin collecting
AT THEIR meeting in November, members of the Antique & Collectors’
Club were entertained by Terry Wallis of the Loughborough Coin & Search Society, where he was their chairman for 43 years, who presented his illustrated display on “Coin Collecting. He said that coins or tokens had been in use for hundreds of years, going back to Greek and Roman times. However, his talk for the evening commenced with those produced during the reign of King Eadbald of Kent, c620-635 the first gold coin (a shilling), struck in the name of an English King, and one of the earliest Anglos Saxon coins. Found near Deal, Kent in 2010. This was followed by the Cnut Penny, c898-915. Although called a ‘penny’ it is in silver. It lasted until the reign of Elizabeth I. Coins of Alfred the Great were next shown, 890-899. Alfred was King of Wessex 871-899. Once again, the ‘penny’ was made of silver. Terry said that the inscriptions and the designs were very rough, and each coin had to be hand-punched (hammered), and therefore no two were exactly the same, also, the coins were very, very, thin and light. William I came to the thrown in 1066 and during his reign there were many coins minted, notably the silver penny again. However, there were a variety of designs. He then moved onto the Plantagenet reign of Henry III, c1247-72. As with Williams I’s reign, there were some varieties of design, Notably the long and short crosses in the design. Terry said that if something was worth only half or even a quarter of a penny, all one had to do was cut the coin accordingly! In Edward I’s reign (1272-1307) the first 4 penny piece (known as the Groat), was minted as were the half-penny and farthing. Similar designs were made for Edward II, but during Edward III’s reign a number of additional coins of different values were minted (e.g. Double Florin and half-florin, even a gold florin (known as the Leopard Florin). Also, a six-shilling piece and a gold ‘Noble’ with an unusual value of six shillings and eight pence. With over 50 slides shown, I must apologise to Terry for not listing them all. Following Edward II, came Edward IV; Henry VII, with the first Gold Sovereign c1489. Henry III. Edward VI first thee penny piece c1552). During Elizabeth I’s reign the first ‘milled’ coins were produced (1561). This enabled more intricate designs to be produced, plus a substantially thicker and robust coinage. James I, Charles I coins followed/ During Charles II reign the first Maundy coin was minted (1679), also the half-penny and farthing in copper. Terry then continued through the reigns of George III, William IV Victoria, Edward VII ending with a threepenny piece minted showing the head of Edward VIII. Here, time caught up with him. His last slide showed the “Charnwood Hoard” when a pot containing a large number of coins, c1855, were discovered by the Monastery. The chairman, Rowland, thanked Terry for a wonderful evening, well presented and insight into the realms of coin collecting – Numismatics. The next meeting will be on Tuesday 5th December which will be the traditional Christmas Social evening.