CCNB Newsletter No. 43 Spring 2008

Transcription

1 2.1_CCNB News_43_Q6 28/4/08 17:35 Page 1 CCNB Newsletter No. 43 Spring 2008 The Newsletter of the Coordinating Committee for Numismatics in Britain CONTENTS FOCUS ON COINS AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES II Butrint, Albania (part 2) West Acre, Norfolk NEWS 10 years of the Treasure Act New RIC Volume A New display at NMGW A New Money Web-Resource by Birmingham Musem & Art Gallery BNS/RNS Summer Meeting BAMS Summer Meeting 7th Century Syria Numismatic Round table BANS 2008 Autumn Weekend & Congress 2009 EXHIBITIONS DIARY FOCUS ON COINS FROM ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES II Over the years numismatic evidence has made a profound contribution to modern archaeological excavations and has enriched the narratives of many site reports. The focus of this edition of the CCNB explores how coin evidence is informing both individual site-specific stories and how it also impacts upon our wider understanding of the function of currency across broader regions. Two recent excavation assemblages are discussed below. BUTRINT, ALBANIA: THE COINS FROM THE MODERN EXCAVATIONS IN THE FORUM: PART II The CCNB Newsletter is supported by the British Museum, the Royal Numismatic Society and the British Numismatic Society. The Newsletter appears triannually, and is received by those members of the RNS and BNS resident in the United Kingdom, and by others with an interest in numismatics and related fields. Contributions and information will be gratefully received. Items for the next issue should be sent to Richard Abdy or Richard Kelleher, Department of Coins and Medals, British Museum, Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3DG, tel: /8640 fax: , rabdy@thebritishmuseum.ac.uk or rkelleher@thebritishmuseum.ac.uk. Anyone in the UK wishing to be added to the CCNB Newsletter mailing list should send their name and address to Richard Kelleher at the above address, or alternatively him at rkelleher@thebritishmuseum.ac.uk. individual called Graecinus holds the record. He appears in no less than three colleges and must have been a very prominent figure in the community, so it is unsurprising that he also has an epigraphic presence on the site (inscription now in Butrint museum). First Graecinus appears as duovir, then subsequently as duovir quinquennalis, the most prestigious civic office when the duoviri had to organise the five yearly tax census. Finally, he becomes duovir quinq tert showing that not only had he achieved the duovirate three times but the top office of duovir quinquennalis twice. (This repetition helped establish the colleges chronological order.) The second group of Buthrotum coinage spans the reigns of Claudius and Nero. On this series the magistrate names no longer appear. THE COINS MINTED AT BUTRINT As previously mentioned in part I (CCNB issue 42) one of the biggest producers of the small change (kerma in Greek) found at Butrint was the mint of the ancient city itself. Butrint coinage falls into two groups. The city was refounded in 44 BC as Colonia Julia Buthrotum. (Julius Caesar had planned this, but his demise meant it was left to a senatorial committee to carry it through.) The name of the colony was temporarily changed under Augustus (27 BC AD 14) to Colonia Augusta Buthrotum (C.A.BVT) when his portrait first appears on the coinage. It reverts to its previous name under the later Julio- Claudian emperors. The abbreviated ethnic CCIB had long confused scholars. The initial attribution was the Mauretanian city of Babba. However the confusion was short lived and, as increasing finds of these coins on the site confirms, CCIB stands not for Colonia Campestris Iulia Babba, but Colonia Campestris Iulia Buthrotum. During the first phase of coinage, which spans the triumviral and Augustan periods, the names of the duovirs or joint heads of the city council appear on the coins, and 10 colleges of these magistrates have been recognised. An Coin of Graecinus of Buthrotum The most recurrent theme of the iconography of the coins of Buthrotum is that of the bull; the name of the city itself also recalls this bovine theme. The reason lies in the city s foundation myth of a visit to the site by the Trojan refugee Helenus who put ashore on the plain to sacrifice a bull. During the process, the animal escaped and made its getaway by swimming across the channel but promptly died after making its way ashore. This was taken as a favourable omen to found the city on that spot. Another recurrent coin type is that of a bridge. On some issues the bridge almost appears to have a 1

2 2.1_CCNB News_43_Q6 28/4/08 17:35 Page 2 railing, while on others it looks like it should be a more substantial structure. RPC (Roman Provincial Coinage the main modern reference) calls the image a bridge or aqueduct, but seems to prefer the former. entering the city by ship. From seaward, the view of the aqueduct would be reduced by the perspective of it being on the far side of the bridge, and is thus presented as a massive looking bridge with relatively small pipe above and behind. Still it would have been an impressive structure and undoubtedly the signature building of the city; an ancient parallel to London s Tower Bridge. The production of coinage from Buthrotum was sporadic. Most of the named colleges were for the five yearly duoviri quinquennales. There is a hiatus between the Augustan coinage and the Claudio-Neronian. The series ends with Nero, yet there seems to have been no ready supply of imperial bronzes during the Flavian period. The imperial bronzes present tend to be 2nd century or later, presumably by the time they began to reach Butrint the Flavian bronzes had long since dropped out of circulation. The solution to the supply gap presumably lay in stretching the existing kerma, re-issuing worn Neronian coins with countermarks. A direct and wellknown parallel to this process had occurred a generation earlier in the West. There it was a cessation of bronze coin production during the latter part of the reign of Claudius and the beginning of the reign of Nero which lead to the mass countermarking of Claudian bronze, especially along the Rhine frontier. Another local solution is seemingly apparent in the presence of bronzes neatly and deliberately halved with a chisel. This process is well known from late Republican Italy where the halving of old Republican asses was carried out in the face of the disruption to bronze production caused by the prolonged civil wars. At least one of these cut Republican asses reached Butrint, but where identifiable, the cut coins at Butrint mostly appear to be Augustan wide and thin-flanned as-like coins which would be easy to cut. If these Coin with reverse showing Buthrotum bridge On site, part of this structure still survives in the form of the footing of the bridge. Furthermore there is a line of aqueduct piers converging at the bridge. Previously regarded as a late antique structure, current archaeological opinion, taking the coin evidence into consideration, is that the aqueduct dates to the early years of the colony and that the bridge carried the aqueduct in the form of a pipe on modest sized piers. It probably ran along the bridge s landward edge, although no surface now remains on the bridge to confirm this. It would have been a more modest aqueduct than current artists impressions at the Butrint site museum show, more a pipe on stilts than anything resembling the famous Pont du Gard. The coins are probably trying to convey this with a view from the seaward side. This would be the first sight one would see upon View of excavation underway at the site of the bridge/aqueduct 2

3 2.1_CCNB News_43_Q6 28/4/08 17:35 Page 3 coins were cut locally, the reason might have been to plug the gap in kerma production between Augustus and Claudius. NEW TYPES New Buthrotum coin types are appearing as the excavation progresses. The most recent has been identified by the partial survival of the CCIB reverse legend. It is sadly much damaged, but this sizeable coin, 23mm in diameter certainly carried the obverse of Claudius. The reverse is much less certain. A goddess is riding left in a chariot; she is perhaps Artemis to judge by the quiver like object at her shoulder. Above and behind in the distance is a far smaller male figure, perhaps a god or personification. He is perhaps a water deity since he appears to be reclining on the arches of the bridgeaqueduct. If this is correct, Artemis is riding into town with the aqueduct behind her as she reaches the bridge. However confirmation must wait until the next specimen is found, hopefully there is one waiting to be discovered at Butrint in the near future. Richard Abdy New coin type from the Butrint excavations FINDS FROM A MEDIEVAL PILGIMAGE AND FAIR SITE AT WEST ACRE, NORFOLK In 1988 large numbers of coins, tokens and jettons were found on agricultural land around the Chapel of St Thomas a Becket at Custhorpe, Norfolk, by a local detectorist, Stephen Brown. Through the agency of Andrew Rogerson 207 finds were deposited at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, where they have been studied by the author. This is a revised version of a report originally published in Norfolk Archaeology, 46 (2004), pp The finds are exceptional in providing evidence of changes of monetary activity at the site of a fair that was formally established in the late fifteenth century, much later than most of the fairs of medieval England. The finds begin with a fragment of a coin of Stephen ( ) and a cut halfpenny of Henry II s Cross-and- Crosslets (Tealby) coinage ( ), but there is a dramatic increase to twelve finds in the Short Cross coinage ( ). This may be compared with Stuart Rigold s analysis of finds from 100 English and Welsh sites (British Archaeological Reports, 36 (1977), pp ), which included data from thirty-three religious sites (monasteries, pilgrimage chapels and rural parish churches). The comparison suggests that the absence of finds before 1135 might be evidence of a low level of activity before the foundation of West Acre Priory in the early twelfth century, and that the increase in is normal for English sites. A relatively high percentage of finds at West Acre in , compared with Rigold s data, might possibly indicate increased activity after the building of the Chapel of St Thomas a Becket. The Chapel was on the pilgrimage route from the Cistercian nunnery at Marham to West Acre Priory, Castle Acre and Walsingham, and some of the coins may have been lost by pilgrims. The percentages of West Acre finds are lower than the Rigold data in , and higher in The figures might indicate a relatively high level of monetary activity after the grant of an annual fair at West Acre and Custhorpe in 1479, although the percentage of finds of from Rigold s thirty-three religious sites is almost as high as the West Acre percentage. Coins of and were removed from circulation by recoinages at the end of their periods of production, but there was no general recoinage between 1279 and 1544, and a coin minted in 1279 could, in principle, have remained in circulation until Henry VIII s debasement of the coinage in Consequently, statistics for finds of coins produced between 1279 and 1544 do not provide direct evidence of numbers of losses in each of the four periods of ( , , and ). However, the divisions between the periods in 1351, 1412 and 1464 were each marked by reductions in the weight standards and a partial recoinage of earlier coins, and it is possible to make a provisional assessment of the probable periods of loss of the West Acre finds of , based upon their weights and states of wear. This analysis is consistent with the assumption that there was a sharp increase in economic activity on the site after the grant of a fair in Nearly two thirds (64%) of the finds of are estimated to have been lost in , and the estimated number of losses per annum increases from 0.25 in to 0.65 in A relatively high level of activity seems to have c- ontinued after the dissolution of West Acre Priory in 1538, as there are 38 finds of silver coins of , and 47 royal farthing tokens issued between 1613 and The silver coins of could have been lost at any time until the Great Recoinage of , but the number of finds per annum in (0.56) is still almost as high as the estimated rate of loss in (0.65). Unfortunately, this analysis cannot be taken beyond the seventeenth century, as no coins minted after the introduction of the milled coinage in 1662 were included in the material deposited at the Fitzwilliam Museum. Martin Allen NEWS TEN YEARS OF THE TREASURE ACT TOP TEN BRITISH TREASURES In 2007 the Treasure Act celebrated its tenth anniversary. Since its inception in 1997, the Act has ensured that nearly 4,000 treasure finds of vital importance to British history and our understanding of the past have been reported. The Act, together with the advent of the Portable Antiquities Scheme 3

4 2.1_CCNB News_43_Q6 28/4/08 17:35 Page 4 and its liaison with metal-detector users, has seen a year-byyear increase in the reporting of Treasure finds which has enabled such finds to be acquired by museums. To celebrate the anniversary, the British Museum and the Museums, Libraries & Archives Council has announced a list of the top ten finds of the last ten years. Each of these finds has provided invaluable information about the past. In many of these cases archaeologists were able to investigate the site and better understand their archaeological context, and in some cases the original find has led to ongoing archaeological investigations and further discoveries. Margaret Hodge, Culture Minister said The Treasure Act has been an enormous success, enabling more museums to acquire important archaeological finds for public benefit and allowing local people to learn more about the archaeological significance of the area where they live. I sincerely hope it continues to be such a success for many years to come. Roger Bland, Head of Treasure and Portable Antiquities said 95% of all Treasure finds are found by metal-detector users. The fact that almost 4000 Treasure finds have been reported to date is testimony to the responsible attitude taken by the great majority of detectorists and the main metal-detecting organisations, in particular the National Council for Metal Detecting and the Federation of Independent Detectorists. This support is extremely important to the success of the Act. THE TOP-TEN LIST IS AS FOLLOWS: 1) The Ringlemere Cup (found 2001) Bronze Age ( BC) Description: Gold vessel crushed by the plough Significance: The cup has already become an iconic object and is only the second gold Bronze Age cup to be found in Britain. It has enhanced our understanding of prestige craftsmanship and reveals the highly sophisticated levels attained during this period. It has also shed valuable light on the cross channel trade and ritual lives of people in southern Britain. Acquired by the British Museum. 2) The Newark Torc (found 2005) Iron Age (100 BC) Description: A beautiful gold torc found in Nottinghamshire Significance: The torc is a wonderful example of Iron-Age craftsmanship craftsmanship and it is highly unusual to find this type of torc outside of northwest Norfolk. Acquired by Newark Museum, Nottinghamshire. 3) The Winchester Hoard (found 2000) Iron Age (60 20 BC) Description: A hoard of jewellery including two gold torcs, four gold brooches, two bracelets and one chain. Significance: An important hoard of unique Iron Age objects which possibly came from the graves of a chieftain and his wife. It reveals important information about high-status individuals in pre-conquest Britain and is evidence of extensive communication with the classical world. The techniques used to make the jewellery were used in the Greek and Roman world, but this is a very early example of its use in northern Europe. Acquired by the British Museum, London. 4) The East Leicestershire Hoards (found 2000) Iron Age (mid 1st century AD) Description: A collection of over 5,000 coins, the largest British Iron Age coin assemblage ever found under controlled archaeological conditions. The find also included a stunning Roman cavalry helmet dating to the early Imperial period. Significance: The coin hoards are invaluable to our understanding the ways in which coins could be used as offerings to the gods, often in conjunction with other activities such as feasting and sacrifice. The helmet found would have been owned by an officer and was probably buried around the time of the Roman Conquest (43 AD).This raises the intriguing possibility that a Leicestershire man may have travelled to the Roman Empire and served in the Roman cavalry before Britain was conquered by Rome. Acquired by Leicester Museums Service. 5) The Ashwell Hoard (found 2002) 3rd 4th century AD Description: A hoard of gold and silver inscribed religious plaques, jewellery and a figurine of a goddess Significance: The hoard gives us a vivid insight into religious practice in the Roman period in Britain. It has also unveiled the name of a new goddess Senuna, previously unknown in the Romano British pantheon. Acquired by the British Museum, London. 6) The Shapwick Hoard (found 1998) 224 AD Description: A coin hoard of 9,238 Roman silver denarii Significance: This is the largest hoard of Roman denarii found in Britain. Archaeological investigation revealed that the hoard had been secreted in the back room of an unknown Roman villa. The coin types spread over 250 years illustrating the personalities and propaganda of the heyday of the Roman Empire. Acquired by Somerset County Museum, Taunton. 7) The Chalgrove Hoard (2003) late 3rd century AD Description: A coin hoard including 5,000 Roman coins fused together in a pottery container. Significance: The find is of huge significance as it confirms the existence of the hitherto unrecognised third century Roman Usurper-Emperor, Domitianus ( Domitian of Gaul or Domitian II ). The British Museum discovered one of the Chalgrove coins to be Domitianus. It was an obverse and reverse die-link to a previously unique example from France which had long been doubted due to the lack of corroborating evidence. Excitingly, the matching coin from Chalgrove, fused as it was to the other coins in the hoard, confirmed the authenticity of the coin type and the existence of a Roman ruler not recorded in ancient historic sources. Acquired by the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. 8) The Postwick Seal Matrix (found 1998) Anglo-Saxon, mid-7th century AD Description: A gold, double-sided seal matrix which depicts a face and inscription on one side and on the other two figures, a man and a women who may be engaged in sexual intercourse. Significance: The matrix makes reference to a Baldehild, the wife of the Frankish king Clovis II, thus linking it directly to an historical personality which is an extremely rare occurrence. If it really did belong to the historically attested Baldehild it would prove an internationally important connection between the East Anglian Royal family and 4

5 2.1_CCNB News_43_Q6 28/4/08 17:35 Page 5 France in the 7th century AD. Acquired by Norwich Castle Museum. 9) The Harrogate Hoard (found 2007) AD Description: A hoard of Viking material containing a mixture of coins, complete ornaments, ingots and chopped-up fragments known as hack-silver. The objects were found packed into a beautiful silver gilt vessel of Carolingian origin. Significance: The most important Viking hoard to be found in Britain in over 150 years, the size and quality of the objects is remarkable. The hoard also shows the diversity of cultural contacts in the medieval world, with objects coming from as far apart as Afghanistan in the East and Ireland in the West, as well as Russia, Scandinavia and continental Europe. The hoard is yet to be acquired but it is hoped that the British Museum will jointly acquire with York Museums Trust. 10) The Raglan Ring (found ) Medieval, 15th century AD Description: A massive gold signet ring, probably made to be worn over a glove which features a heraldic devise and an inscription feythfoull to yow. Significance: One of the largest signet rings ever discovered. Acquired by the National Museums Wales, Cardiff. A NEW VOLUME OF RIC Announcing the arrival of the new and fully revised edition of Roman Imperial Coinage (RIC) vol. II part 1 (from AD 69 to AD 96, Vespasian to Domitian). Published by Spink and Son Ltd ( 95) who provide the following information: Originally published in 1962, RIC volume II dealt with the period from AD 69 to AD 138. The complicated pattern of minting in the first part, the Flavian period (AD 69-96), means that it was in particular need of revision to modern standards and so now justifies a separate volume on its own, now brought to fruition by Ian Carradice and T.V. Buttrey. The original edition of RIC II also had very short introductory sections to the catalogue. In this volume, following the format of Mattingly s BMCRE II, there is a general introduction and much more detailed introductions to the coinage of the separate reigns. These serve as commentaries to the catalogues that list the issues of each mint, and for each reign there are also discussions of important aspects of the coinage, the intention being to provide a revised and updated introduction to the Flavian imperial coinage as a whole. With a far greater number of coin varieties described (almost twice as many as in the Flavian section of the original edition), many more illustrations (160 plates, compared with only 7 covering the Flavians in the original) and the elimination of numerous unverified or dubious coin varieties, this volume is the product of many years' work, for which generations of future numismatists, historians, archaeologists and collectors will be truly grateful. The full revision of RIC II part 2 is a work in progress but in the immediate interests of maintaining the availability of the complete set, an improved volume is in preparation. This will be in the form of a straight reprint of the text from AD 96 - AD 138 with a new set of 48 plates. ORIGINS : NEW DISPLAYS IN CARDIFF The archaeological collections of Amgueddfa Cymru National Museum Wales have recently been re-displayed in a new exhibition: Origins: in search of early Wales, which opened to the public in December 2007 as part of the Museum s Centenary celebrations. The displays cover the period from the earliest human remains from Wales (around 230,000 years ago) to the end of the medieval period in the 16th century. No ordinary exhibition, Origins includes innovative use of music, animation and two- and threedimensional artworks inspired by elements of Wales s past. More conventional highlights include old favourites such as the Red Lady of Paviland Cave (Gower), the earliest known formal burial in Europe (~29,000 years old) and the Capel Garmon (North Wales) firedog, widely regarded as the pinnacle of ironworking from the later Iron Age (1st century AD). Recent finds include the Bronze Age gold hoard from Burton, Wrexham the cover pin-up of the Treasure Annual Report 2004 and a fine Roman bronze leopard cup made in Italy in the first century AD, from Abergavenny, Monmouthshire. Numismatic exhibits include hoards from the Bridgend area of south Wales (1,424 Roman Tetrarchic nummi, buried c. AD 310) found during gas pipeline work in 1994; the Monknash (Vale of Glamorgan) potful of denarii, c. AD 150; and nearly 200 pennies of Edward the Confessor and William I, deposited in the 1080s in the Abergavenny area. Also on display are a fourth-century votive deposit of bronze coins and dog figurines from Llys Awel, Abergele (North Wales); Carolingian, Islamic and other Viking-Age silver coins from Anglesey and north-west Wales; and silver pennies and cut fractions from the thirteenth-century fair and market site at Llanfaes, near Beaumaris, Anglesey, at that time the economic hub of the Principality of Gwynedd. The exhibition can be seen at National Museum Cardiff, Cathays Park, Cardiff CF10 3NP. Opening hours: Tuesday Sunday, ; admission free. Edward Besly A NEW MONEY WEB-RESOURCE BY BIRMINGHAM MUSEUM & ART GALLERY As part of a recent Black History project, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery have just produced an online learning resource on the subject of money what kinds of money have been used, how they were made, and what money s social impact has been at various times and places. There are some fun activities to try out as well! Birmingham staff are keen to get feedback about the website from a wide variety of users, so if anyone would care to have a browse ( and then send their comments to Onyemachi Shekerie, the Museum s ICT Learning Resources Officer, he would be very pleased to hear from them. You can him at onyemachi_shekerie@birmingham.gov.uk, call him on (0121) or write to him at: Onyemachi Shekerie, ICT Learning Resources Officer, Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery, Chamberlain Square, Birmingham B3 3DH. David Symons 5

6 2.1_CCNB News_43_Q6 28/4/08 17:35 Page 6 BNS/RNS SUMMER MEETING 5 th July 2008 This year s Summer Meeting, jointly held between the BNS and RNS, will be a day of lectures examining the idea of coins as works of art in their own right. Coins are amongst the most public forms of art although an appreciation of them as such, rather than purely functional objects, is often ignored. By bringing together practising artists who have designed coins, art historians and numismatic scholars, the dimensions of the theme will be illuminated from several perspectives. As with all previous Summer Meetings, the aim will be to have a thought-provoking programme of lectures in a convivial atmosphere, with lunch included in the registration fee of 20. The venue for this year s meeting will be the Auditorium in Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, and the lecturers so far secured are detailed below. Dr Anna Gannon of St Edmund s College, Cambridge is an art historian whose book The Iconography of Early Anglo-Saxon Coinage has stimulated interest in the rich imagery on seventh- and eighth-century coins. Her lecture will discuss the aesthetics of Anglo-Saxon coinage generally. Professor Neils Hannestad is Professor of Classical Archaeology at the University of Aarhus in Denmark. His areas of research include Roman Imperial art, propaganda, portraits and, currently, the classical tradition in Late Antique sculpture. He will deliver a paper which will draw on his work with reference to late antiquity and the coinage of that period. John Porteous OBE has been a member of the Royal Mint Advisory Committee for over 30 years and is a respected author and collector. He will discuss the aesthetics of coinage design with reference to C H V Sutherland s seminal work on the subject and will draw on his own experience as someone who has been an influential figure in the design of modern British coins. Ian Rank-Broadley FRBS is a prominent figurative sculptor and arguably the foremost numismatic artist of his generation. He is the designer of the current coinage portrait of Her Majesty The Queen and was responsible for the sculptures of the Armed Forces War Memorial unveiled last year. He will talk about his life, his work and what has inspired him about the design of coins and medals from the Renaissance to the present day. Professor Charles Rosenberg is an art historian based in America who will be talking about coinage of the Italian Renaissance. BAMS WEEKEND CONFERENCE June 2008 This year s conference will be based around The Royal Station Hotel and The University of Northumbria in Newcastle upon Tyne. Opened by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in 1858, The Royal Station Hotel combines elegant Victorian architecture with up to date facilities. The hotel is beside the main railway station where a taxi rank and the Metro and local bus links are within easy reach. A travel pass is included in the conference fee. This can be used for unlimited travel on the Tyne and Wear Metro and Quaylink yellow buses on Saturday and Sunday. This years speakers will include - Mark Jones, Director of The V&A on Jean Warin, Philip Attwood, Curator of Medals BM and Felicity Powell, artist, on Medals of Dishonour, Irene Brown, artist and lecturer, on Contemporary Tyneside Sculpture, Peter Randall Page, artist, will talk about Recent Sculpture Projects. Peter s monumental granite sculpture Give and Take can be seen in nearby Trinity Gardens a few minutes walk from the Millennium Bridge; and Donald Scarinci, collector and author on Collecting Contemporary Art Medals will give a talk entitled: The Cypress Tree in the Garden, The Empty Cup and Collecting Contemporary Art Medals. Delegates will have the opportunity to visit the Laing Gallery with a short introductory talk by a curator and plenty of time at leisure. A visit will be made to the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art in nearby Gateshead for a drinks reception and dinner in the Riverside Restaurant with stunning views across the River Tyne and the new Millennium Bridge. Delegates also have the option for a Sunday afternoon excursion to Kielder Forest. This year the popular workshop will be led by artist Nicola Moss on the theme of A Revealing Nature. Accommodation at the Royal Station hotel includes breakfast and a buffet lunch on both Saturday and Sunday. A welcome drinks reception will be held at the hotel on Friday evening before dinner in the Victoria room at the hotel. The Saturday evening meal will be at The Baltic as mentioned above. Delegates are invited to bring medals for display. A lockable room will be available at the hotel from 4pm on Friday until 2pm on Sunday. For information please contact Janet Larkin, Department of Coins and Medals, British Museum, London, WC1B 3DG or visit the BAMS website at 7 TH CENTURY SYRIA NUMISMATIC ROUND TABLE The next meeting of the 7th Century Syria Numismatic Round Table will take place at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge on 4th and 5th April Anyone interested in giving a paper on the numismatics, economic history, sigilliography or related archaeology of the Near East from the late Byzantine period through the Umayyad period should contact Andrew Oddy at waoddy@googl .com. An indication of interest would be appreciated as soon as possible. The 7 th Century Syria Numismatic Round Table is an informal group of people who are principally interested in the coinage of Greater Syria from the period of the Persian invasion in the early 7C to the decline of the Umayyads in the mid 8C. In recent years the remit has been widened to include the end of the Sasanian Empire in Iran and the end of Byzantine rule in Egypt and North Africa. The proceedings of the last round table held in Birmingham were published as Coinage and History in the Seventh Century Near East, Supplement to the Oriental Numismatic Society Journal no.193, Autumn The meeting is open to anyone with an interest in the Near East at the time of the Arab conquests. Papers can be very short perhaps announcing a new discovery or up to 30 minutes. Longer may be available in special circumstances. Please contact the organiser. For those who are interested, a few rooms have been reserved in college. Andrew Oddy 6

7 2.1_CCNB News_43_Q6 28/4/08 17:35 Page BANS AUTUMN WEEKEND & CONGRESS 2009 The informal BANS Autumn Weekend, staged very successfully in 2007 at Dalton Ellis Hall within the University of Manchester campus, will move to Nottingham in The venue will be Rutland Hall, part of the University of Nottingham, and the dates 5 to 7 September. The provisional all-inclusive cost is 140. Further details will be posted on the BANS website, in due course. In 2009 the Congress will be staged by the Yorkshire Numismatic Society, celebrating its centenary. The Yorkshire Congress will be staged at the St Nicholas Hotel in Scarborough, from 3 to 5 April and will have an all-inclusive provisional cost of about Sponsorship and a roster of speakers have been finalised. Secretaries and team leaders of BANS-affiliated societies are urged to send details of their programmes to the BANS Secretary, Phyllis Stoddart, phyllis.stoddart@manchester.ac.uk, for inclusion on the BANS website. BANS can also provide a link to individual Society websites. Phyllis Stoddart LECTURES, SEMINARS, COLLOQUIA AND CONFERENCES LECTURE DIARY May 20 RNS The Roman Imperial Coinage of the Flavian Emperors, Ian Carradice 27 BNS Continuity through change: the work of the Royal Mint Advisory Committee, Professor Sir Christopher Frayling (Followed by the Council Sherry Party for members and their guests) June 17 RNS Presidential Address, Money as Metaphor IV Money is Power to be followed by the Summer Party 24 BNS Betwixt sceattas and Offa s pence, Professor Michael Metcalf BAMS Annual Weekend Conference, to be held in Newcastle TEMPORARY EXHIBITIONS Icons of Revolution. Mao badges then and now Gallery 69a, British Museum, London, until 14 September 2008 Origins : in search of early Wales National Museum of Wales, Cardiff, from December 2007 Moving Forward: Changing Landscapes on 19th Century British Banknotes Coin Gallery, Barber Institute of Fine Arts, Birmingham, March 2008 February 2009 Hadrian: Empire and Conflict British Museum, London, 24 July 26 October n.aspx INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITIONS Cinc segles de numismàtica catalana (Five centuries of Catalan numismatics) Museu Nacional d Art de Catalunya, Barcelona, until May 2008 IMPERIUM KONFLIKT MYTHOS 2000 Jahre Varusschlacht (Empire Conflict Myth 2000th anniversary of the Battle of Varus) Kalkriese Museum, Germany, mid May to late October July 5 BNS/RNS Joint Summer Meeting, Art in Coinage. To be held at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge August September 5-7 BANS Autumn weekend at Rutland Hall, part of the University of Nottingham 23 BNS Company of wolves: contemporary imitations of Constantine s VRBS ROMA series, c , Adrian Marsden CONTACTS: British Art Medal Society (BAMS) Mr Philip Attwood, Department of Coins and Medals, British Museum, London WC1B 3DG, tel: Unless otherwise stated, all meetings held at 5.30pm, Cutlers Hall, Warwick Lane, London EC4. British Association of Numismatic Societies (BANS) Phyllis Stoddart, Department of Numismatics, The Manchester Museum, The University of Manchester, Oxford Rd, Manchester M13 9PL. My address is, phyllis.stoddart@manchester.ac.uk I can be reached by phone on during the day. British Numismatic Society (BNS) Richard Kelleher, Department of Coins and Medals, British Museum, London, WC1B 3DG, tel:

8 2.1_CCNB News_43_Q6 28/4/08 17:35 Page 8 Fax: secretary@britnumsoc.org. Membership secretary, Roland Hewson, c/o Warburg Institute, Woburn Square, London WC1H 0AB, tel: membershipsecretary@britnumsoc.org. Unless otherwise stated all meetings held at 6.00pm at the Warburg Institute, Woburn Square, London WC1. British Numismatic Trade Association (BNTA) Rosemary Cooke, General Secretary, P.O. Box 2, Rye, East Sussex, TN31 7WE, tel: ; fax: ; bnta@lineone.net; website: Oriental Numismatic Society (ONS) Mr Peter Smith, 9 Grandison Road, London SW11 6LS, tel: Royal Numismatic Society (RNS) Dr Vesta Curtis, Department of Coins and Medals, British Museum, London WC1 3DG, tel: Unless otherwise stated all meetings held at 5.30pm at the Warburg Institute, Woburn Square, London WC1H 0AB. vcurtis@thebritishmuseum.ac.uk; website: AUCTIONS AND FAIRS Unless stated otherwise all auctions are held at the addresses listed. Dates may be subject to alteration. May 6-7 Baldwins Auction, No 54 British and World Coins 18 Lockdales Auction, No 66 June 5 Dix Noonan Webb, Historical and Art Medals including Art Medals from the Collection of Dr Stephen Martin and British Trade Tokens including Tokens from the Collection formed by the late David Pottinger 7 London Coin Fair in conjunction with the Summer Argentum Auction, British Coins, World Coins and Commemorative Medals to be held at the Holiday Inn, Bloomsbury, London Morton and Eden, Sale of Coins and Medals 13 Lockdales Auction, No Dix Noonan Webb, British and World Coins, Numismatic Books 25 Dix Noonan Webb, Orders, Decorations and Medals September 14 Lockdales Auction, No Dix Noonan Webb, Important British and World Coins including Important Irish coins from a private collection (Part 1) Baldwin s: 11 Adelphi Terrace, London, WC2N 6BJ. auctions@baldwin.sh Bonham s: Montpelier Street, London, SW7 1HH. Classical Numismatic Group: Electronic auctions on Croydon Coin Auctions: United Reformed Church Hall, Addiscombe Grove, East Croydon. Dix Noonan Webb: Washington Hotel, 5 Curzon Street, Mayfair, London W1., auctions@dnw.co.uk Harrogate Spring Coin Fair: Old Swan Hotel, Swan Road, Harrogate HG1 2SR Simon Monks simonmonks@supanet.com Linda Monk Fairs: Jury's Hotel, Great Russell St, London. (also incorporating Pam West s Paper Money Fair, Lockdales: 168 London Road South, Lowestoft, Suffolk, NR32 0BB. (Call Ipswich for enquiries: ). Midland Coin Fair. Mike Veissid. Midland Coin fair, Coin & Medal Fairs Ltd, Hobsley House, Frodesley, Shrewsbury SY5 7HD. Tel: Morton & Eden Ltd: 45 Maddox Street, London W1S 2PE. info@mortonandeden.com Spink & Son: 69 Southampton Row, Bloomsbury, London WC1B 4ET. Warwick & Warwick Ltd: Chalon House, Scar Bank, Millers Road, Warwick CV34 5DB. info@warwickandwarwick.com. (Note: The editors wish to apologise for the old information that had appeared in this section of the previous issue) Printed by Ardent Print, London, ardentprint@btconnect.com July 3 Morton and Eden, Sale of Orders, Medals and Decorations. 8