BRITISH COINS

Southland Times, Issue 25303, 5 June 1935, Page 8

BRITISH COINS

TWO THOUSAND YEARS A COLLECTION ON VIEW X MIRROR OF HISTORY The history of Britain for two thousand years is epitomized in a rare, and comprehensive collection of coms which will this week grace two of the Tay street windows of H. and J. Smith, Ltd. Gold tokens which the ancient Britons used in the century proceeding the birth of Christ will be gazed upon by people who, though 12,000 miles removed from England, can claim descent from the savages who offered such stout resistance to the Roman legions. In striking contrast with these “staters” of an isolated, barbarous race are the coins now minted in tne heart of an Empire which is the greatest the world has seen. The collection bridges the gap of twenty centuries, with the coins of the various dynasties forming the arches of the Uncultured as they were, the Britons who lived from 100 to 50 B.C. fashioned a coin with considerable skill and neatness. The gold stater in the collection has a Horse and chariot of Hellenic grace stamped on it. Less Grecian are the figures on the other coins in this group. Roman Relics. Relics of the Roman rule in Britain are to be found in the form of four coins minted in London from 307 A.D. to 340 A.D., during which period four emperors were on the throne, as the coins show. It was to pay the Roman legionaries that the coins were minted. They are almost identical with the contemporary coins minted in Rome, the letters “PLON” distinguishing them from the latter. Another page of British history is revealed in the next groups which belong to the period when Britain wasdivided into separate kingdoms. From Northumbria there is a penny coined in the reign of Ethelred the Unready ; front Wessex there is a penny which Alfred the Great’s subjects had handled. The church had wide authority a thousand years ago, in evidence of which are coins issued by the authority of archbishops. With the reign of Eadgar (957 to 975) the numismatic history of England begins. There are in the collection pennies minted in the reign of such wedknown kings as Canute, Edward the Confessor, William the Conqueror, Richard Coeur-de-Lion and Henry vni. x , . v „ Many of the coins are anything but round in shape, but this is not due so much to the fault of the minters as to the operations of coin-clippers. The changes and improvements in the designs of the coins are extremely iifteresting. Siege Pieces. The Civil War in Charles the First’s reign is recalled by siege pieces minted to meet the exigencies of the situation created by Cromwell, who had control of the Mint. A shilling piece, a half groat and a halfpenny of the Commonwealth period are also to be seen. From the reigns of the Georges come quarter and han guineas, while tokens issued by the banks owing to a shortage of Royal Mint coins are survivals of George the Third’s reign. Most interesting among the coins of Victoria’s reign are the half, third and quarter farthings and a four shilling piece. . The Irish coins in the collection date from 989 when Sihtric 111. was king. There is a penny minted when John of England was also King of Ireland, a groat from. Elizabeth’s day and a St. Patrick’s farthing from the reign of Charles 11. Even more interesting are half-crowns and shillings of the period of James 11. which were made not from the usual alloy, but stamped out of guns—“money of necessity” as it was called.' ' ' The Scottish coins date from only 1165, but this penny of William the Lion looks crude enough to be a thousand years older. There is a genuine “bawbee” from the reign of Mary and from the reign of William and Mary a forty-shilling piece and a ‘bodle’ —the parent of the slang word boodle. Maundy Money. As one inspects the complete set of Maundy money one may well speculate upon the toil-worn hands of old men and women who have received at Westminster these eleemosynary gifts of the sovereigns of England. It may not be generally known that “Maundy ’ was the name given to the ceremony of washing the feet of the poor on the Thursday before Easter. The custom of footwashing on Maundy Thursday was originally kept by noblemen and prelates. Until the reign of William 111. the ceremony was in England performed by the King himself. It was then transferred to the Lord High Almoner, but was abolished in 1754. Alms-giving on Maundy Thursday has, however, continued, as many old men and old women as there are years in the sovereign’s .age receiving one penny for each year. The collection is complete from the first minting of Maundy money (in denominations of four--pence, threepence, twopence and penny) in the reign of Charles 11. down to the present day. The collection also contains a most attractive set of medals of the kings and queens of England, and mint specimen proof sets of the reigns of Edward VII. and George V. The Blcdisloe Medal. Finally there is the Waitangi-Bledis-loe bronze commemoration medal issued by the New Zealand Numismatic Society on February 6, 1935, the 95th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. This, the first medal issued by the society, is a credit to the makers. Only one silver specimen was struck, this being presented to Lord Bledisloe. The issue of bronze specimens was limited to 105. The obverse contains a portrait of Lord Bledisloe, the reverse a Maori carved doorway with sprays of kowhai at the side and manuka blossoms at the base. It is a memorable specimen of New Zealand medallic art. The collection is owned by Mr John Robertson, Herbert street, who, a numismatist of long experience, has in recent years specialized in British coins. The mounting of the coins is both artistic and helpful to those inspecting the collection.