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Roman Coins and Marks and Sparks – What’s the Link?

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The Dorchester Hoard

Discovered on 11^th May 1936, the Dorchester hoard is one of the largest hoards found in Britain. Consisting of 16 denarii and 20,732 antoniniani, it was found while rebuilding the Marks and Spencer store at the back of South Street in Dorchester. The last coins dated to the reign of Gallienus and so the date of disposition was around AD 257.

The Dorchester Hoard 1936

Groups of coins from the hoard were distributed to various museums around the country and some have just gone on display at the new Marks and Spencer’s museum in Leeds.

“It is hard to imagine a museum that displays ancient Roman coins alongside this season’s Easter egg packaging – but this unusual cocktail is what visitors can expect at the newly opened Marks & Spencer Company archive in Leeds. An exhibition tracing the history of the retail giant has been opened by former MI5 head Dame Stella Rimington in a new building at the University of Leeds.

The collection, which has never before been open to the public, tells the story of how Marks & Spencer grew from a haberdashery stall in Leeds’ Kirkgate Market in 1884 to a FTSE 100 company. Robert Swannell, Marks & Spencer chairman, said: “The history of M&S as an iconic British retailer is now accessible for all to enjoy and will continue to evolve back in the city where it all began.”

The oldest exhibit is an array of third century Roman coins that were discovered by workers laying foundations for Marks & Spencer Dorchester in 1936. Buttons from Michael Marks’ original Penny Bazaar stall, which he opened in 1884, are also on show.“

Copyright (c) Press Association Ltd. 2012

The remainder of the coins were returned and seem to have been dispersed through the trade. We are fortunate to be able to offer a small group for sale at the Harrogate Coin Fair on 23^rd and 24^th March 2012. Any that remain following the show will be offered for sale on NumisMall. The examples we have are silver antoninianii from the reigns of  Gordian III, Philip I, Trajan Decius, Valerian and Volusian. These coins were bought from Seabys in the 1950s when many coins from the hoard were advertised for sale in their Numismatic Bulletin.

A Rare Piece of Numismatic History

In 1893 the Numismatic Society of London (soon to become the Royal Numismatic Society) awarded its Numismatic Medal to William Henry Waddington in recognition of his work on the Greek Coinages of Asia Minor. Formerly the French Ambassador to the Court of St James in London, Monsieur Waddington was back in Paris and was unable to receive the medal himself. On June 15^th 1893 it was presented to the British Foreign Secretary who was to pass it on – presumably in a diplomatic pouch!

M. Waddington was notified of this impending award in a letter from the eminent Greek numismatist Barclay Vincent Head, Keeper of Coins at the British Museum. We are pleased to be able to offer this actual letter, a unique piece of numismatic history in our online numismatic store on NumisMall. Click on the image below to visit the store.

Signed letter from Barclay Vincent Head (1844-1914), Greek numismatist and Keeper of Coins at the British Museum.

An autograph letter signed to William Henry Waddington, French Ambassador in London and author of “Recueil Generale des Monnaies Grecques d’Asie Mineure”  confirming the award of the Numismatic Medal, submitting the proposed inscription, and discussing his sighting of “two new Lampascene gold staters”. Waddington was awarded the Royal Numismatic Society (then the Numismatic Society of London) Medal in 1893 in recognition of his work on the Greek coinages of Asia Minor. He was the eleventh winner of the medal. 4 pages, 6 x 4 inches, fine.

An interesting piece of numismatic history, rare and unique.

January 2012 Newsletter

Happy new year to all our visitors!

Launch of new coin mall – NumisMall

We are pleased to announce that we have now launched our new online store at NumisMall. Visit it here Hookmoor at NumisMall. We are just beginning to upload our  existing stock and it may take us several weeks to achieve this. NumisMall is a new coin mall and although, like with any new venture, we anticipate a few teething issues, we are pleased with progress so far and expect it to provide an excellent way of presenting new material to wider audiences. We also want it to be an excellent customer experience, so any feedback is more than welcome. Our experience of the site so far is that the owners and developers are very responsive to feedback and suggestions.

In the meantime we will be attending the usual coin fairs at York and Wakefield where we will have a good selection of coins on offer. In particular, we have a nice group of Amorican billon staters and some provenanced Romano-British hoard coins.

Relaunch of the Yorkshire Numismatic Society

We are pleased to support the Yorkshire Numismatic Society and look after its website here Yorkshire Numismatic Society. After several years struggling to attract new members, the society has recently been energised by an influx of new members and is putting on an excellent programme of events for 2012. It starts at the York Coin Fair with Master Robert Turner, the former Queen’s Remembrancer presenting “The Trial of the Pyx”.

Yorkshire Numismatist 4

The next volume of the Yorkshire Numismatist will be published later this year. The draft contents list is available on the YNS website.  The piece on the Silverdale Hoard by Gareth Williams will provide the first opportunity to read in detail about the hoard. There are also some articles based on talks given at the recent Moneta Britannia conference.

Hookmoor List Number One

I am afraid that because of the pressures of setting up the new online shop at Numismall, the promised Romano-British list is having to take a back seat at the moment. We still plan to issue this later in the year and this will complement our offerings on Numismall.

Mauseus Coins

Our sister site, Mauseus Coins, has recently posted a winter list of coins for sale and the site also has some very useful Carausius and Allectus resources available. Well worth a visit.

Symposium in Early Medieval Coinage

The Symposium in Early Medieval Coinage will take place on the 31st March 2012 at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. These events, organised by Tony Abramson, are always interesting and packed with informative talks. They are also free! Further details are available on the website here – SEMC.

Wishing you all a very successful numismatic year ahead!