BANS Annual Congress 2010

Was held at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge

9^th to 11^th April, 2010

Host Society : Cambridgehire Numismatic Society

The Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, was the venue for the 2010 National Numismatic Congress of BANS, the British Association of Numismatic Societies, staged over the weekend of 9-11 April. This was the third occasion that Congress had been held in Cambridge, previously the host city in 1952 and 1981.

A total of 76 delegates, including several who had made the trip from overseas and a large Irish contingent, enjoyed a warm welcome from the organiser, Dr Martin Allen of the Fitzwilliam Museum, who was assisted by Eldon Allison and David and Joan Palmer from the hosting Cambridgeshire Numismatic Society. Set in the tranquil surroundings of the College, away from the bustle of Cambridge city centre, the Congress was blessed with superb weather and those who attended will long remember the occasion as a convivial and well-run event, for which those responsible should take full credit.

Fortified by an ample dinner, proceedings got off to a magisterial start on the Friday evening with a 100-minute tour-de-force by the Fitzwilliam Museum's octogenarian honorary curator of coins, Dr Ted Buttrey, who set the numismatic scene which preceded Mark Antony's lusting after Cleopatra. The Roman theme was maintained into Saturday morning, with Dr Roger Bland, head of the Department of Portable Antiquities and Treasure at the British Museum, interpreting finds of Roman gold coins from Britain and comparing that data to similar work carried out in continental Europe. His colleague Catherine Eagleton followed up with a quick overview of Sarah Sophia Banks and her collection of coins, medals and tokens, while Shailendra Bhandare overcame a nightmare journey of over five hours to relieve the organiser's anxiety at the last minute and to tell the audience about the new Money Gallery at the Ashmolean Museum.

Between these institutional contributions Dr Ian d'Alton, from Naas, co Kildare, presided over the work of a number of French and Belgian medallists from the Art Nouveau and Art Déco periods, dividing the subject matter into themes which he and Eldon Allison had judged to find a ‘best in category', before asking the audience to practice their ballot paper skills and pronounce an overall top three. This hugely interesting overview was a highlight of Congress and perhaps can be expanded into other fields of numismatics in coming years. For the record, the weekend's electorate placed Oscar Roty's plaque, The Funeral of Président Carnot (1894) third, Max Blondat's interpretation of the contemporary poster by Jean-Louis Foran, Le vêtement du prisonnier de guerre (1914), second, with the top prize going to Paul-Marcel Dammann's Aviation (1920). Curiously, Art Déco, in the form of André Lavrillier's Léda and several offerings from Pierre Turin, were not so fancied by the collective audience, which just goes to show how subjective medallic art can be.

Sunday opened with Dr Mark Blackburn, head of the coin department at the Fitzwilliam Museum, examining the life and work of Christopher Blunt and Philip Grierson, the two great scholar-collectors who between them were responsible for much of the revival in serious numismatics in Britain in the years after World War II. Not content with just organising the Congress, Dr Allen contributed an important overview of the Cambridge mint, drawing attention to a number of important pieces discovered since the late Kenneth Jacob wrote his 1984 paper on the subject. David Young contributed the Howard Linecar Memorial Lecture on Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens and their associated tickets and passes, while last but by no means least, Edward Besly, president of BANS, took a look at coins which had been mutilated or stamped, whether for advertising or political purposes, paying particular attention to the issues of his forebear, the newspaper magnate Edward Lloyd.

On Saturday afternoon most delegates took up the option to visit the city, either for a walking tour which took in King's College Chapel and other places of interest, or the Fitzwilliam Museum, where Dr Allen played host in the coin department. Dinner in the evening was followed by a large raffle with prizes donated from a variety of trade sources. All delegates received a replica of an Anglo-Saxon coin of Cambridge by the moneyer ‘Mærtin', struck by David Greenhalgh.

Congress Programme 

The Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, was the venue for the 2010 National Numismatic Congress of BANS, the British Association of Numismatic Societies, staged over the weekend of 9-11 April. This was the third occasion that Congress had been held in Cambridge, previously the host city in 1952 and 1981.

A total of 76 delegates, including several who had made the trip from overseas and a large Irish contingent, enjoyed a warm welcome from the organiser, Dr Martin Allen of the Fitzwilliam Museum, who was assisted by Eldon Allison and David and Joan Palmer from the hosting Cambridgeshire Numismatic Society. Set in the tranquil surroundings of the College, away from the bustle of Cambridge city centre, the Congress was blessed with superb weather and those who attended will long remember the occasion as a convivial and well-run event, for which those responsible should take full credit.

Fortified by an ample dinner, proceedings got off to a magisterial start on the Friday evening with a 100-minute tour-de-force by the Fitzwilliam Museum's octogenarian honorary curator of coins, Dr Ted Buttrey, who set the numismatic scene which preceded Mark Antony's lusting after Cleopatra. The Roman theme was maintained into Saturday morning, with Dr Roger Bland, head of the Department of Portable Antiquities and Treasure at the British Museum, interpreting finds of Roman gold coins from Britain and comparing that data to similar work carried out in continental Europe. His colleague Catherine Eagleton followed up with a quick overview of Sarah Sophia Banks and her collection of coins, medals and tokens, while Shailendra Bhandare overcame a nightmare journey of over five hours to relieve the organiser's anxiety at the last minute and to tell the audience about the new Money Gallery at the Ashmolean Museum.

Between these institutional contributions Dr Ian d'Alton, from Naas, co Kildare, presided over the work of a number of French and Belgian medallists from the Art Nouveau and Art Déco periods, dividing the subject matter into themes which he and Eldon Allison had judged to find a ‘best in category’, before asking the audience to practice their ballot paper skills and pronounce an overall top three. This hugely interesting overview was a highlight of Congress and perhaps can be expanded into other fields of numismatics in coming years. For the record, the weekend's electorate placed Oscar Roty's plaque, The Funeral of Président Carnot (1894) third, Max Blondat's interpretation of the contemporary poster by Jean-Louis Foran, Le vêtement du prisonnier de guerre (1914), second, with the top prize going to Paul-Marcel Dammann's Aviation (1920). Curiously, Art Déco, in the form of André Lavrillier's Léda and several offerings from Pierre Turin, were not so fancied by the collective audience, which just goes to show how subjective medallic art can be.

Sunday opened with Dr Mark Blackburn, head of the coin department at the Fitzwilliam Museum, examining the life and work of Christopher Blunt and Philip Grierson, the two great scholar-collectors who between them were responsible for much of the revival in serious numismatics in Britain in the years after World War II. Not content with just organising the Congress, Dr Allen contributed an important overview of the Cambridge mint, drawing attention to a number of important pieces discovered since the late Kenneth Jacob wrote his 1984 paper on the subject. David Young contributed the Howard Linecar Memorial Lecture on Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens and their associated tickets and passes, while last but by no means least, Edward Besly, president of BANS, took a look at coins which had been mutilated or stamped, whether for advertising or political purposes, paying particular attention to the issues of his forebear, the newspaper magnate Edward Lloyd.

On Saturday afternoon most delegates took up the option to visit the city, either for a walking tour which took in King's College Chapel and other places of interest, or the Fitzwilliam Museum, where Dr Allen played host in the coin department. Dinner in the evening was followed by a large raffle with prizes donated from a variety of trade sources. All delegates received a replica of an Anglo-Saxon coin of Cambridge by the moneyer ‘Mærtin', struck by David Greenhalgh.
 

Congress Programme