Author Archive: royalnumsoc

In this year’s session we have had seven meetings here at the Royal Asiatic Society, and two meetings, including our Early Career Lectures, in Zoom. My sincere thanks go to all of the speakers who gave talks: William Day, Georgia Galani, Graham Barker, Francesca Lam-March, Mehdy Shaddel, Chris Barker, Tom Hockenhull, Frédérique Duyrat, and particularly to our Medallist for 2025, Vesta Curtis. The staff here at the Royal Asiatic Society have been very helpful and supportive, as always.

In September 2025 we had our symposium on ‘Coinage in Roman Britain: New Perspectives and the Way Forward’ at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. We had an excellent programme of papers from Sam Moorhead, Anni Byard, Murray Andrews,

Tasha Fullbrook, Susan Walker, Stephanie Bonnici and Roger Bland. The whole day was a great success, and I am pleased to say that we shall be having another symposium at the Faculty of English in Cambridge on Saturday 5 September this year. The subject this time will be ‘Coinage in the Late Roman Empire and Early Medieval Europe: Continuity and Crisis’. Booking for this symposium is now open and I am confident that it will be as successful as our symposium last year.

In the next session, starting in October, we shall be moving our monthly meetings to the Warburg Institute in Woburn Square, which hosts the joint Library of the Royal and British Numismatic Societies. After a recent refurbishment the Warburg Institute will provide an excellent venue for our meetings in its new Reemtsma Auditorium, and holding our meetings there will enable members to use the library when they attend meetings.

Tonight I must thank our three outgoing members of Council, Johanne Porter Margeurite Spoerri-Butcher and Etsuko Zakoji. They have all made a great contribution to the activities of our Society and they deserve our thanks.

We welcome three new members of Council. Tasha Fulbrook has worked as a Finds Liaison Officer for the Portable Antiquities Scheme in Cornwall and is currently a PhD student in the Department of Archaeology at the University of Reading, researching the production and use of ‘Barbarous Radiates’ in the late third century, as well as being a Project Curator for Iron Age and Roman Coin Finds with the Portable Antiquities Scheme. Finlay Larkin studied Archaeology at the University of Exeter, and has worked as a Finds Liaison Assistant with the Portable Antiquities Scheme in Sussex. He is now an Imaging Assistant in the Department of Money and Medals at the British Museum. His research interests include Roman coinage and the piercing and reuse of early medieval coins. Amber Powell is a student at Durham University with a particular interest in the use of foreign coins in late medieval and post-medieval Britain.

The work of the Society would not be possible without the great contribution of our Honorary Secretary, Andrew Brown, who now has many calls on his time as Curator of Roman Coins at the Heberden Coin Room in Oxford. The contributions of our Vice Presidents, Megan Gooch and Matt Ball, have also been considerable.

Matt Ball edits the Society’s monthly E-newsletter, keeping the Society’s members in touch with our activities. Matt also looks after the Society’s website and he has continued to have a major role in the organization of our meetings here at the Royal Asiatic Society.

Megan Gooch has overseen a comprehensive review of our administration and archives, resulting in the appointment of an Administrator and an Archives Assistant. David Rowe was appointed as our Administrator in July 2025, to administer membership and other records and to be the first point of contact for members’ enquiries. He has implemented a new membership system that has already proved to be immensely helpful in the operations of our Society. Members now have access to a membership area on our website: https://membermojo.co.uk/numismatics. Michael Laposata was appointed to organize our digital and paper archives, and this work is now being completed by Ashleigh James-McKenna.

I am pleased to say that 58 new Fellows and Student Members have been elected during the year. We now have 530 individual members and 127 institutional members, making an impressive total of 657.

I am very sad to have to report the death of one of our Medallists and five members during the year, including three Honorary Fellows:

– Carmen Arnold-Biucchi was our Medallist in 2022. She had been the Harvard Art Museum’s first Curator of Ancient Coins until her retirement in 2022.

– Dr John Donal Bateson was the Curator of Numismatics at the Hunterian Museum for over 40 years from 1978 to 2019, and he became an Honorary Fellow of our Society in 2012.

– Philip Skingley was elected as an Honorary Fellow in 2014. He was a great support to the Society in hosting meetings at Spink, where his Book Department published many of our publications.

– Keith Sugden, elected as an Honorary Fellow in 2013, was a curator of the numismatic collection at the Manchester City Museum, where he created a Money Gallery. He was a Secretary and Treasurer of the UK Numismatic Trust, and a President of the British Association of Numismatic Societies (BANS).

– John Rainey, who joined the Society in 2021, was a founder of the Northern Branch of the Numismatic Society of Ireland, and the President of BANS at the time of his death. He made a great contribution to the promotion of numismatics by its societies.

– Paul Withers was elected as a Fellow in 1975, and he was a joint winner of the Lhotka Memorial Prize in 2006 and 2011. For many years he had a leading role in numismatic publishing at Galata Print.

Our Honorary Vice President Joe Cribb has continued to oversee distribution of the Society’s research grants through Council’s Grants sub-committee. The Grants sub-committee has recommended grants from its research funds twice, following deadlines in August 2025 and February 2026. Council approved a total of £27,750 to be awarded to thirteen applicants from the UK, France, Egypt, Israel, Italy, China and India, for a wide range of research projects. Two of the applicants received funds from the Malcolm Lyne bequest, which has been agreed could be used to give grants to young applicants. Grants were also made from the Casey, Lowick, Kreitman and Price Funds. The final grant from the Katherina and William Barrett Fund was also made.

The Society has awarded two prizes this year. The Samir Shamma Prize for a publication on Islamic numismatics has been awarded to Nicholas Schindel for Sylloge Nummorum Arabicorum Österreich, Band 1, Frühislamische Kupfermünzen nach der Reform von 77 AH (696/697 n. Chr.) (Vienna, 2025). The Lhotka Prize for an introductory book on numismatics was awarded jointly to Andrew Burnett for The Roman Provinces, 300BCE – 300CE: Using Coins as Sources (Cambridge, 2024), and to Dominic Chorney for Treasures of the Occult (London, 2025).

In 2025 the Society’s funds have, once again, seen a considerable increase in their overall health. A further legacy of just over £240,000 was received from the estate of Dr Malcolm Lyne which, together with our other income, brought our total funds of the Society at 31 December 2025 to a figure of over £1,100,000. Our investments have continued to remain stable despite the challenges and fluctuations presented to the various international markets by World events, and our investment managers have maintained a positive market value of our portfolio.

Our investments continue to be managed by Evelyn Partners, and we are always most grateful to Tristan Hillgarth and to Stefano Mazzola, who also acts as our independent examiner of the accounts, for their time and their generous advice and assistance in financial matters.

Under the stewardship of Brad Shepherd, the Honorary Librarian of the Royal and British Numismatic Societies, further progress has been made in the development of the two societies’ Numismatic Library at the Warburg Institute. The Library is now established in its permanent home in the open stacks of the Warburg’s basement and is accessible to members six days a week, together with full access to the Warburg Institute’s wider library collections.

Thanks to generous donations and an active acquisitions programme, the Library’s holdings have continued to expand significantly during the year, with more than 500 new books, periodicals, and auction catalogues added to the collection. Donations of items to fill gaps are always welcome.

The Library is one of the UK’s most important and accessible resources for numismatic research. Members are warmly encouraged to visit, explore the extensive collections, undertake research, and make use of the excellent facilities now available.

The Society’s publications, and in particular the Numismatic Chronicle, are the most important benefit of membership for many of our members, especially those from overseas. Our publications are in the safe hands of our Senior Editor, Clare Rowan, Simon Glenn as Reviews Editor, Murray Andrews as Production Editor and adviser on papers on medieval and modern numismatics, and Shailendra Bhandare as adviser on Asian numismatics. They have produced another superb volume of the Chronicle, maintaining its reputation as one of the most important periodicals in our subject.

Several new Special Publications are at an advanced stage of preparation. We are now working on Laurent Bricault and Cristian Mondello’s Isis Moneta, The ‘Vota Publica’ tokens from late antique Rome and Metallurgy in Numismatics 7, edited by Matthew Ponting, as well as a volume on the coinage of Ptolemaic Lycia by Ömar Tatar. Other Special Publications are also planned. In January 2026 Script Publisher Services became the distributor of the Society’s publications. They now distribute all of our Special Publications and recent volumes of the Numismatic Chronicle.

I am very glad to announce that the worthy winner of the Society’s Medal for 2026 is Dr Barrie Cook. Barrie was a curator of Later Medieval and Early Modern Collections at the British Museum for forty years, from 1985 to 2025. During that time he curated many notable exhibitions at the museum. His tireless work on the increasing numbers of coin hoards going through the Treasure Act system has resulted in numerous excellent publications, culminating in the two-volume publication of hoard reports in English Medieval Coin Hoards, now in progress. Barrie’s contribution to the subject has been immense, and he found time to be a member of our Council and Honorary Secretary from 1992 to 2001.

It has been a great pleasure and an honour to be serving as President of our Society at this very positive time in its history. We have made great progress in so many ways, and we can look forward to the new session with confidence.

Martin Allen, RNS President.

Join us at the Faculty of English, University of Cambridge or Online on September 5, 2026 at 10:00 AM (BST) for a symposium on the world of coinage during the Late Roman Empire and Early Medieval Europe.

To book your place, follow the link to our Eventbrite page: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/coinage-in-the-late-roman-empire-early-medieval-europe-tickets-1987944124390?aff=oddtdtcreator&keep_tld=true#location

Students go free. Online attendance is £5. In-person attendance, which includes a buffet lunch and drinks reception afterward, is £23.50.

Registration
10:00 AM – 10:25 AM

Session 1
10:30 AM – 12:30 PM

1030–1105: Kelly Clarke-Neish, ‘New approaches to the study of Britain’s “last” Roman hoards’
Abstract: Late Roman hoards are a crucial source of evidence to explore the transition from the late Roman to early medieval period in Britain. Collectively, they contain thousands of artefacts including jewellery and tableware, and some hoard containers also exist. Most hoards also contain small silver coins known as siliqua (siliquae pl.) and these coins frequently display evidence of the deliberate removal of silver (‘clipping’) from their edges. Clipping has long been recognised as a key phenomenon which occurred in late and post-Roman Britain (and elsewhere to a lesser degree) and the study of the tens of thousands of coins from the Hoxne hoard, the largest gold and silver late Roman hoard known from Britain, revealed that the practice was a long and drawn out process and coins underwent successive rounds of clipping (Guest, 2005). Though our understanding of clipping has greatly improved, the exact chronology of clipping and whether it was a controlled act remains uncertain and no major study of clipping has been carried out since the study of Hoxne. This paper presents the key findings of an in-depth study of over 10,000 siliquae from over fifty late Roman hoards undertaken as part of the AHRC funded project ‘Britain’s last Roman hoards: wealth, power and culture in the fifth century’ (2024-2026). As well as examining and identifying the clipping of these coins first-hand, statistical techniques were applied to the coin hoard data to identify underlying patterns between these late Roman hoards. Coupled with the results of an independent study of artefacts, a revised chronology for the duration of clipping will be suggested

1105–1140: Roger Bland, ‘Why does Britain have so many coin hoards of the 4th and 5th centuries?’
Abstract: Britain has a uniquely rich record of coin hoards, and the hoards of the Roman period were the subject of an AHRC research project in 2014-20 which produced two books on the subject (Roger Bland, Coin hoards and hoarding in Roman Britain, AD 43 – c. 491, BNS Special Publication 13, 2018, and Bland et al., Iron Age and Roman Coin Hoards in Britain, Oxbow Books, 2020). That project sought to understand why there are so many hoards of the second half of the third century from Britain, but in fact it is in the 4th and 5th centuries that Britain has the greatest number of hoards. The online database of the Oxford Coin Hoards of the Roman Empire project now has over 3,900 hoards that close between 294 and 491 from across the Empire and beyond, 38% of which are from Britain, an extraordinary concentration. While the exceptional number of hoards of silver siliquae from Britain has long been recognised, Britain also has many hoards of bronze coins. This paper looks at possible reasons for this phenomenon and looks at developments in the immediate post-Roman period, into the sixth and seventh centuries. 

1140–1215: Marcus Spencer-Brown, ‘The demise of base-metal coinage as a political medium in the Late Roman period’
Abstract: A defining characteristic of Roman coinage was the variety of its designs and the diverse political messages they were intended to communicate. In marked contrast to much of the relatively static ‘Greek’ coinage that preceded it, Roman coin imagery was actively employed by elites of the late Republic and subsequent imperial regimes as an overtly political medium through which contributions to the res publica could be promoted and status negotiated. Scholarship has long connected episodes of rapid iconographic innovation with periods of instability and anxiety, while phases of relative monotony—such as the Antonine period—have been interpreted as indicative of imperial confidence and internal peace.

Yet this interpretative model is less readily applicable to the Late Roman period. Despite recurrent civil wars, religious conflict, and sustained external pressures, such turbulence was not matched by comparable innovation in coin design. Instead, increasingly repetitive and standardised types dominated issues from the empire’s many mints.

This paper argues that the apparent mismatch between fourth-century political instability and the genericised expressions of imperial competence on base-metal coinage reflects a fundamental shift in the medium’s political function. As emperors became more itinerant and autocratic, the imperial state recalibrated the communicative ambitions of base-metal coinage, gradually marginalising it as a primary vehicle of political negotiation. In its place, Late Roman regimes developed alternative mechanisms for articulating authority and managing relationships with key constituencies.

1215–1230: Session 1 Q&A

Lunch (sandwich lunch provided)
12:30 PM – 01:30 PM

Session 2
01:30 PM – 03:00 PM

1330–1405: John Naylor, ‘Coins and the individual: the use of gold and silver coinage in Early Anglo-Saxon burials’
Abstract: Solidi, tremisses and early silver pennies (sceattas) are a regular, if minor, element of furnished burials in Early Anglo-Saxon England. Focusing primarily on gold coinage from graves, this paper explores the evidence from male and female inhumations, assessing their distributions in relation to contemporary coin finds and hoards, the modification (or otherwise) of the coins and their placement in the grave with other items. The study explores the potential for finds of coins in burials to provide us with evidence for both contemporary attitudes to coinage in a formative period of monetisation, and to its role within society and the formation of the period’s power structures. The final discussion assesses the evidence from gold coins in grave contexts to the results from previous work on the later early silver pennies, highlighting the varied and changing roles coins played within elite society across the later sixth to early eighth centuries in England.

1405–1440: Tom Balbin-Estanguet, ‘Monetary evolution and rupture in Merovingian Aquitaine: the hoard evidence (6th – mid 8th c.)’
Abstract: Aquitaine, a peripheral region of the Merovingian kingdom conquered by Clovis in 507, shared a common history and monetary system with the rest of the regnum Francorum. Numerous places produced pseudo-imperial and independent trientes, as well as silver deniers starting from the end of the seventh century, and foreign coinage (Visigothic, Byzantine, Anglo-Saxon…) was also circulating in some parts of Aquitania. However, the centre of gravity of finds and the network of mints changed considerably in this area during Merovingian rule.  In particular, the transition from a gold-based to a silver-based system significantly altered the monetary facies of Aquitaine, considerably shifting coin production and circulation. This resulted in a fragmented region, between a southern, under-monetized part and a northern part oriented toward the Frankish heartlands and beyond.

These changes are reflected in the variable frequency and dispersion of Aquitanian coin hoards. The heterogenous coin supply led to notable differences in hoarding practices, which can be observed by close inspection of their content. This structural analysis allows us to question previous dating based on historical events rather than numismatic evidence. In turn, the chronology of these finds challenges the traditional view that war and insecurity is the main factor in hoarding frequency. Moreover, their study sheds light on monetary practices, hoard owners’ selections, and coin supply restrictions, underlining the developments of this period. The aim of this contribution is therefore to present the contribution of coin deposits to our understanding of the evolution of the coinage system in early medieval Aquitaine.

1440–1500: Session 2 Q&A

Tea and coffee break
03:00 PM – 03:30 PM

Session 3
03:30 PM – 05:00 PM

1530–1600: Elina Screen, ‘Coinage in the late Carolingian empire: continuity or crisis?’
Abstract: In the first half of the ninth century, the Carolingian coinage was closely controlled under emperors Charlemagne and Louis the Pious. In the second half of the ninth century, the Carolingian empire was divided between multiple rulers and Carolingian political control frayed, especially after the death of Charles the Fat in 888. Although this period saw the introduction of Charles the Bald’s successful and well-controlled Gratia Dei Rex coinage in 864, royal control over the coinage steadily reduced, and immobilised and ‘feudal’ coinages emerged by the end of the tenth century. These changes are generally linked to political developments and the erosion of the concepts of public authority that had supported the Carolingian administration and its production of coinage. However, this focus on political crisis may neglect the impact of underlying regional differences upon coinage and its use within the Frankish empire. I shall reassess the coinage across this period of transition, placing the emergence of distinctive regional currency zones into a longer economic perspective. The iconography of the coinage also points to elements of continuity.

1600–1630: Rory Naismith, ‘The management of minting in Early Medieval Europe’
Abstract: Between about 400 and 1000, the organisational systems behind minting coin in Europe and the Mediterranean changed profoundly. This paper will survey that process and consider why new models developed along different lines. A starting point will be the large-scale mints of the later Roman Empire, which were keyed closely into provincial administration and imperial fiscal systems. Something similar to this persisted in the Byzantine and Islamic worlds. Other mechanisms depended on looser relationships with central government income and expenditure, and on increasingly assertive forms of local power and economic control. These will be examined with reference to the Frankish and Anglo-Saxon kingdoms.

1630–1640: Session 3 Q&A
1640–1645: Final words from the President
1645–1700: End

Reception with drinks and light refreshments
17:00 – 18:15

Speaker biographies

Kelly Clarke-Neish is based in the Money and Medals Department at the British Museum and is Project Curator: Britain’s last Roman hoards. She is part of the AHRC funded project Britain’s Last Roman Hoards (https://blogs.kent.ac.uk/hoards/) with Ellen Swift (PI, Kent), Eleanor Ghey (Co-I, BM) and James Gerrard (Co-I, Newcastle). Though she is currently researching late Roman coinage, she has a strong background and interest in early medieval numismatics and co-authored an article in 2024 on the reuse of sixth-and-seventh-century gold coins in England.

Roger Bland was curator of Roman coins at the British Museum and retired in 2015 as Keeper of the Department of Britain, Prehistory and Europe. From 1994 to 2002 he was seconded to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, to bring in the Treasure Act 1996 and establish the Portable Antiquities Scheme. He has written Roman Imperial Coinage IV.3 (Spink Books, 2026), other books on Roman coins and the Treasure Act and the Portable Antiquities Scheme.

Rory Naismith is Professor of Early Medieval English History at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. He has published extensively on early medieval history and numismatics.

In this year’s session we moved our meetings to the Royal Asiatic Society, which is in a convenient location near Euston Station and has technology for hybrid meetings. This is a venue that has been used by the Royal Numismatic Society in the past, and it has enabled us to return to the traditional meeting day of Tuesday. We have had seven meetings here at the Royal Asiatic Society, and two meetings, including our Early Career Lectures, in Zoom. My thanks go to all of the speakers who gave talks: Simon Coupland, Kateryna Sorochan, Thomas Birch, Tim Wright, Marcus Spencer-Brown, Timothy Cheuk Yin Chan, Vivien Bird, Carole Quatrelivre, Svante Fischer, and particularly to our Medallist for 2024, Helen Wang. Matty and the other staff here at the Royal Asiatic Society have been very helpful and supportive.

I am pleased to report that we have organized a symposium on ‘Coinage in Roman Britain: New Perspectives and the Way Forward’ at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, on Saturday 6 September. Booking for this event is now open (RNS 2025 Summer Symposium), and it should be a great day for our Society. Tonight I must thank our two outgoing members of Council, Ian d’Alton and Mafalda Raposo. They have both made a great contribution to the activities of our Society, serving on many sub-committees and advisory groups. Ian has worked on our Funds and the Lhotka and Parkes Weber Prizes, and Mafalda has been involved with the development of the RNS Archives, Communications and Marketing, and the Lhotka Prize.

We welcome two new members of Council. Kelly Clarke-Neish is a post-doctoral researcher working on the Britain’s Last Roman Hoards project at the British Museum. Campbell Orchard administers the Money and Medals Network, which makes a great contribution to the promotion of numismatics at every level, and he is about to take up a post as Digital Curator of Greek and Roman Provincial Coins at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.

Our Honorary Secretary, Andrew Brown, has made an enormous contribution to the work of the Society throughout the year, and we congratulate him on his appointment as Curator of Roman Coins at the Heberden Coin Room in Oxford. The contributions of our Vice Presidents, Megan Gooch and Matt Ball, have also been considerable. Megan has overseen a comprehensive review of our archives and administration. As a result of this review we have advertised two new freelance posts, as Administrator and Archive Assistant, which will greatly enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of the Society’s work. Matt Ball has continued to edit the Society’s monthly e-newsletter, keeping the Society’s members in touch with our activities. Matt also looks after the Society’s website and he has had a leading role in the organization of our meetings here at the Royal Asiatic Society.

Our Honorary Vice President Joe Cribb has made great progress in developing the award of grants. The Grants sub-committee has awarded grants from its research funds twice, following deadlines in August 2024 and February 2025. A total of £31,264 was awarded to twenty recipients from the UK, Netherland, Italy, Sweden, the USA, Canada, China, India, Tajikistan and Egypt, for a wide range of research projects. These included the first three recipients of the new Katherina and William Barrett Fund for Asian Numismatic Research. During the year the Society has given £10,000 to the Money and Medals Network and £8,044 to the FINA (Fontes Inediti Numismaticae Antiquae) project of the Austrian Academy.

The Grants sub-committee and others from the Council have formed a working party to look into future ways of utilising recent donations to the Society to promote numismatic research and practice in the UK. The very generous bequest of Dr Malcolm Lyne included provision for an annual prize for publications on the late Roman coinage of the Western Empire after the currency reforms of Aurelian. It gave me great pleasure to make a joint award of inaugural Malcolm Lyne Prizes at the Britannia Nummaria conference in York in July 2024, to Recent Discoveries of Tetrarchic Hoards from Roman Britain and their Wider Context, edited by Eleanor Ghey, and to the second edition of The London Mint of Constantius and Constantine by Hubert Cloke and Lee Toone. The Malcolm Lyne Prize for 2025 has been awarded to Sam Moorhead for Roman Imperial Coinage Volume V Part 5 Carausius and Allectus. This year’s Gilljam Prize for Third-Century Numismatics is a joint award to Jerome Mairat for Roman Imperial Coinage Volume IV The Gallic Empire, and to Sam Moorhead and Graham Barker for The Rebel Emperors of Britannia, Carausius and Allectus. The Lhotka Prize for introductory books on numismatics goes to Tim Wright’s British Celtic Coins: Art or Imitation? Finally, the Parkes Weber Prize has been awarded to James Hua for an essay on ‘The Coins of Expelled Populations in Classical Greece: Reconsidering Helike (373) and Mantinea (370)’.

We have just heard from our Treasurer Paul Hill about our financial position. 2024 has seen substantial gains in the Society’s funds, due mainly to the legacy of Dr Malcolm Lyne, as well as a bequest from the estate of Audrey Chapman. As such, our total funds have increased by more than £300,000 as of 31 December 2024, compared with the same date at the end of 2023. Our spending on the awarding grants increased in 2024. Our investments have remained stable throughout the year and, although we haven’t seen substantial gains, due to fluctuations in various markets as a result of world events, the overall picture is certainly more positive than at this point last year. The investments continue to be looked after by Evelyn Partners, and we are most grateful to Tristan Hillgarth and to Stefano Mazzola (who also acts as our independent examiner of the accounts) for their generous advice and assistance in financial matters.

Brad Shepherd, the Honorary Librarian of the Royal and British Numismatic Societies, has continued to do great work on the development of the two societies’ Numismatic Library at the Warburg Institute. Following the recent refurbishment of the Warburg Institute the Library now has a permanent new home in the open stacks of the Warburg’s basement. It is now accessible to members six days a week. Throughout the year we have significantly enhanced our collection of books, periodicals and auction catalogues through an active acquisition program. Brad has now catalogued all 37,000 items in the Library, and these catalogues are now online on the Society’s website. Our Library is one of the most important and accessible numismatic research libraries in the UK. I would encourage all members to visit the Library, to explore our extensive collection, conduct research, and experience the new facilities.

The Society’s publications, and in particular the Numismatic Chronicle, are the most important benefit of membership for many of our members, especially those from overseas. Our publications are in the safe hands of our Senior Editor, Clare Rowan, Simon Glenn as Reviews Editor, Murray Andrews as Production Editor and adviser on papers on medieval and modern numismatics, and Shailendra Bhandare as adviser on Asian numismatics. They have produced another superb volume of the Chronicle, maintaining its reputation as one of the most important periodicals in our subject.

Several new Special Publications are at an advanced stage of preparation. We are now working on Laurent Bricault and Cristian Mondello’s Isis Moneta, The ‘Vota Publica’ tokens from late antique Rome and Metallurgy in Numismatics 7, edited by Matthew Ponting, as well as a volume on the coinage of Ptolemaic Lycia by Omar Tatar. Other Special Publications are also planned.

I am pleased to say that the very worthy winner of the Society’s Medal for 2025 is Dr Vesta Curtis. Vesta has had a distinguished career at the British Museum as Curator of Middle Eastern Coins. Her work focuses on Middle Eastern numismatics, particularly relating to the Parthians and Sasanians in early Iran, and she was a Secretary of our Society from 2005 to 2010.

We have elected Professor Gul Rahim Khan as an Honorary Fellow. Gul Rahim Khan is Pakistan’s leading numismatic scholar. A practicing archaeologist, notably leading excavations of an ancient metalworking site in Peshawar, he also teaches archaeology and numismatics at the University of Peshawar. He has worked closely with the British Museum over the last twenty-five years, readily sharing his data and research and collaborating on research projects.

I am very sad to report the death of five of our members during the year: Nicholas Mayhew, Keith Rutter, David MacDowall, Tony Holmes, and Gary Oddie. Nick Mayhew was one of the leading scholars of medieval numismatics in Britain. He had a notable career at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, starting as an Assistant Keeper in 1971 and serving as the Keeper of the Heberden Coin Room from 1999 to 2005, and then as Deputy Director of Collections, with a key role in the redevelopment of the Ashmolean between 2005 and 2009. He was the President of our Society from 2009 and 2013, and also served as editor of the Numismatic Chronicle. He received our Society’s Medal in 2002. Keith Rutter made enormous contributions to Greek numismatics and to our Society. His work on the coins of Magna Graecia stemmed from his PhD on Campanian coinages, published in 1979, and this was followed by many other notable publications on Greek coinage. He was the sole editor of the Society’s publications for seven years from 1985 to 1992: not just the Numismatic Chronicle, but also the Society’s Special Publications. He was awarded the Society’s Medal in 2020.David MacDowall began his academic career with an Oxford doctorate on the coinage of the Roman emperor Nero, and became the Assistant Keeper of Oriental Coins at the British Museum. Here he turned his attention to the coinages of ancient Afghanistan and Pakistan. His career at the British Museum was cut short when the close work on coins was beginning to damage his eyesight. He subsequently held a succession of posts in the Ministry of Education and higher education. Throughout his career in education, David did not neglect his interest in numismatics and continued to work on the coinages of ancient Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. He was a council member of our Society and became its Treasurer from 1966 to 1973. Anthony Holmes, known to everyone as Tony, became a Fellow of our Society in 1975 and he was the Librarian of the Royal and British Numismatic Societies from 1995 to 2006. Gary Oddie was a research scientist in his professional life and he made good use of his scientific training and dedicated approach to work to make a great contribution to the study of tokens and many other aspects of our subject. He had leading roles in the activities of the Token Corresponding Society and the British Numismatic Society.

It has been a great pleasure and an honour to continue to serve as President of the Society this year. The Society is going from strength to strength, and we have much to look forward to in the new session.

Martin Allen, RNS President

The Royal Numismatic Society supports the next generation of numismatists and scholars from other disciplines interested in the study of coins. We will host online two lectures by the early career community in February 2026.

What

We would love to hear about your

• Numismatic studies and research at university or in the museums and heritage sector;
• Numismatic research project; or
• Cataloguing, display, or public engagement projects featuring museum numismatic collections.

Who

Submissions are welcomed from

• Students, early career professionals (if you think you’re early career, we are flexible in our definition!), or people who have recently begun working with numismatics;
• Archaeologists working with numismatic material/coins as archaeological objects;
• International colleagues (the lectures will take place over Zoom).

The RNS supports diversity in numismatic research – feel free to email Courtney if you have any questions about this call.

How

Please send a short proposal by Friday 3 October 2025 to Courtney Nimura at: courtney.nimura@ashmus.ox.ac.uk, with:

• Name
• Job title and institutional affiliation (optional)
• Contact details
• Title
• Short abstract (up to 250 words)
• Short personal biography (up to 100 words)

Please circulate this information to anyone who you think might be interested in this opportunity. We look forward to hearing from you!

 The Royal Numismatic Society is currently advertising two new freelancer opportunities:

1. Administrator
2. Archive assistant

Both are to cover a one-year project to get our records and administration in order. We would welcome applications from anyone who thinks they have the skills (they do not need to be a trained archivist).

About the administrative project
The RNS, like many learned societies, has evolved in the twenty-first century. We have things our founders could not conceive, such as a website and online meetings. But we need some assistance to get our administrative processes modernised so that the Society can run efficiently and effectively both for its trustees (Council members) who manage the RNS, but also for its members, who expect twenty-first century communications from us.

What you will be doing:
● Maintaining accurate membership records, compliant with GDPR for the Society
● Managing the administration of new members
● Being the point of contact for membership and member enquiries
● Managing the administration of Prizes, Funds, and calls for lectures
● Accurate filing and storage of committee and Society papers
● Identifying and booking rooms for Society meetings and hosting online meetings
● Developing evaluation and user research about our membership
● Arranging for the dispersal and disposal of excess book stock

You should apply if you have:
● Experience in administration in a cultural, charity, or educational role
● Experience in being proactive about providing good administrative service
● Ability to work unsupervised and on own initiative
● Ability to prioritise and manage committee and meeting deadlines
● Ability to engage professionally with membership
● Proficiency in Microsoft and Google administrative systems
● Accuracy and attention to detail

Desirable:
● An interest in numismatics

Budget:
The budget for this contract is £8,450. We estimate this task will take 48 days’ work, about half of which will be on site in Bloomsbury, London. One day a week for 12 months would be our preferred work pattern, but we are open to other working patterns, as long as they are distributed over a 12-month period. Please get in touch to discuss.

About the archives project
The RNS has a paper and digital archive of society minutes, awards and membership from 1836 to the present. These are currently housed in central London but it is anticipated we will have to move them within 2 years due to refurbishment works. This has provided the impetus for us to organise and rationalise our archival holdings, particularly those from the last 20 years. We are seeking an archive assistant to assist us with the assessment, organisation repackaging of our archival holdings. You will be supported by RNS council members who are museum and library professionals on site where the archives are, and also via Teams meetings when needed.

What you will be doing:
● Repackaging documents, for example putting papers into folders
● Assessing whether documents need to be kept, in line with our retention policies
● Sorting documents by date or alphabetically
● Listing documents accurately on a spreadsheet
● Renaming digital files with a specific reference and moving the files to different folders
● Comparing folders of digital files to identify duplicate or missing files
You should apply if you have:
● worked in an office and have good general IT skills
● the ability to work collaboratively and can use initiative
● an interest in working in an archive and gaining experience with heritage and cultural
collections

Deliverables:
The successful completion of this contract will be measured by…
● All known paper archives organised, described and repackaged
● All digital files to be organised, described and stored in designated area
N.B., We understand that archives can have surprises, so if the RNS archives have any materials
that require further work (for example, major unforeseeable conservation or technical issues),
we will be able to consider this contract complete without that further work.

Budget:
The budget for this contract is £3,900 to complete the task. We estimate this task will take 26 days’ work, most of which will be on site in Bloomsbury, London. One day a week for 6 months would be our preferred work pattern, but we are open to other working patterns. Please get in touch to discuss. The contractor is not expected to supply any materials for packaging or disposal. These costs will be covered by the RNS.

How to apply
Please send a CV of maximum two pages plus a cover letter of up to one page outlining how your experience meets the needs of this freelance project to megan.gooch@bodleian.ox.ac.uk.

PDF – Freelance Administrator
PDF – Freelance Archivist

The deadline is 3rd July 2025. Contact Megan Gooch (megan.gooch@bodleian.ox.ac.uk) with any enquiries.

The anticipated start and end dates for both contracts are the 17th July 2025 – 16th July 2026.