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RNS/BNS Library

June 3, 2018 0 Comments

by Brad Shepherd, BNS/RNS Librarian

It’s an exciting time at the RNS/BNS Numismatic Library as we prepare for major changes at the Warburg Institute.  In case you have not heard, the Warburg is going to close for a period while the building undergoes a complete refurbishment. No firm date for this been set but we need to prepare for work to start in 2019.

When the Warburg Institute reopens, the RNS/BNS Numismatic Library will no longer be housed where it is now. Anyone who has visited our library in the Winter when it is near freezing will consider this an improvement.

The plan is that the books from the RNS/BNS Library will be kept together on open shelves within the main Warburg Institute Library. Once this transition is complete our members will be able to access the books any time the Warburg is open rather than just the Tuesday afternoons that the RNS/BNS Library is currently open. While the books will sit in the Warburg Institute Library, the books from the RNS/BNS Library will remain the property of their respective society.

The Warburg Library is a reference library (i.e. books cannot be taken out of the library or borrowed), so before our library moves we have a lot to do. The books need to be added to the same online catalogue as the rest of the Warburg (called COPAC) so that users can find them. COPAC is a free online merged library catalogue where you can search the catalogues of the UK national libraries, alongside many University libraries, and specialist libraries such as the Warburg Library and the National Art Library at the V&A. Once the RNS/BNS Library is on COPAC you can search our online library catalogue from anywhere in the world and also see other libraries that have numismatic books that we don’t hold.

The RNS/BNS Numismatic Library holds over 9,000 items. Our current electronic library catalogue is incomplete and is only accessible using an old computer in the RNS/BNS Library. So, over the past month I’ve been making sure that all books are catalogued and that we have as much information about each book as possible.

I have also been busy accessioning new publications and items from the Robert Thompson bequest of over 350 books to the BNS. Most of Robert’s books cover tokens and this addition makes the RNS/BNS Library one of the most important collections covering this topic. A full list of new accessions will be made available next week in the first of regular updates to the library holdings. 

Once our records are complete and up to date I will send our catalogue off to a specialist service who will enrich our records, with as much information as possible about each book, to create a “super catalogue.” Where books in the RNS/BNS Numismatic Library cannot be matched we will need to conduct a second round of work to manually add information to the “super catalogue.”

When complete, this “super catalogue” will then be used to add our library records to COPAC.

 

What are the next steps and how you can help…

  1. The next step is to conduct a full stock take of all the books we hold.  To prepare for stock taking, please can members return all borrowed books to the RNS/BNS Numismatic library by 30 June 2018.

IMPORTANT: From the 01 June 2018 the RNS/BNS Numismatic Library will be a reference library only and it will not be possible to remove/borrow books from the library.

  1. We are looking for volunteers to help with the stock take, planned for Saturday 14 July 2018, between 10:00 and 16:00 at the RNS/BNS Numismatic Library.  If you can volunteer please email Librarian@britnumsoc.org by 30 June 2018.
  1. The library is a valuable resource for our members. We need some additional volunteers to help keep the library open every Tuesday from noon to 17:00. If you can volunteer one Tuesday afternoon every 6-8 weeks at the library please email Librarian@britnumsoc.org

I’ll keep you up to date on how the library work is progressing and regular lists of newly accessioned books.  If you would like to: donate books to the BNS/RNS Library; to recommend a book to the library; volunteer; or to ask any other RNS/BNS Numismatic Library question please email Librarian@britnumsoc.org

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Society Lecture, 22 May: Sophytes: Reappraisal of an enigmatic ruler and the Sophytes coins

May 20, 2018

The final lecture of the Society series this year, before the summer party and the President’s annual lecture, will take place at 6pm at the Warburg Institute on Tuesday 22nd May. Dr Sushma Jansari of the British Museum will present on the title Sophytes: Reappraisal of an enigmatic ruler and the Sophytes coins. Society lectures are open to all and information about the full current lecture programme can be found here.

 

Paper Abstract:

A hemidrachm bearing the name ‘Sophytes’, linked through from Wikimedia Commons.

Classical sources mention Alexander the Great’s dealings with local rulers in the Punjab including one named Sophytes. Intriguingly, Greek coins minted with the non-Greek name ‘Sophytes’ are found in the northwest of the Indian subcontinent. These coins belong to the period between Alexander’s departure from the Punjab in c.325 BC, and Seleucus’ arrival in the East and transfer of territory to Chandragupta following their encounter and treaty in c.305 BC. 19th and early 20th century scholars argued they were minted by the Sophytes associated with Alexander; while recent scholars seek to break this link and argue for a Bactrian provenance.

Yet all these numismatists share a common methodology: they study or publish individual Sophytes coins or small groups of them, meaning that such studies are inherently limited. Nor is a clear methodology employed to research the coins and the literary sources together: e.g., some scholars infer Sophytes’ age when some of the Sophytes coins were minted based purely on the appearance of the portrait on the coins.

My approach is different. I compile the largest group of Sophytes coins that has hitherto been brought together thereby enabling me to study them in detail and in comparison to other contemporary coins found in the northwest of the subcontinent through, for example: iconography; signatures on the coins; weight standards; and die analysis. The resulting identification of the Sophytes named on the coins is not conclusive, but it is based on a holistic and more methodologically sound approach to the source material and, therefore, yields a stronger conclusion than has been put together thus far.

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RNS Grant Report: Looking at the khanic cash coins of the Aisin

May 6, 2018 0 Comments

by Fresco Sam-Sin, Leiden University

The Great Court of the British Museum

With the generous support of the The Nicholas Lowick Memorial Fund for the promotion of Oriental Numismatic Research I was able to visit the Department of Coins and Medals at the British Museum in the last week of January, 2018. My goal was to have a last close look at the first cash coins of the Aisin era (1616-1636) before finalizing a chapter in which this coinage plays the leading role. My interest this time was especially in one specific, tiny dot. For me, that dot is crucial in answering the question of whether this coinage is genuine Aisin cash, or an anachronistic invention. Aisin cash was cast under the eyes of the first Manchu khans. Their lineage took over Ming China to establish the last dynasty of China, the Daiqing (1644-1912). Aisin coinage throws a new light on the formative years of a ruling elite busy shaping what would become one of the biggest land empires in history.

 

Aisin cash or not?

As always, the department’s staff was very helpful and interested. Curator of East Asian money, Helen Wang, went out of her way to make sure that I had time and space to write and to look at the coins, look again, and then to look some more. I aim to finish my chapter in the coming weeks, and then hope to find an opportunity to present its outcome to the Royal Numismatic Society.

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RNS Prizes 2018: the Samir Shamma Prize

May 2, 2018 0 Comments

In the final instalment of Society prizes for 2018, it has been the pleasure of the Council to consider nominations for the Samir Shamma Prize for Islamic Numismatics.

Thanks to the generosity of our late Honorary Fellow Mr Samir Shamma, in 1992 The Royal Numismatic Society awards this prize every two years for the book or article(s) published during the previous three years which in the view of the Council is most useful to students of Islamic numismatics.

This last few years have been rich in numismatic scholarship and publications, and in reflection of this, and the equal merit of both works, the Council has decided that for this prize too, as with the Lhotka and Parkes Weber Prizes for 2018, two winners will split the award for the following works:

 

Hassan al-Akra, L’histoire de Baalbek à l’époque médiévale d’apres les monnaies (636-1516), Beirut/Damascus (Institut français du Proche-Orient) 2016

 

Arianna d’Ottone Rambach, ‘La collezione di Vittorio Emanuele III – Monete arabe’, Bollettino di Numismatica 35 (2015)

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Now Available: The Standing Caliph Coinage

April 29, 2018 0 Comments

The Standing Caliph Coinage
by Tony Goodwin

The Standing Caliph coinage of late Seventh Century Syria was highly unusual in having an image of the Umayyad caliph ‘Abd al-Malik on the obverse. First issued in Jerusalem around 690CE, it was then struck in considerable variety, in both gold and copper, at 19 separate mints. This is the first comprehensive survey of the Standing Caliph coinage and describes images, legends and mint practices in detail. It also includes historical background to show how the coinage fitted in to the caliph’s wide ranging programme of reforms. The book concludes with a catalogue of 450 coins, all of which are illustrated. It is aimed at numismatists, archaeologists and collectors, but should also be of interest to students of early Islamic history and art.

ISBN: 978-1- 909492-63- 9
v +169p, illustrated throughout (Archetype Publications 2018) Pb £36

 

A copy has been given to the RNS library

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