News & Blog

Whilst the iron is hot IT SEEMS I was a tad too optimistic with my Editorial comment last month when I spoke about the return of the Bloomsbury Fair that would herald a start to the “new season” and lead on to the other autumn shows. The continuing presence of the Coronavirus, at least in terms...

The Royal Mint has unveiled a brand new circulating coin, a 50p celebrating the "diversity which built Britain".  There are, apparently, more designs celebrating diversity and inclusivity set to follow. The Royal Mint has also been working in partnership with the West India Committee to offer a...

A fine Crimean War Naval Victoria Cross group of four (pictured below) awarded to Australian resident and Seaman James Gorman of HMS  Albion , for his gallantry while defending the Right Lancaster Battery at the Battle of Inkermann on November 5, 1864 sold for £297,600 at Dix Noonan Webb in their...

As we have perhaps been expecting, the news has just come through that DNW's Britannia Fair, scheduled for November 15 in London, has fallen foul of the Coronavirus restrictions with the Victory Services Club in Seymour Street unable to host the event as they have put a limit of just thirty people...

to follow

Sadly the London Coin Fair, originally scheduled for November 7 has now been cancelled. However, the Midland Coin Fair taking place on Sunday, November 8 WILL go ahead as things stand – but not in its usual venue. The Motorcycle Museum, where the show is usually held is currently closed so the...

Sadly the New York International Numismatic Convention (NYINC) has become the latest Coin Show to succumb to Coronavirus measures, with it now being confirmed that the show will not take place in January 2021 as planned. Formally at the Waldorf Astoria, and more recently at the Grand Hyatt by...

Back at it! IT IS with great gladness, even relief, that we can report that the Bloomsbury Coin Fair is back on! The first show of the new “numismatic season”, usually ushered in by Coinex, will take place at the usual venue, the Royal National Hotel in Bloomsbury, London on October 3. As luck...

Looking back at it THE biggest story in the medal world this month has to be the decision of the Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison to recommend to Her Majesty the Queen that 18-year-old Ordinary Seaman Teddy Sheean of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) should be posthumously awarded the...

A bid in the hand THIS MONTH we feature a letter from Michael Naxton, emeritus curator of the Lord Ashcroft medal collection but also well known to many in the coin world too from his time working at various major auction houses. His letter was originally sent to our sister magazine MEDAL NEWS...

Headline act THE weekly newspaper for the antiques trade, the Antiques Trade Gazette (ATG) of June 20 had what I consider to be a rather curious headline. Reporting the discovery of an organised medal forging “factory” in Derbyshire (see News & Views, page 6), the headline, on their front page,...

What’s next? SO it’s month three of “lockdown”? Or is it month four? I’m losing track I’m afraid. I know I need a haircut and know that I’d quite like somebody else to do the cooking and washing up but apart from that my life, and I suspect the lives of many of us, hasn’t changed dramatically....

Cashing out ONE of the knock on effects of the Coronavirus pandemic has been the reduction in cash use. Those shops that have stayed open have either discouraged people spending notes and coins or banned them completely. Ostensibly this aversion to cash has been to help “stop the spread” of the...

In the flesh THE news that the Orders and Medals Society of America (OMSA) annual Convention due to be held in Orlando in August has been cancelled (see News and Views) should come as no surprise considering what’s happening in the world at the moment. Whilst we all fervently hope the pandemic...

This too shall pass IT WAS, perhaps, inevitable, but we now learn that the York Coin Fair, scheduled for July 17 and 18, has been cancelled. We all fervently hope that this current crisis is well behind us by then but, realistically, we must expect there to be still be some restrictions and...

Then and now. Remembering Victory in Europe AS we go to press we learn that the UK wide lockdown is due to carry on for at least another three weeks. This will take us to the first week in May, a week when the country, indeed much of Europe should have been celebrating the 75th anniversary of...

Today's the day! Yes on 20/02/2020 (see what they did there) the new £20 featuring JMW Turner, the "Painter of Light" and his famous painting " The Fighting Temeraire ". The new polymer note (made of the same material as the Churchill £5 and the Austen £10) has a number of new security features...

Stolen in a burglary at Haverhill, Suffolk earlier this year Family group stolen in a burglary earlier this year. 1) Basil Oliver Bradley, RA: 1939-1945 star, Africa Star, Burma Star, Defence & War, Territorial Efficiency, Police long service and the Dunkirk medal. 2) 1343 (later...

Stolen during a burglary in Hertfordshire recently:   Worshipful Company of Tylers and Bricklayers’ Renter Warden’s Badge Inscribed on reverse ‘ ‘Worshipful Company of Tylers and Bricklayers’ and ‘Renter Warden’ on a shield Waterloo medal issued to John Hamilton of the First Regiment...