MORE ON THE MYSTERY CATALOG OF ENGLISH COINS

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V19 2016 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 19, Number 51, December 18, 2016, Article 8

Note the unusual (and probably archaic) spelling CUNOBILIN. Also note the long "s" in "sitting", "something", "cross", etc. but NOT "Silver" (capital) or "reverse".

Unless I've misread it, there are TWO columns for weight in the Anglo-Saxon (Kent) coins:
* col.1 "No."
* col.2 "Metal"
* col.3 "Grains"
* (col.4 is the description)
* col.5 "Weight" "Grs" though I am unsure of the entries in column 5: "17 1/4" and "16 1/4" ?

I guess that this is a descriptive catalogue of a (private or museum) collection.

Mind you, I would love to see the reverse of British #1: "A Minter sitting at work"; if accurately described (rather than being a seated Nike/Victory), this must be one of the earliest coins to refer to its manufacture! I'd also like to see the dragon (Kent #2), which again must be one of the earliest such.

One does wonder whether the "rude figures" relate to the level of detail/skill with which they are depicted, or to any gestures which they might appear to be making ...

This is an interesting mystery. Len Augsburger will see if the rest of the document can be scanned and made available for review. I wonder if we could find a particularly rare coin reference and use Harry Manville's bibliography of British auction sales to narrow down the list of candidate publications. -Editor

We don't necessarily want it to be of a rare coin, though. A rare descriptive term will do. I wonder how often one sees in this sort of context (ancient coins) the descriptions which I picked up on:

* "A Dragon";
* "A Minter sitting at work".

I haven't seen Harry's works, but a machine-searchable version might be of great help!