READY REPLICAS AND MONEY MAGIC

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V21 2018 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 21, Number 18, May 6, 2018, Article 26

Money & Medals is the publication of the Money and Medals Network based at the British Museum. "The Network aims to act as an information exchange for curators within the UK whose collections include coins, medals and other objects relating to monetary and economic history and numismatics."

The April/May 2018 issue includes an article by Henry Flynn discussing an exhibit at the British Museum highlighting interesting lesser-known numismatic collections around the U.K. The article covers six institutions. Here's an excerpt covering two of them. The first involves Ready electrotypes, discussed recently in The E-Sylum. -Editor

The selection includes a local history museum in Scotland, a stately home in the North West of England, an 18th century library in Northern Ireland, a military museum in Wales and both a national and independent museum in London. This reflects the extent of the Network itself but also illustrates the range and diversity of numismatic collections that are available for the public to see.

The Science Museum collections include a set of 7 frames of electrotype coins arranged in periods, BC 700- BC 1. They are copies of coins in the British Museum produced initially for the V&A and in the collections there from 1894. The set was most likely produced in the 1860s in response to the initiative of V&A director Henry Cole to make heritage available internationally through copies. The Ready family – father Robert, and later sons Charles Joseph and Augustus Papworth – worked for the British Museum making such copies from the 1860s.

In their first guise at the V&A, these electrotypes demonstrated the 'decline' of art in the design of Greek coins. Transferred to the Science Museum in 1946 they represented an example for the metallurgy collections of the electrotype process. Later they moved to the Coins, Medals and Tokens collection, joining an important group of material that reflects the role of these objects in the history of science, technology and medicine. This includes coin production, and industrial tokens, as well as commemorative and award medals.

The "V&A" is the Victoria and Albert Museum of art and design. -Editor

The Magic Circle Museum
Scott Penrose, Executive Curator, The Magic Circle Museum

It is interesting to compare more general numismatic collections with those held at institutions with a specialist remit. An excellent example of such an institution is The Magic Circle Museum in London. A selection of objects, giving a sense of what our collection is comprised of, has been loaned to the exhibition.

Numismatics and the performance of magic are inextricably linked. This is represented in the exhibition through the display of objects relating to two performers, Thomas Nelson Downs and Mercedes Talma, who were so adept at coin tricks that they became known as the ‘King of Koins' and ‘Queen of Coins' respectively.

No display of magical numismatic objects would be complete without some coin tricks. To this end, a ‘Cabinet of Coin Tricks' set, dating to about 1920, has been loaned to the exhibition. It is a small red folder containing six prop coins for conjuring use. Under our express instructions, the folder has been displayed closed to ensure that no secrets can be revealed.

One of the most intriguing objects in this display is the Magic Money Machine, a prop produced around 1990. When the crank handle is turned, a roll of blank paper is seemingly transformed into real banknotes. This has proven to be one of the most popular objects in the display with both visitors and staff at the British Museum.