MICHAEL DOL­LEY AND IRISH NUMISMATICS

The North­ern Branch of the Numis­matic Soci­ety of Ire­land pub­lic lec­ture was held at the Ulster Museum on 5 April in part­ner­ship with the Museums and Gal­ler­ies North­ern Ire­land. This year, the 100th anniversary of the birth of Pro­fessor Michael Dol­ley was cel­eb­rated in a series of lec­tures inspired by his extraordin­ary works. Michael Dol­ley (1925–1983) was a renowned numis­mat­ist and his­tor­ian, par­tic­u­larly known for his work on Anglo-Saxon, Irish and Manx coins.

To open the event, Philip Mac­Don­ald, archae­olo­gical finds officer of the National Museums NI, hos­ted a short tour of the new ‘Treas­ures' dis­play at the museum, which includes two coin hoards.

More than 50 guests atten­ded the event in per­son, with more watch­ing online via Zoom. The event com­menced with very per­sonal recol­lec­tions kindly given by one of the daugh­ters of Michael Dol­ley, who focused on his fath­erly per­son­al­ity, fam­ily moments and his humor­ous yarn. That was fol­lowed by a short wel­come address delivered by Tríona White Hamilton, cur­ator of mod­ern his­tory at Ulster Museum.

The present­a­tions star­ted with Dr Kristin Bornholdt Collins ‘Mak­ing Waves – Dol­ley and the Vik­ings in Dub­lin, Bel­fast and Man'. This offered a brief syn­thesis of the cur­rent under­stand­ing of the Dub­lin mint before turn­ing to Dol­ley's pion­eer­ing work in the 1970s on the col­lec­tion of coin finds in Douglas, Isle of Man.

This present­a­tion was fol­lowed by a reflec­tion on Pro­fessor Dol­ley and his works by Dr John Rainey, a founder mem­ber of the NSI (NB), who knew Michael Dol­ley from the age of 12. In a present­a­tion titled ‘Per­sonal Recol­lec­tions – Stand­ing on the Shoulders of a Giant', he described how much Dol­ley had influ­enced and inspired him, set­ting the scene for what was hap­pen­ing in the numis­matic world, espe­cially in Bel­fast dur­ing the 1960s and 1970s.

The event con­cluded with a present­a­tion titled ‘From Sihtric to Sar­sfield: Some Aspects of Irish Numis­mat­ics, in Memory of Michael Dol­ley' by Oisín Mac Conam­hna. Oisín reviewed the con­tri­bu­tions of Michael Dol­ley to Irish numis­mat­ics.

In 2025, the soci­ety con­tin­ues to explore new ways to reach out to pro­mote numis­mat­ics, and Irish numis­mat­ics in par­tic­u­lar. In addi­tion to stream­ing the monthly mem­bers meet­ing (email nsinbsec@gmail.com to be included in the invites), the web­site is act­ive, and they are now also act­ive on Face­book (@Numis­matic Soci­ety of Ire­land – North­ern Branch) and You­Tube.

To read the complete article, see:
(https://www.pressreader.com/uk/coin-collector/20250613/281715505562861)

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