October 23rd 2018.

Monday 5th November.

·        Coins and Medals in the Royal Collection By Jeremy Cheek.

Monday 4th December.

Monday 8th January.

Meetings are held at the Abbey Baptist Church, Abbey Square, commencing at 7.00 p.m.

 

Notices

 

·         The Xmas dinner is booked for 18.45 on Sat 15 December 2018 at The Cunning Man.  The cost will be £25 per person. Please let us know if you want to come by phone, e-mail or at the very latest, at the November meeting. We will also need your menu choices, please bring them along to the November meeting.

·         Please continue thinking about Short Talks for January, and Auction lots for March!

 

October Meeting

At the October meeting we welcomed Tim Everson who gave a talk entitled ‘Coins of the Holy land in the time of Jesus’. The region in question is what we now know as Israel, Syria, Lebanon etc and the time span covered in the talk was roughly 100BC to 100 AD.

Tim’s talk was profusely illustrated with coins of the Leaders, Kings and High Priest’s of the time. Their names are too complex to repeat in this resume, but did include such notables such as Herod and Pontius Pilate.

The background to the story begins with Alexander the Great who founded many cities to control commerce & trade. After his death his vast empire was divided amongst his generals. General Seleucus took control of the Holy Land and founded the Seleucid dynasty in Judea. However, in time the internal squabbles weakened the state and thus allowed various parts to become in more independent. In this turmoil gradually the Jewish priests and leaders gained more power and the right to make coins. Tim told us about the Hasmonean state, the succession of Priests/ Kings and their related stories. We were shown examples of their coins most of which contained Jewish symbols. Throughout this period the dominant power lay with Rome and the Holy Land leaders were subjected to scrutiny of the Roman Emperor. In fact many coins actually refer to the Roman emperor rather than the Holy land leader. The Hasmonean state ended with the brutality of Herod who murdered not only Jews (massacre of the innocents) but his wife & sons.

Following the Jewish revolt in AD 66 the regions were controlled by Rome with numerous Procurators (Prefects). Tim again went through the various characters and their stories, illustrated with examples of their coins. Perhaps the most well known characters of this time were Pontius Pilate and the story of the disciple Paul.

In the next part of the talk Tim spoke about coins in the gospels, such as the Widows Mite, the Tribute penny and the Tyrian Shekel. Each year the Jews were required to pay a temple tax of half a Tyrain shekel, and only the good silver Tyrain coin was acceptable because the local currency comprising Syrian Tetra drachms were considered poor silver. Tim also spoke about, and illustrated, some contemporary Roman coins one would have expected to circulate in the region given the overseeing power of Rome. Surprisingly they are rarely excavated in the Holy land.

The numismatics of the Holy Land is a rather complex subject and our thanks go to Tim for delivering a most enlightening and interesting talk

 

Subscriptions

Be reminded that subscriptions are now due. It would be most appreciated if members yet to renew their subscription would please do so at the next meeting. Please see our treasurer Peter. For anyone who does not pay their subs, this issue of the newsletter will be the last they receive.

 

Future Events.

 

Past Events

Ten years ago Graham Dyer talked on "Repent at Leisure: The Adoption of 500 Silver in 1920"

Twenty years ago was the Club Auction, including the Berkshire Token Collection.

Thirty years ago Tony Holmes gave a talk on "The Greek Empire, Subsequent to Alexander"

Forty years ago Mr. A. Burnett talked on "The Origin and Development of Britannia on Coins"

Club Secretary.