This presentation, covers the introduction of what has become popularly known as ‘hog money’, a local token currency executed in 1616 for use in what is now known as Bermuda. The late Dr Oddie researched this coinage over many years, unravelling previous work on it along with closely examining provenances to demonstrate that the pervading view that the coinage as American was erroneous. His work showed that in reality the Bermuda hog money is a very early British Colonial issue. His presentation will set out the arguments for believing this to be so.

Dr Oddie recorded his talk before his death in February 2025. It was always his plan to give the talk at NYINC in person, but fate meant this was not to be so.

Dr Gary Oddie combined enthusiastic collecting along with scholarly knowledge of all he collected, including tokens, counterfeits, coins and other numismatic material. He was highly regarded by all who knew him and his death on 5 February 2025 was a great loss to numismatic studies. 

Looking at finds both from burial contexts and stray finds, this paper will examine the use of contemporary or near-contemporary coins repurposed as jewellery in seventh-century Anglo-Saxon England. Repurposed coins are an understudied category of material culture; for the archaeologist they are tools for dating and for the numismatist they are objects no longer connected to the early medieval economy. Since coin pendants are also associated with a feminine context, they are a key source of evidence to explore female engagement with coins. This paper will show that the significance of coins reworked as jewellery is that they serve as evidence for a number of deliberate choices: which coins to use; to retain the coin rather than melt it; to pierce or to mount the coin to display a particular iconography. By critically examining these choices against the wider contexts of coin use and circulation, this paper will reveal how coin pendants shed light on the social importance of coins as well as female engagement in the seventh-century coin-based economy.

Dr Kelly Clarke-Neish is the Project Curator for the UKRI AHRC funded project Britain's Last Roman Hoards: Wealth, Power and Culture in the Fifth Century (2024-2026). She is currently based in the Money and Medals Department at the British Museum. Her current research examines the transitional period between the Late Roman and Early Medieval period in Britain, with a particular focus on the phenomenon of coin clipping and shift from a coin to bullion-based economy. Her previous research focused on social and economic connections in North-West Europe during the Early Middle Ages and explored several themes including the origins of the early medieval economy, gender and society, and maritime networks. 

Coins are ubiquitous at late Roman sanctuary sites and offer important evidence for dating archaeological sequences and to establish phasing of the site. This paper examines numismatic finds recovered from the late fourth- and fifth-century strata of the cella, and timber annexe of the sanctuary at Uley, Gloucs. Here, for the first time, numerous imitations recovered from these layers can be assessed within their archaeological context. The paper will highlight the diverse range of coin losses from the late fourth- to early fifth-centuries and set these within the context of earlier regional and national studies.

Sue Walker is a final year PhD candidate at the Department of Classics and Ancient History at the University of Warwick. Her research explores the deposition of coinage on Romano-British sanctuary sites, with a particular emphasis on imitation coinage. Utilising artefact assemblages from excavated strata at the sanctuary, this is enhancing our understanding of ancient numismatic, and local circulation patterns. She is an experienced archaeologist, having worked in the commercial sector, with interests in archaeological small finds, particularly of the Iron Age and Romano-British period.

English coin hoards are officially known as Treasure cases, in the past Treasure Trove, both terms with an aura of wealth and riches. But what can we say about the owners and depositors of late medieval hoards?  To what extent were they in any way rich and powerful? This paper will consider case studies of hoards and try to suggest the social context in which they were formed. These hoards also emerged from a radically new currency world, one of two metals and multiple denominations, unlike the hoards of the previous half millennium, a factor that offers additional dimensions to our understanding of hoarding.   

Dr Barrie Cook spent 40 years as curator of late medieval and early modern coins in the Department of Money and Medals of the British Musuem until his retirement this year. Part of his role was the cataloguing of newly discovered coin hoards from the period of his curatorial coverage, 1180 onwards. He is currently publishing the medieval hoards among these.  English medieval coin hoards: the age of the sterling penny, 1180-1351, appeared in 2025 and English medieval coin hoards: from the return of gold to the Great Debasement will appear in summer 2026

 Attendance at this this meeting will be in person only.

Transactions have been taking place in Scotland as long as people have needed to exchange goods, pay a fine, a rent or a tax. Prior to the 1130s different forms of commodity money and precious metal including bullion, jewellery and imported coins acted as 'money’. In the 1130s the means of ‘money’ was extended with the introduction of a Scottish coinage by David I, but this was more often than not beset with problems to which the response was innovation and frequent change. In more recent times commercial tokens and banknotes further extended ‘money’ in Scotland with these offering unique insights into Scottish aspirations and society.

At this all-day Conference, leading figures working on coinage and monetary history will explore what was ‘money’ in Scotland both before and after the 1130s ‘revolution.’ It will look at the material evidence drawing on data from hoards, and the documentary and archaeological record to examine how ‘money’ in Scotland was shaped by both internal Scottish and external forces. The day will offer the opportunity to see and hear more about the coins and other monetary related items in the collection of the National Museum of Scotland which is the most comprehensive record of Scottish ‘money’.

Attendance at this event will be in person only. Details of how to book to attend and the programme for the day will be available on the BNS web site in March.

From ancient times Britain and Ireland have been very aware of their island character, but the seas around the British Isles have always connected as much as divided. Peoples, objects and ideas – including coins and the concept of coinage – have all travelled to and fro. Indeed, coin finds offer important evidence for these movements and contacts. This series of lectures has explored the contacts and influences on coin use in Britain in the first millennium, taking an approach inspired by global history, which sees the sea as a space of connectivity. This lecture moves our gaze outwards to the Atlantic Ocean and considers currencies in Scandinavian Scotland and beyond. It will place the patterns of coin use across Britain and Ireland that have emerged across the series in a wider perspective. Finally, it will draw together the threads of the lecture series and evaluate the contribution the coinage makes to our understanding of global history before 1492, when contacts and processes of globalisation intensified.

Dr Elina Screen is Curator: Medieval and Modern Collections at the British Museum, general editor of the Medieval European Coinage project and President of the British Numismatic Society. Her numismatic interests include coin use in the Viking age and the Ilchester mint.