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FRIENDS TRAVEL TO MINTING PLACE OF MEDIEVAL SHIP'S COIN
We've often discussed the "stepping of the mast" ceremony, where a coin is placed beneath the mast of a new or refurbished
ship for good luck. Now devotees of a 15th century ship whose remains were found in Wales are planning to travel to the French town where
the ship's lucky coin was minted. -Editor
Newport historian Charles Ferris and Friends of The Newport Ship chairman Phil Cox will in September attend a medieval festival in Cremieu, East France, the place where the piece was struck in 1447. A scientific study of the 15th century ship’s timbers shows the wood used to build it was felled in the Basque region bordering France and Spain. Meanwhile, the provenance of the medieval coin confirms the 100ft vessel’s connections with France. Mr Ferris, a Newport councillor for Allt-yr-yn ward, attended the festival in 2010 and will return to the town set to mark the 700th anniversary of its charter on September 12. Mr Ferris said: “It’s wonderful that our two cities are linked by the discovery of the good luck coin in the fabric of the Newport Ship. “The Basques didn’t have a currency of their own and were using French and Iberian coinage at the time. “We hope to reaffirm the friendship made with the local history society, Les Heures de Cremieu – The Hours of Cremieu – who did a lot of research on the mint providing the precise date when our coin was struck.” Unearthed during building works of the Riverfront Theatre on the bank of the River Usk in 2002, the Newport Ship has been the centre of considerable interest among maritime historians and the wider academic world. Historians believe the piece was minted by Jacques Vincent, a coiner of Cremieu who sadly went blind after years of careful engraving. It is thought shipwrights then sealed the coin into the vessel's keel in about 1450.
What a great idea for an event! Who could have foreseen this in the 1450s? Unfortunately, the ship's coin is not pictured in the
article. -Editor
To read the complete article, see:
For more information on the ship from Wikipedia, see:
Wayne Homren, Editor The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org. To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor at this address: whomren@gmail.com To subscribe go to: https://my.binhost.com/lists/listinfo/esylum All Rights Reserved. NBS Home Page Contact the NBS webmaster 
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