NEW BOOK: THE METAL IN BRITAIN'S COINS

To celebrate the release of his new publication The Metal in Britain's Coins, debut author Graham Birch spoke to Olivia Marshall from our book department, who had a few questions to ask him about the writing process and what inspired this book. It focuses primarily on the coins of Britain through the ages, and where the metal was sourced, but also looks at the history surrounding the coins and the fascinating stories which accompany them.

Graham: I've always collected stuff – not just coins but fossils, minerals, things like that. Now my wife has a strict one in one out policy when it comes to my collecting! I don't focus on a single aspect of collecting, such as Elizabeth I coins, for example – I tend to go off in different directions! I like to get around the subject and look at it in terms of the history of the object – I might bring in stamps and medals of the period too.

For me, it's all about the historical context of the coin. For example, when I was writing the chapter on the west African origin of the gold in guineas, I spotted in a Spink auction a small collection of original Ashanti brass gold dust weights from Ghana. These are exactly the type of weights that were once used to measure out the gold dust that ultimately went into the minting of Elephant and Castle guineas produced for the Royal African Company in the late 1690s. Unlike the guineas themselves, the weights proved to be cheap at a hammer price of only $50 – and some of them can now be seen on the front cover of my book. This just goes to prove that not everything interesting that you might buy at Spink has to be expensive.

Olivia: When did you decide that you would like to write a book sharing your knowledge about the metal in Britain's coins?

Graham: It sort of crept up on me really – there's a lot of information out there and people have written loads of books about coins – many being tremendously scholarly and specialised. There are also quite a few more general books, such as the Standard Catalogue which tend to skip over the origin of the metals. The things that I discuss in my book can be found in other books – but I realised that I couldn't find a book which had it all in one place, and that's what I felt other people might be interested in too. It was also important for me to bring in the history, sometimes lesser-known history, and also talk about some of the medals and other things relating to the coins. I felt that there was a bit of a gap in the market for this! Another motivation behind the book was to put the record straight on the origins of some of Britain's most popular coins. Take the LIMA coins for example – despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, many numismatists and collectors persist in the belief that it was Commodore Anson's voyage around the world which was the source of the gold and silver for the minting. This error is endlessly repeated in publications and auction catalogues – and hopefully my book will convince people of the real story and point them back in the right direction.

Olivia: Why do you have a particular interest in the origin of British coins? Do you think it is the rich history of the metal which you find so fascinating?

Graham: I'm sure that other countries have plenty of history behind their coins too but I just happen to know a lot about British ones, and with my background in minerals and mining, I find the history of the metal fascinating. So I knew I wanted it to be about British coins primarily, and the history behind their origin, but I didn't plan the title ahead of writing!

Elephant and Lima coinage

Olivia: Do you think that your book is suitable for people who are completely new to the coin-collecting community? Can beginners read this as an introduction to their numismatic journey?

Graham: There is certainly information in it for people who have never been exposed to coin collecting – I think it will appeal to people who know nothing about coins, but also people who know a lot about coins though maybe not these particular stories – for example the Mine Adventurers, the Hermione, Thomas Bushell. I hope too that it can be enjoyed by people with a general interest in history as well as coin collectors. This book is for everybody.

The Metal in Britain's Coins will be published by Spink Books in June 2020. For further information or to order copies please visit our website, www.spinkbooks.com, or email books@spink.com.

To read the complete article, see:
MEET THE AUTHOR - AN INTERVIEW WITH GRAHAM BIRCH (https://insider.spink.com/2020/06/13/interview-with-graham-birch/)

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