Item 1988/1 - Letter from Mark Blackburn with three attachments

4 items, paper

Letter from Mark Blackburn with three attachments:
(a) letter from Mark Blackburn, typescript, single page, dated 3 February 1988, informing IS that the Fitzwilliam Museum has selected 774 of Christopher Blunt's Continental coins as useful additions to Museum holdings (including Philip Grierson's coins). They are separated into two groups, one of "significant varieties" that Philip would purchase if possible and one of "less significant varieties or superior specimens" that Philip might like to have but probably would not purchase due to limited funds, though he would not dispose of them if they were already in his collection. He refers to the enclosed list, in "about as much detail as I can sensibly give". He says that the collection is stronger than its size would suggest due to the almost total absence of duplicates and refers to the provenance and pedigree of the "great majority" as being limited to just a few prominent older collections. He tells IS that if he wishes to have the coins selected formally placed on deposit in the Museum, it would be wise to ask PG to arrange it with [Michael] Jaffe before PG goes to Dumbarton Oaks for seven weeks on 23 February. He notes that the whole collection is already "recorded as a temporary deposit" and says that Jaffe has asked PG "whether there was any chance of arranging an 'in lieu' transfer of the collection".
(b) attachment, entitled "C. E. Blunt – Continental Coins : Coins Selected for Fitzwilliam Museum", typescript, single page, undated, listing the 774 coins in the broadest terms. The most numerous groups are French Feudal (148), Germany (134), Low Countries (86) and Italy (50); other groups all consist in less than fifty coins. The few gold coins are listed separately and in somewhat more detail; they include: (i) Castille, Alfonso VIII, alfonsino of Toledo, 1197; (ii) Two Sicilies [i.e. Norman kingdom of Sicily], William I, tari of Messina; (iii) Holland, Philip the Handsome, florin d'or; (iv) Lombards, Pisa, municipal issue, tremissis, pale gold; (v) Abbasees el Mansoor [sic; recto: Abbasids, al-Mansur], dinar, 157 AH; (vi) Abbasids, al-Radi (322-329 AH), dinar of Cairo.
(c) letter, manuscript (carbon-copy), rather faded, from Ian Stewart to [probate soliciter] Mr [R. L.] Underwood [of Messers Walker Martineau, 10-11 Gray's Inn Square, London WC1R 5JL], with the heading "Blunt Estate", as cover for his note on the Blunt collection (next item), dated 6 April 1988.
(d) "Note on the Blunt Collection of Medieval Coins", by Ian Stewart, typescript (photocopy), five pages on five folios, undated, which puts forward the offer of the collection to the Fitzwilliam Museum under the Acceptance in Lieu scheme and outlines the development, history and importance of the collection.

For other material relating to the Fitzwilliam Museum's acquisition of the Blunt Collection, see JCPP/Stewartby/1/1/CHARTERIS/1992/1, JCPP/Stewartby/1/1/WILSON/1989/1, JCPP/Stewartby/1/3/FRIZZELL – UNDERWOOD/1989/1