Item 1988/2 - Letter from Peter Woodhead with two attachments

3 items, paper

Letter from Peter Woodhead, in manuscript, three pages on two folios, dated 25 February 1988, with two attachments. The letter focuses mainly on the Aberdour hoard, County Fife, found 1979 and 1981. PW states that he wishes to finalise the text by the end of May. He agrees with IS's suggestion to send a copy to Joan Murray and remembers that he has already discussed the hoard with three or four years earlier. He attaches a copy of letter from her (see below). The letter makes it clear that alterations will be needed in his text. PW also acknowledges that he will need to work some additional material into the text, including his "summary [of the hoard] in inventory format", which is also attached (see below). He then mentions a groat that he is evidently sending to IS. He says that he purchased the coin very cheaply as part of a lot from an antique dealer in Brighton who was going out of business. He also agrees in principle to an exchange of XVd spares for Continental coins, noting that he definitely has a Canterbury coin available. PW then remarks on the receipt of his "Robert de Hadeleies" [early Edwardian pennies of Bury?] in return from George Tatler, who had been holding them for some twenty years, noting that "it's quite exciting having one's coins back after a long time – like acquiring new ones. The letter has a postscript in which PW observes that the original notes of IS on the Aberdour hoard appear to have written before the last eighteen coins were found. He asks whether IS has had photos of these and offers to send some if he doesn't.
There are two attachments:
(a) copy of a letter from Joan Murray to Peter Woodhead, in manuscript, four pages on four folios, dated only 27 February (without the year), focusing on the date at which the Aberdour hoard was closed. She comments on seigniorage in the Scottish mint under David II in 1367 and the documented weight reduction of that year, which she believes followed an earlier undocumented one and suggests paying careful attention to the Aberdour weights to confirm this; she also considers whether the Scottish mint was using the Tower pound or the Troy pound. She then turns her attention to Robert II, English complaints that the Scots were destroying the English money to make their own coins of lesser value, the difficulties in determining whether Scottish output was steady during the reign (taking into account both Edinburgh and Perth), and the opening of the Dundee mint in 1385. She discusses a particular groat of Perth, leading into discussion of the penny and peculiarities of the lettering. She says that she prefers a closing date of 1375+ but the dating of of the latest coin to 1373 makes no difference to the general picture. In a postscript, there is comparison with the Balleny hoard of c.1375 and the Craigie hoard of c.1385.
(b) PW's "summary of the [Aberdour] hoard in the inventory format", photocopy typescript, undated, describing the hoard from "Aberdour, Fife, 1978 and 1981", consisting in 294 AR English, Irish, Scottish and Foreign [coins], deposit c.1373. The are broken down as follows: England, 233 Edwardian groats, half-groats, pennies and half-pence; Ireland, 4 pennies of Edward I; Scotland, 48 groats, half-groats and sterlings of Alexander III, John Balliol, David II and Robert II; Foreign, 9 sterlings of Brabant (1), Serain (1), Lorraine (1), Luxembourg (2), Namur (1), Florennes (2) and imitation with English legend (1). There is also a note on the discovery and disposition of the hoard.