Item 1987/2 - Five letters from Christopher Blunt to Ian Stewart, one with attachment, and one set of notes from Ian Stewart signed by Christopher Blunt

7 items, paper

Five letters from Christopher Blunt to Ian Stewart, one with attachment, and one set of notes from Ian Stewart signed by Christopher Blunt:
(a) letter from Christopher Blunt to Ian Stewart, one folio (recto & verso), dated from Ramsbury on 24 July 1987, thanking IS for his telephone call that morning and noting that he has told Stewart [Lyon] they will be expecting him for the day on Saturday. He says that Baldwin's are holding for him "the Diola of Offa from the recent sale" but that it is frail so they prefer not to post it. If IS can get hold of it, they can look at it together, but he says that IS should not go to any trouble as Peter [Mitchell?] is planning to visit him in August. He says that he prefers 973 as the date of the Chester 1857 hoard rather than BP's 970 "because we know that there was an HR3 in the find".
(b) letter from Christopher Blunt to Ian Stewart, one folio (recto & verso), on Ramsbury letterhead but dated from Ridgeway Hospital,Eroughton, Swindon, on 31 October 1987, with attachment (see item (c) below), thanking IS and family for their love and good wishes. He says that he will know more when his doctor calls. He refers to an enclosed [letter?] from Marion [Archibald] on the Offa/Withred [?], asking IS to make a copy and return it. He notes that her conclusions are similar to theirs and that it is reasonable for her, as a museum assistant, not to wish to recommend such a controversial piece to the Trustees. He mentions Harry Manville being here [i.e. in the UK] and, having sent to him "the first 85 closely typed pages of his and Tony Robertson's index for 1731-1799", which he describes as a "fascinating miscellany". He promises to put together all tenth-century stuff when he returns home.
(c) enlarged photocopy of an Offa coin image, single page, with manuscript caption that reads: "found at Eastbury, Lambourne, Berks, November 1987" (attached to item (b) above).
(d) letter from Christopher Blunt to Ian Stewart, single page, dated from Ramsbury on 2 November 1987, informing IS that he has been diagnosed with lung cancer and doesn't have much time. He hopes to get home on Thursday.
(e) letter from Christopher Blunt to Ian Stewart, single page, dated from Ramsbury on 3 November 1987, notifying IS that he has "a set of sample machine plates proofs back for CTCE [= Coinage in Tenth-Century England] for [him] to keep". He says that it's difficult to judge from his sick bed but they look alright. A set has gone to CSSL [i.e. Stewart Lyon]
(f) notes evidently taken by Ian Stewart from CEB's dictation, in typescript, two pages on two folios (recto only), with the heading "Notes from Ian Stewart signed by Christopher Blunt on 9.11.87", written in CEB's voice in the first person. The notes summarise the importance of the Blunt collection, stress that it should be available to future scholars for study, and outline possible arrangements for disposing of it. CEB expresses interest in the collection being "accepted by public museums with Treasury consent in lieu of tax/duty", wishing that the Fitzwilliam Museum be given the opportunity to acquire the bulk of the later coins from the 13th-16th centuries to raise the level of that institution's series of English silver coins to that "commensurate with the outstanding collection of Continental [coins] deposited by Prof. Grierson. He also wishes the Fitzwilliam "be able to acquire a selection of my Anglo-Saxon and other coins in order to fill out their existing holdings and make them more representative". He notes that he has bequeathed a few individual pieces to the British Museum and wishes that a further selection of items of great interest, particularly in the Anglo-Saxon series, be made available to the Museum for acceptance in lieu of tax. Subject to the financial requirements of his executors, he allows that further coins made be offered to other museums. Remaining coins, beyond any that his beneficiaries may wish to keep, would be set aside for disposal by private treaty or auction; he appoints IS to oversee the disposal of his numismatic assets and, if necessary, to act as arbitrator between or adviser to the parties involved. He asked that the entire collection be photographed and the prints available for sale to the BNS. If the SCBI Committee wishes to publish a volume of his Anglo-Saxon coins, he hopes that the Blunt Trust would be able to contribute towards the costs. Assuming that the Fitzwilliam Museum acquires the bulk of his later coins, he hopes that they are published in due course in the Medieval European Coinage series. At the bottom of the first page, there are CEB's clarifications to the preceding matter. The second page includes extracts from CEB's will and wishes, willing two coins of two 8th-century Kentish kings plus a further penny that he attributes to Edward V to the British Museum and wishing that a medieval seal matrix formerly belonging to Shirley-Fox go to the Wiltshire Archaeological Society, and that a rare 17th-century token issued by John Samuel Blunt and a prisoner-of-war engraved piece be among any items to be retained.
(g) letter from Christopher Blunt to Ian Stewart, typescript, single page, dated from Ramsbury on 10 November 1987, thanking IS for giving so much thought to the problem of his coin collection. He regards the solution proposed by IS as admirable and has signed the letter that IS wrote (see item (f) above). He says that the arrangements primarily concern the two elements of his English coin collection, but there are other elements that may be dealt with separately, e.g. Continental coins that may supplement Philip Grierson's coins [in the Fitzwilliam]. He refers to IS's recommendation that the whole collection be photographed, which he understood as applying to the English elements only. He says that a number of his books have been earmarked to be given to friends and agrees that other friends be given a chance to take away any other books before sale, at their valuation. He likes IS's idea that his later Medieval [English?] coins provide an off-set for Philip's in MEC. He says that he has asked his son Simon to put aside his paper copies of Burns' Scottish Coinage, which he wishes to give to IS. In a postscript, he says that there are a number of Fox notebooks relating to coins, "in the cupboard behind the piano", that are destined for the Fitzwilliam Museum.