Item 1981/2 - Three letters from Stewart Lyon with one attachment

4 items, paper

Three letters from Stewart Lyon with one attachment (set of notes):
(a) letter from Stewart Lyon, manuscript, two pages on one A5 folio (recto & verso), dated 21 December 1981, thanking IS for the Bossall paper and promising to comment upon it, but agreeing in general that the "there's no way the Regnald coinage could be put back as far as 914". He also informs IS that his "godson has just won himself an exhibition" to read Anglo-Saxon, Celtic & Norse studies at Trinity under Simon Keynes, while "Catherine's choral exhibition to Trinity has been confirmed, too", perhaps making them "one of the first boy/girl sets of twins that Trinity has ever had"!
(b) letter from Stewart Lyon, manuscript, single page, dated 28 December 1981, stating that he had heard about the difficulties that IS and CEB were having with Michael Metcalf over the Bossall paper, though MM had not consulted him. He explains that his comments on the Bossall paper are in three parts: (i) on the St Peter coins without the sword but without reference to any literature, evidently written prior to receiving the Bossall paper; (ii) on the sword coins, written after receiving the paper; (iii) giving "a fairly broad critique of that paper". He hope that his comments will be useful, despite his suggestion of significant changes. In the upper left corner, in square brackets, is a note to indicate that "Copy sent to CEB".
(c) attachment to the preceding (extensive set of notes from Stewart Lyon), manuscript, seventeen pages on seventeen folios (recto only), dated 5-28 December 1981, in three parts: (i) "Impressions of the St Peter coinage, part I", (ii) "Impressions of the St Peter coinage, part II", and (iii) "Comments on the paper by Blunt and Stewart on Regnald and Bossall". Only the third part specifically addresses the contents of the draft paper. Comment no. 21 on § 1-2 of the draft paper deals with matters "not of major importance". Comment no. 22 deals with the authors' undue emphasis on "an untidy alliance between Smyth and Dolley" in § 3. Comment nos. 23-24 states that the paper lacks balance in not taking adequate account of an 1973 paper by Dolley and Moore in the BNJ. Comment nos. 25-27 are more editorial in nature, noting points or references that need to be added. Comment no. 28 offers a summing up, stating that most of the views expressed in the paper are perfectly acceptable but feels that "it pays too little attention to Dolley & Moore (1973)" while needlessly devoting energy to demolishing Smyth's historical arguments. "If the middle of the paper were redrafted along [the] lines" that he suggests, concludes Stewart Lyon, "could Metcalf (or Dolley or smyth) really sustain objections to it?" In a postscript, Stewart Lyon wonders what to make of SCBI Edinburgh 71.
(d) letter from Stewart Lyon, manuscript, single page, dated 2 January 1982, noting that "a triangle in exergue could have been inspired by the reverse of the Edw. Elder or Plegmund 'Rose' type – though one might have expected another triangle at the top if this were the case". There are three postscripts: (PS) on the dropping of most academic content by Spink's Numismatic Circular; (PPS) thanking IS for the interesting Finland offprint and making reference to "two others in return"; (PPPS) dated 5 January, noting that a copy of a letter from CEB (i.e. Christopher Blunt) is enclosed. For this, see JCPP/Stewartby/1/3/BLUNTC – LYON/1981/1

For the Dolley & Moore paper to which Stewart Lyon refers in the attachment (item (c), the set of notes), see Michael DOLLEY and C. N. MOORE, 'Some reflections on the English coinages of Sihtric Caoch, King of Dublin and York', British Numismatic Journal, vol. 43 (1973), pp. 45-59. For the copy of the letter from Christopher Blunt to Stewart Lyon that the latter refers to in his letter to Ian Stewart of 2-5 January 1982, see JCPP/Stewartby/1/3/BLUNTC – LYON/1981/1.