Item 1968/2 - Three letters from Bill Seaby, one with attachment

4 items, paper

Three letters from Bill Seaby, the second with an attachment:
(a) letter, in typescript, single page, dated 1 May 1968, thanking IS for his "offer to donate the Flemish counterfeit of the Irish long-cross penny and noting that he has not yet been able to identify another one of which IS sent a sketch and inscription, no longer with the letter. He says that he is prepared to purchase "the Irish one" for 140 francs.
(b) letter, in typescript, two pages on two folios (recto only), with manuscript notes in the hand of IS occupying the bottom third of the second page, dated 27 May 1968, referring to an enclosure (see below) in which he lays out arguments for claiming "that a proportion amounting to about 322 genuine Irish coins (possibly more) and some triangle forgeries escaped from the Brussels hoard, possibly in the early years after discovery, but more likely to fill empty trays at Baldwin's. To complete his arguments, he asks IS about the Scottish group and whether the 1750 coins recorded in the Numismatic Chronicle (1958) remain intact. WAS also wonders about the "local forgeries, continental imitations and 'obsolete' specimens in the Scottish series", noting that "The three main classes of forgery from Brussels (and elsewhere) [were] English obv./Irish rev., Irish rev./English obv., and badly blundered Irish imitations", and he asks IS whether he has noted "any such groups for Alexander III". WAS mentions that Christopher Blunt sent him "the Earle Fox notebooks with Pipe Roll entries setting out the actual long-cross amounts" for London, Canterbury and Dublin and extrapolates from them figures for other mints and considers their implications for his research. In closing, he thanks IS for helping him to obtain "two good continental 'triangles', one as a gift and one a purchase".
(c) typescript, two pages on two folios (recto only), dated May 1968, entitled "Henry III: English and Irish long-cross coinage recorded and now extant (all sums include cut halfpennies and farthings as penny units)", as referred to in the letter of 27 May (see above), laying out arguments for supposing that some coins were removed from the Brussels hoard before being recorded.
(d) letter, in typescript, two pages on two folios (recto only), dated 24 June 1968, expressing interest in learning from IS first that "a number of parcels from the Scotch portion of Brussels [were] selected by certain of the earlier numismatists, because this suggests "that there was no real attempt" to keep the coins of the smaller kingdoms intact, and second that IS has not been able to trace any contemporary forgeries in the Scottish group, because it seems very odd "that the Flemings and other makers of 'esterlin' could have been so discriminating. He describes again the main groups of Irish counterfeits, now in greater detail than in the letter of 27 May, and advises the he is intending to write up the Brussels counterfeits with Michael [Dolley] for the memorial volume to Albert Baldwin.