Item 1970/2 - Two letters from Christopher Blunt to Ian Stewart and four letters from Ian Stewart to Christopher Blunt

6 items, paper

Two letters from Christopher Blunt to Ian Stewart and four letters from Ian Stewart to Christopher Blunt:
(a) letter from Christopher Blunt to Ian Stewart, typescript (carbon copy), one page, dated 18 May 1970, thanking IS for his letter of 14 May, which does not appear to be among the items that CEB arranged to be returned to IS after the death of the former. CEB states that he knows only three specimens of the Alfred of Exeter [coin]: BMC 79, Morley St Peter hoard and Brittell's. He says CENARD cannot be regarded as an Athelstan moneyer of Exeter, since "the coin on which the British Museum Catalogue is relying is in fact one of those crude north eastern types and cannot [...] have been issued at Exeter". He says that the four Sigeland coins of which he is aware equally are not of Exeter. He also looks forward to seeing IS at the Sylloge Committee meeting on the following afternoon, when he will give him copies of the Exeter section of the forthcoming Copenhagen Sylloge.
(b) letter from Ian Stewart to Christopher Blunt, manuscript, one folio (recto & verso), dated from St George's Road, London SE1, on 20 May 1970, thanking for the Athelstan information and asking whether CEB can tell him who the Exeter moneyers were and what were their types. He then provides a short list of other pre-reform (Edgar) examples of Exeter that he has noted with their moneyers. The point of his immediate reply, however, is to ask whether the Copenhagen Sylloge "is beyond correction" and propose a correction based on his reading of no. 462, which he transcribes as HVNNIONMEALM and identifies with the moneyer HVNNA of the mint of Malmesbury. If it is too late to add a note for the entry, he asks whether he may "politely point it out in [his] Exeter paper"?
(c) letter from Christopher Blunt to Ian Stewart, typescript (carbon copy), one page, dated 22 May 1970, naming the Exeter moneyers of Athelstan as Abun and Raegenold. He says that the Copenhagen Sylloge is probably beyond correction but thanks IS for "bringing it to notice", confides that he is inclined to accept the reading and promises to raise the matter with [Michael] Dolley. He says that as long as the Exeter paper appears after the Sylloge, "there can be no possible objection to [...] mentioning it".
(d) letter from Ian Stewart to Christopher Blunt, manuscript, one folio (recto & verso), dated from St George's Road, London SE1, on 13 September 1970, resigning himself to the fact that he will be able to offer the next BNJ only "a (rather dull) piece on Alex III". He asks CEB whether he is a potential contributor to the 1971 BNS programme and remarks upon the passing of Tony Thompson [d. 3 September 1970]. He adds that he was reading on that very day the joint article of CEB and JDAT on 'Forgery in the Anglo-Saxon series', BNJ, vol. 28 (1956), pp. 18-25 & pl. I , noting that he has acquired a product of their 19th-century forger. There is a note in the upper right margin of the recto in CEB's hand to the effect that he answered the letter on 17 September, but there is no CEB letter of this date among the Stewartby papers.
(e) letter from Ian Stewart to Christopher Blunt, manuscript, one folio (recto & verso), dated from St George's Road, London SE1, on 13 December 1970, congratulating CEB on the excellent new [British Numismatic] Journal and asking whether he has a review of Petersson's Anglo-Saxon Currency for the next one. He says the Philip [Grierson] has sent him a photocopy of a review by [Brita] Malmer in English translation, which would be valuable to have published, noting that it runs to thirteen pages. There is a note in the upper right margin of the recto in CEB's hand to the effect that he replied to the letter on 16 December, but there is no CEB letter of this date among the Stewartby papers.
(f) letter from Ian Stewart to Christopher Blunt, manuscript, six pages on three full folios (recto & verso), dated from St George's Road, London SE1, on 30 December 1970, expressing his satisfaction about arrangements for the Malmer review. There is brief comment on "the NORĐ coin" and then a lengthier one on potential editors for the BNJ and officers for the BNS; he makes a few suggestions but worries that, "with M[ichael Dolley] an active editor, weight and patience are needed, and diplomacy". The subject moves to the future of the BNJ and the BNS, given "that there seems to be a missing generation of numismatists, say, between the ages of 40 and 60. He notes the "growing stature and maturity" of Marion [Archibald], "both numismatic and personal", praises her handling of the Colchester project and remarks on the quality of her papers to the BNS. He concludes by saying that "it would be good for the subject, the Society and the BM if she would come occupy the central position which distinguished predecessors have done". There is a note in the upper right margin of the recto in CEB's hand to the effect that he answered the letter on 8 January [1971], though there is no CEB letter of this date among the Stewartby papers.