Item 1979/3 - Two letters from Christopher Blunt to Ian Stewart and two letters & two cards from Ian Stewart to Christopher Blunt

7 items, paper

Three letters from Christopher Blunt to Ian Stewart with attachment and three letters from Ian Stewart to Christopher Blunt:
(a) card from Ian Stewart to Christopher Blunt, manuscript, dated from St George's Road, London SE1, on 4 October 1979, thanking CEB for his comments on Wigard and for his generous enclosures. He says that Mark [Blackburn] has sent him "a new draft about the dating, which is getting closer to what is needed". He is pleased to hear of CEB's honourable membership of CIN and excuses himself for the very brief note.
(b) letter from Ian Stewart to Christopher Blunt, manuscript, one folio (recto & verso), dated from St George's Road, London SE1, on 13 October 1979, thanking CEB for the imitations and comments on them. He mentions "the very poor HR2 [i.e. horizontal rosette?] at Spinks" being "ridiculously dear at £50" but says that "it seems to be of interest". He asks whether there are "any Edgar coins of this type by an Othel-- moneyer" and says that he will ask Caldwell for a photograph of Ed. [Edinburgh?] 602, which seems similar. He informs CEB, for his records, that he has an Edgar HR2 (fragment), like Smarmore, and an Eadred HT1 [i.e. horizontal trefoil?] of Gothin, like BMC 48. He asks about an Edward coin with the inscription divided into three segments by points [i.e. pellets?] and notes that "Mark [Blackburn] has produced a dating draft which is getting very close to what is needed", though he wonders whether the Professor [i.e. Michael Dolley?] will agree.
(c) cutting of paper with manuscript note, undated and unattributed but originally attached by paper to the letter from Ian Stewart to Christopher Blunt of 13 October 1979 and with the main body of the note apparently in CEB's hand, describing a "large uncouth [?] penny, thin and pierced", with the obverse inscription +EA:DGARRE presumably around a cross in the centre and the reverse inscription OĐEL | O+O | RIHT in three lines with one cluster of seven pellets (six pellets around one central pellet) above and below. The object is further described as "a very nasty looking coin, but struck and lettering not too bad". There are some annotations apparently in IS's hand.
(d) letter from Christopher Blunt to Ian Stewart, manuscript, one folio (recto & verso), dated from Ramsbury on 24 October 1979, responding to IS's query about "the rather odd Edgar coin of HR2 by [the moneyer] Othelriht" and likening it to Grantley 1099 but determining that it probably is not the same coin. After discussing this coin at some length, he turns his attention to the Edgar coin that IS recently acquired from Spink. IS had wondered whether it could be a coin of Athelstan rather than Edgar but CEB thought it more likely to be of Edgar. CEB says that he recently received correspondence from someone named [Anthony] Freeman, a history schoolmaster who has been doing extensive research of late Anglo-Saxon moneyers and is extending it through to William I. He says that Freeman was much interested in IS's study of the Sussex and Devon mints. He further says that Freeman's work is serious and that he deserves encouragement, explaining that, although a member of the BNS, he is able to attend few meetings and therefore knows few people. He asks IS whether he could get in touch with him, and he gives him the man's address and phone number.
(e) letter from Ian Stewart to Christopher Blunt, manuscript, single page, on House of Commons letterhead dated 31 October 1979, complimenting CEB on his overstrike paper. He asks whether all "Athelstan CCs overstruck on HTs could imply a partial or attempted recoinage", and he thanks him for his comments about Othelriht, wondering whether he might have been a different moneyer from Othelric. He promises to telephone Mr Freeman.
(f) card from Ian Stewart to Christopher Blunt, manuscript, dated from St George's Road, London SE1, on 18 November 1979, saying that he has "a note of a paper by J.H. Pollexfen in NC 1868 (?) on later Scots coinage" and asks CEB if he could give him the title and page numbers. He says that he has finished his first draft of the Historical Introduction, though it needs adjustment before typing.
(g) letter from Christopher Blunt to Ian Stewart, manuscript, one folio (recto & verso), dated from Ramsbury on 20 December 1979, saying that he has been through IS's appendix on the Bossall hoard, which he describes as an improvement on his own account, and he encloses a note primarily of a new provenance for Regnald. He says that he has nearly completed his paper for the January RNS and will send IS a copy upon completion, noting that IS's later dating of the Karolus St Peter suits his proposed dating of Regnald and hopes that IS will make any necessary amendments to his arguments in his revision of the chapter on the 900-927 Viking period [in the 10th-century book]. He says that they have never discussed the presentation of the hoard evidence for the period, which is extensive but includes a lot of hoards that add nothing to the picture for one reason or another. There is further discussion about the hoard evidence and the 10th-century volume.