Item 1982/4 - Two letters from Christopher Blunt to Ian Stewart, one with an attachment, and four letters from Ian Stewart to Christopher Blunt, one with an attachment

8 items, paper

Two letters from Christopher Blunt to Ian Stewart, one with an attachment, and four letters from Ian Stewart to Christopher Blunt, one with an attachment:
(a) letter from Ian Stewart to Christopher Blunt, manuscript, one folio (recto & verso), dated from Baldwin Crescent, London SE5, on 4 August 1982, thanking CEB for his hospitality at Ramsbury and expressing his view that they made useful progress on CTCE [i.e. Coinage in Tenth-Century England]. He says that he is returning CEB's Edmund – Eadwig lists with a spare copy, having made copies for Stewart [Lyon] and himself, and that he is now revising the types/classification chapter. He also says that his next task will be the pre-927 Vikings, which he hopes to do during the [Parliamentary] recess.
(b) letter from Ian Stewart to Christopher Blunt, manuscript, one folio (recto & verso), on House of Commons letterhead and dated 24 August 1982, returning "Dolley's stuff", having taken a copy. He also encloses "a few addenda for NC", which he suggests CEB can relay to [Michael] Metcalf if he approves of them. He asks CEB for a photograph of his "anonymous sword/hammer (CS) coin" for the BNJ paper and mentions that [Michael] Kenny sent a print of the Dunmore specimen. He explains that he has been asks to write a note on the date of the first St Peter die and attaches a brief paper entitled "The date of the St Peter coin die from Coppergate" (see item (c) below), asking CEB if he thinks it will do.
(c) paper entitled "The date of the St Peter coin die from Coppergate" [by Ian Stewart], typescript, three pages on three folios (recto only), unattributed and undated but attached IS's letter of 24 August and referred to in the letter (see item (b) above), so therefore attributable to IS and datable to before 24 August 1982.
(d) letter from Ian Stewart to Christopher Blunt, manuscript, one folio (recto & verso), dated from Baldwin Crescent, London SE5, on 5 September 1982, returning CEB's "Oswald" in a clean copy and another on which IS has made some comments. He thanks CEB for his suggestions regarding his coin die note, noting that he is not acknowledging any assistance in his forthcoming papers "purely for tactical reasons", though he will be happy to do so if CEB wishes "to risk contamination by association". He returns CEB's note from MD [i.e. Michael Dolley] and sends one of his own (see item (e) below). In closing, he asks whether CEB has "seen the nice late St Edmund, Bonham's 938", and wonder whether lot 941 has four pellets in the form of a cross at the top. There is an annotation in ink in the upper right margin of the recto in CEB's hand that reads "Ans 7/9".
(e) photocopies of a card from Michael Dolley, signed only "M", dated 2 September 1982, which was attached to IS's letter to CEB of 5 September (see item (d) above). There are annotations on the photocopies in CEB's hand, one associating the card with "Ian Stewart" and the other appearing to suggest that MD uses H/N where he means H/M to refer to Hiberno-Manx.
(f) letter from Christopher Blunt to Ian Stewart, manuscript, one folio (recto & verso), dated from Ramsbury on 7 September 1982, thanking IS for the "Oswald" note and his comments on it. There is some discussion of Michael Dolley's card to IS before CEB reports that he has now received "a sad letter from Kristen Bendixen enclosing a copy of NNUM [i.e. Nordisk Numismatisk Unions Medlemsblad] with a paper of which Dolley sent us the typescript" and explaining how impolitely he has been treating her. CEB says that he has had to write and apologise for MD's poor manners. He discusses MD's piece in NNUM before turning to the upcoming Bonham's sale and the interesting pieces on offer.
(g) letter from Ian Stewart to Christopher Blunt, manuscript, one folio (recto & verso), dated from the House of Commons on 4 November 1982, thanking CEB for the note of another Anlaf and noting that he has completed a short chapter on imitations. He notes that Challis has asked him to review Merseyside, which he says could be useful for CTCE, and he sends a draft. He a service for Dorothy [Whitelock, died 14 August 1982], which he was unable to attend. He adds that Marion [Archibald] has sent him a letter about classification, which they have talked about, and that he plans to discuss the matter with Stewart [Lyon].
(h) letter from Christopher Blunt to Ian Stewart, typescript, one folio (recto & verso), dated from Ramsbury on 10 November 1982, thanking IS for sending the draft review of the Merseyside volume, which he returns with his "trifling comments". He suggests that there is some slight support for IS's later dating of the Cuerdale hoard, based on the recent identification of the Kufic coins of 895-896 in BNJ, vol. 46, p. 26. The subsequent discussion revolves around the Morley St Peter hoard and the "Church" type of Athelstan. He lists several points that lead him "to wonder whether Dolley and Gay may not have been right (NC 1958, pp. 124-125) in regarding the 'Church' type [like IS] as an early (almost experimental) issue after Athelstan gained York, which was replaced by Reganld's monopoly", but he still disagrees with them on other matters. He therefore agrees with IS "in regarding all the 'church' coins as likely to have been issued immediately after York" fell to Athelstan, but he wishes to leave open the question of whether some coins were perhaps struck for the archbishop. He refers to an enclosure of a letter from John Brand, noting that he is inclined to accept his suggestion about Birmingham and likes other points that he makes at the bottom of the first page. He asks for the return of the letter with comments.