THE YORK COIN AND STAMP FAIR
January 2023 at the Grandstand, York Racecourse
Minting hammered coins with Dave the Moneyer.
A rather last minute decision and an early start led to Roman Found making the Roman Commute from Lincoln to York for the January 2023 York Stamp and Coin Fair. Our first ever coin fair experience.
Based in the Grandstand of the York Racecourse we were treated to buying coins with a view! Perusing the various coin dealer stalls with the backdrop of the rather impressive racecourse, a horse racing tradition that on this land in particular can be traced back to Roman Times.
The aim was to get in at 10am on the dot, straight in for opening ready to hunt down those bargains before the thoroughfare swept up all the gems, but that went a little bit awry as whilst we may have arrived at the Racecourse at 9.45am… we didn’t end up stepping foot inside the fair for at least another 40 mins as we were firmly distracted by the Anglo Saxon in the entrance hall hammering coins by hand. Lucie is always very good at spotting period costume.
This was none other than Dave the Moneyer and he turned out to be another Lincolnshire Local! An absolute wealth of knowledge, Dave has spent years researching coins with a firm passion for them since he was as young as three years old he claimed. He had every time of day to chat to us all about coins and help us to understand exactly how the coins we were finding in the ground had been made.
But that went a little bit awry as whilst we may have arrived at the Racecourse at 9.45am, we didn’t end up stepping foot inside the fair for at least another 40 mins…
Some of the Hammered Coins we minted.
Each coin die that he uses has been hand engraved by himself as an exact replica of the coins he reproduces. He even has dies where you cannot fault the reproduction efforts, made out of ore that he dug out of the ground with a team of researchers and smelted in a forge built by hand from hand made bricks. Talk about authenticity.
This just goes to show how important it is to take your time and talk to everyone at these types of events. You really never know who you could stumble across and what knowledge they may posses. Coin fairs are ever the social as they are the business (The buying business of course! We came to spend!).
Coin nerding chat over and with new found knowledge all about brocages, ‘weak dies’ and double strikes we entered the fair … and immediately got lost in Stamp World. The coin fair turned out to not be very well signposted and the entire ground floor is just every single stamp or stamp album you could ever imagine, stall after stall seeming to go on endlessly. Thankfully we escaped, found the stairs and the two marvellous floors of Coin World.
Rather handily for us we met up with our good friend Dominic Chorney, the Ancient Coin Expert for Baldwins. Some could say the ace up our sleeve for our first ever coin fair experience. After a quick chat (and a show and tell of the Baldwin’s goodies they had out on their stand) we got straight into it and bedded our noses into the various coin trays and cabinets of the dealers, marvelling at some rare beauties and searching for our next venture into the coin collecting world.
We also may have sampled some excellent Dig Scran during our Coin Fair Adventure, because would it really be a proper Roman Found outing without any scran? The Racecourse Café proved to be the one, serving freshly made pies and meaty sausage rolls that were the perfect fuel for the exhausting efforts of scrutinising coins and parting with that hard earned cash. Who knew buying coins could be so tiring. Overall A Dig Scran Rating of 8/10.
The Racecourse Café proved to be the one, serving freshly made pies and meaty sausage rolls that were the perfect fuel for the exhausting efforts of scrutinising coins and parting with that hard earned cash.
Baldwins - Celtic Stater
We really had an absolute blast at the fair chatting to almost every dealer on the way round (and we went round twice!) discovering a new world that wasn’t actually too far from the one we already knew. It turns out that many coin dealers once had a hand in the little hobby of metal detecting and we heard many tales about the ‘natural progression’ from detectorist, to collector, to dealer. We will have to come back to this theory at a later date, we have already dipped our toes into coin collecting …
One thing that we can definitely confirm is if you love to chat (like Ellie) and your favourite subject happens to be coins then the York Stamp and Coin Fair is the one for you. It gets the official Dig Chat Rating of 9/10.
Every dealer we chatted to had a fascinating tale for us, be it of their items, their best finds or just some fascinating coin facts in general. They were all very friendly and more than happy to show off their finest goods to us, even if we didn’t quite have the budget to ever be purchasing these items. Some of our particular favourites that we were allowed to have a closer look at and even photograph were a delicate Gold and Enamel Georgian Memento Mori, a Newark Siege Token from the Civil War, various Corieltauvi Staters (this was important research for the top of the 2023 Roman Found Bucket List) and a lovely Porcupine Sceat (of course Lucie’s favourite).
Valuable knowledge was gathered from table to table, as we learnt new tips about coins. Important intel on what other coins could be out there for us to find and most importantly we debunked a Roman Found rumour… Some of you may know or remember our Gold Henry VII Half Angel that we were so lucky to find. Well, since its discovery there has been some contest over its denomination: is it a Half Angel, is it a Full Angel … we weren't quite sure. After seeing several examples in the cabinets we can confirm very excitedly that it is in fact a Full Angel. A new identity has been revealed. Everyday is a learning day in the world of coins even when you think you’ve got that coin nailed.
New passions were also discovered with Lucie upgrading her collecting to the next level. Her personal hoard which (pre York Fair ) was just New Zealand Currency, rapidly expanded to (post York Fair) New Zealand Currency and the shiny lure of Enamelled Coins, a trend that was very fashionable in the late 1880’s and one that is actually still available to purchase today for modern coinage.
To enamel a coin, first the design and background which is to be enamelled has to be engraved away to create a void which will then be filled with the enamel (ground glass particles) before being fired and ground down to create shades. It was a delicate craft and process that could produce some very intricate designs which in the Victorian Times were often turned into jewellery, and the Victorians loved their unusual jewellery. As it turns out so does Lucie who was very taken by these coin curiosities.
It was a delicate craft and process that could produce some very intricate designs which in the Victorian Times were often turned into jewellery, and the Victorians loved their unusual jewellery.
Ellie on the other hand was on the hunt for one thing and it was the same as when she steps foot into a field, Roman. Some people are easily pleased. All it took was one Constantine Gloria Exercitvs (the very same type that was Roman Found’s first ever Roman Find) to appear out of a bargain bucket (£7 all in) and that’s it. Ellie’s day was made with a little roman bargain. Add to that a Maximian Follis with some lovely unusual purple - ish patina and she was leaving very happy indeed.
We might have also had a small competition going between Roman Found at the fair just to add a bit of spice to the day. Which may have involved a small budget of up to £30 for each contestant. The competition: to buy the best coin on a budget that they could find, or haggle for, at the fair. Our handily available coin expert Dominic Chorney was the judge and if you want to find out just what we bought and who came out victorious, well then you will simply have to watch the upcoming YouTube all about our York Adventure.
An excellent day out and one that we can only recommend highly, if you have an interest in coins then what is better than putting yourself in a room surrounded by likeminded and knowledgeable individuals. Throw in some rare and valuable coins that you might never get a chance to see in person again and it’s a no brainer. Make that trip! There might even be a bargain waiting for you.
