A Message from our Sponsor
I wish to thank everyone for participating in Britannia Nummaria, whether you were a speaker, an attendee, or served in an administrative capacity. Several participants travelled considerable distances, and I hope you feel your time, and effort, and funds were well spent.
In 2011, two things happened in my life. I attended the predecessor to Britannia Nummaria, which was called Moneta Britannia, and I met Sam Moorhead and learned about the Frome Hoard. Roger Bland asked me to consider funding a British Museum finds curator post to free up Sam Moorhead so he could focus most of his time on researching and writing a revised RIC V on Carausius and Allectus and also work on the nine hundred plus Carausius coins in the Frome Hoard. As I was an enthusiastic collector of the coins of Carausius and Allectus, and also very interested in the coin hoards of Roman Britain, I immediately agreed to fund the position, and Philippa Walton was hired.
I had no idea how many years this journey would require, but it’s now been fourteen years. Fortunately, at some point in time Graham Barker stepped in and agreed to co-fund the position. Philippa was succeeded by Vincent Drost, who was succeeded by Andrew Brown, and I just learned that Matthew Ball will now step into this role. It gives me immense personal satisfaction to know that aside from freeing up Sam to work on RIC V, the funding of the finds curator position has served as a stepping stone for the career development of the individuals who have occupied the position. Philippa was on the faculty at the University of Reading, and recently moved to the University of Leicester. I am hoping she will invite me to participate in any parking lot excavations! Vincent is now the curator of Iron Age and Roman coins at the Bibliotheque nationale de France (BnF) in Paris. Andrew has stepped into Sam’s senior curatorial position at the British Museum. It’s a wonderful feeling to have played a role in seeing young people with career aspirations fulfill those aspirations.
Now, I would like to turn my attention to the central character of this drama….the incomparable Sam Moorhead. What can I say? Sam is an incredible numismatic scholar and an incredible human being with an indomitable spirit. Not only did he take on the challenge of revising RIC V, but he accomplished this objective in the face of serious health issues that would have sidelined most human beings. What he has accomplished with the soon to be published tome otherwise known as RIC V, especially given the adversity he has faced, is unbelievable.
When I first embarked on this “adventure” with Roger, and Sam, and Philippa, I envisioned that someday there would be a successor to Moneta Britannia at which we would “release” RIC V. While its publication has been delayed, it is practically a fait accompli. Britannia Nummaria 2024 has exceeded all my expectations of what I envisioned. I would like to express my deepest appreciation to Lee Toone and Richard Bourne for making it happen. If Sam is Superman, then Lee and Richard are Batman and Robin. I would also like to express my appreciation to our fabulous moderators, Andrew Woods and Andrew Brown. Finally, I would like to give accolades to all of our amazing speakers. I have often attended conferences where in certain sessions I inevitably doze off or my mind wanders. It was not so with Britannia Nummaria 2024. According to my chi-square test, every speaker made a statistically significant impact on the audience! Everyone listened with authentic interest, and nobody faked their attention with a forger’s mold. Our speakers boldly gouged and punched their points, and hammered home their conclusions. Our grand finale was a panegyric worthy of the Tetrarchy!
As I look back on Moneta Britannia 2011 with nostalgic fondness, Britannia Nummaria 2024 is freshly glowing in my near term memory. I do not know if I will be around a decade from now for a follow-on event, but with young talent like Tasha Fullbrook, Matthew Ball, and Emily North, I am filled with optimism about the future!
All the best to everyone,
Richard Beleson
