Even though business is good as existing collectors are adding to their collections at an unprecedented
pace, and new collectors are emerging as never before in my two decades at Spink, giving Spink one of its best first halfs ever, I must say the summer brought me mixed feelings.

This article takes a look at the often under-appreciated paper money of England’s American colonies and the issues of the Continental Congress in the years up to Independence.

Emma Howard interviews Mark Stocker about his forthcoming book, When Britain Went Decimal: The Coinage of 1971, co-published by Spink Books and the Royal Mint.

This impressive list of awards and medals gives the reader some idea of the extent of the honours bestowed upon General Sir James Rupert Everard KCB CBE, who served as NATO’s Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe from 2017-2020.

Many of the medals most sought after by collectors are awards for bravery. Not only are these intrinsically scarcer, they invariably provide a direct link to an act of valour which we can respect, as well as a story to research and share. Those of us whose education is based on British military history and the British military system will be very familiar with a particular way to reward bravery.

In recent times, we have all been reminded of the tragic loss of human life and the truly devastating damage which resulted from the bombing campaign of Britain by the Luftwaffe during the Second World War – more commonly referred to as ‘The Blitz’.

Venice. Simply the word conjures up a wealth of enchanting images – an island city of marble palaces built on a lagoon. Still a major seaport, it was once the centre of a maritime republic, the greatest seaport in late medieval Europe, and the continent’s commercial and cultural link to Asia. One of the world’s oldest tourist and cultural centres, it has held an unrivalled place in the Western imagination since the fall of the Venetian republic in 1797, and has been described endlessly in both prose and verse.

On 15th February 1971, ‘D-Day’, the UK went decimal. The pound stayed the same, but the number of pennies in the £ was now 100, from 240 previously, a ratio that had been fixed for more than a millennium. Decimalisation remains the biggest single adjustment to sterling in its history.

The Battle of Jutland was one of the greatest naval battles in history. On the afternoon of 31st May 1916 Great Britain’s Grand Fleet – 151 warships under the command of Admiral Sir John Jellicoe – encountered the Kaiser’s fleet of 99 ships in the eastern North Sea, off the coast of Denmark’s Jutland province.