I do favour a licensing system of some sort, don’t the mudlarks have to get permits for the Thames foreshore?

Agreed 👍

But another report suggests they excavated under supervision - they may have been acting responsibly, or not but we do not yet know.

Fine limestone is the go to material for lithographic prints, but I am struggling to reconcile the design elements. A training piece perhaps ….?

Another couple of images … most of the “etchings” are less than 1 mm deep.

The designs seem far too shallow for moulds … I’ll try to describe later.

I’ve now cleaned the central roundel … I’m now even more puzzled what this is! A student piece, test piece …. ?

From the Spink blurb …

Hardback, jacketed, in two volumes
Volume 1: Introduction and Catalogue (712pp)
Volume 2: Indices and Plates (304pp)
276 x 219mm portrait.

Yes it was too big to comfortably fit into a single volume!

This photo gives a better idea of the coins' scale. It also includes many of the other coins we'll be covering in the talk. They date from the 12th century to 1707.

From left to right: groat of James III (1484-88); 1575 dated £20 of James VI, the largest circulating hammered gold coin minted in the British Isles & a testoon of Mary Queen of Scots minted soon after her return to Scotland in 1561.