Study room at the BM

[Colin G.]

Just wondering whether anyone has ever done a day in the study room at the British Museum? I am hoping to get a day later in the year there, and just wondered how it all works from a practical point of view in terms of being able to study the coins physically, and to see what what others experiences have been?

[Rob]

Just wondering whether anyone has ever done a day in the study room at the British Museum? I am hoping to get a day later in the year there, and just wondered how it all works from a practical point of view in terms of being able to study the coins physically, and to see what what others experiences have been?

The only time I went in was for an hour on spec as I had a coin which I wanted to compare with theirs. They accommodated me, which surprised me somewhat. They bought out the tray(s) with the relevant coins while someone stayed in the room. Any coins you take with you will be weighed in advance to ensure you don't exchange them, but they are allowed in which is good if you need to compare dies.

A down side though is if you want images of any of their coins as has been mentioned before. £50 for a uniface or £60 for an image both sides is simply too much for your average collector which has to be paid for in advance and arrives in the fullness of time.

[coin watch]

Just wondering whether anyone has ever done a day in the study room at the British Museum? I am hoping to get a day later in the year there, and just wondered how it all works from a practical point of view in terms of being able to study the coins physically, and to see what what others experiences have been?

I have been twice and found it a good experience and fairly pleasent. The room is one collective large table enough to seat around 12 people, on both my visits I was in there with only one other person which I found better for privacy plus and more important you get the attention of the ever present attendant, this is important if you are looking through a number of coin trays because each tray is scanned before presented to you and as you will only be allowed one tray at a go this tends to take up some time, baring in mind the max time window will be 3 hours this could loose you study time if waiting around for others to be seen to, so I would suggest to try and book a day that is fairly free, if possible. You can only take in very limited items, coats and bags are a no-no and have to be left in the cloak room before entering, beside this plus if you can deal with several cameras focused on you at all times it really is a good experience and well worth it.

I had to make a second visit as the first I just about got through viewing what I wanted to see, when I went again I had a better idea what I wanted to see and made more time to make notes. Apart from the coins there is also a mass of references to see if required.

Having said this I do beleive the BM will eventually be listing more items online, but how long this will take??

[TomGoodheart]

Having said this I do beleive the BM will eventually be listing more items online, but how long this will take??

Plus what they do have needs some serious work! This for example is as any fule kno a coin. Rather tricky to search for specific items on that basis!

[coin watch]

Having said this I do beleive the BM will eventually be listing more items online, but how long this will take??

Plus what they do have needs some serious work! This for example is as any fule kno a coin. Rather tricky to search for specific items on that basis!

Agreed it's a poor image, that's why a visit is well worth it. Sometimes making an effort for a visit like the BM makes the hobby an altogether better experience. Photos are still not just the answer even with the digital age!

[Colin G.]

I have a general visit planned to the BM later in the year and think I may do an overnight and devote the next day to the study room. Hopefully by then I would have a clear indication of what I would like to see. Thanks for the input guys!!

[Oxford_Collector]

BTW the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford also has an extensive coin study room, called with The Heberden Coin Room which "houses a systematic and comprehensive collection of some three hundred thousand coins and medals. It has an academic staff of seven and is a leading international centre for teaching and research in numismatics and monetary history."

The Heberden Coin Room apparently has particular strengths in the fields of Greek, Roman, Celtic, Byzantine, Medieval, Islamic, Indian, and Chinese coinages. It also holds collections of paper money, tokens, jetons, and commemorative and art medals. Its collection of hammered and milled British coinage is also, to my untrained eyes at least, very good, they have some stunning specimens - I know this because I work for the Museum, though not in connection with the Coin Room (I'm a mere amateur private coin collector) and sadly have little time to visit it.

The Heberden Coin Room can be visited by appointment, and they try to be accommodating, for more details see: http://www.ashmolean.org/departments/heberdencoinroom/services/

[coin watch]

BTW the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford also has an extensive coin study room, called with The Heberden Coin Room which "houses a systematic and comprehensive collection of some three hundred thousand coins and medals. It has an academic staff of seven and is a leading international centre for teaching and research in numismatics and monetary history."

The Heberden Coin Room apparently has particular strengths in the fields of Greek, Roman, Celtic, Byzantine, Medieval, Islamic, Indian, and Chinese coinages. It also holds collections of paper money, tokens, jetons, and commemorative and art medals. Its collection of hammered and milled British coinage is also, to my untrained eyes at least, very good, they have some stunning specimens - I know this because I work for the Museum, though not in connection with the Coin Room (I'm a mere amateur private coin collector) and sadly have little time to visit it.

The Heberden Coin Room can be visited by appointment, and they try to be accommodating, for more details see: http://www.ashmolean.org/departments/heberdencoinroom/services/

I have thought of doing a visit to this one but it seems the parking is limited, plus with the cost of rail travel it has always put me off. Do you know of any other low cost (or free) local parking near the museum?

[Oxford_Collector]

BTW the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford also has an extensive coin study room, called with The Heberden Coin Room which "houses a systematic and comprehensive collection of some three hundred thousand coins and medals. It has an academic staff of seven and is a leading international centre for teaching and research in numismatics and monetary history."

The Heberden Coin Room apparently has particular strengths in the fields of Greek, Roman, Celtic, Byzantine, Medieval, Islamic, Indian, and Chinese coinages. It also holds collections of paper money, tokens, jetons, and commemorative and art medals. Its collection of hammered and milled British coinage is also, to my untrained eyes at least, very good, they have some stunning specimens - I know this because I work for the Museum, though not in connection with the Coin Room (I'm a mere amateur private coin collector) and sadly have little time to visit it.

The Heberden Coin Room can be visited by appointment, and they try to be accommodating, for more details see: http://www.ashmolean.org/departments/heberdencoinroom/services/

I have thought of doing a visit to this one but it seems the parking is limited, plus with the cost of rail travel it has always put me off. Do you know of any other low cost (or free) local parking near the museum?

Parking in Oxford isn't great, there is very limited free parking and the car parks are quite expensive, though there's some more information about parking in Oxford here:

http://www.oxford.gov.uk/PageRender/decTS/Parking_occw.htm

The other option, if you don't want to get the train or coach/bus is to use the Park and Ride facilities (not a bad idea anyway, as driving in the centre of Oxford is very confusing if you don't know the area) - the parking is free at two of the sites (Thornhill and Water Eaton) and only £1.50 all day for the other ones, but you pay for the bus far into town, for details see:

http://www.oxford.gov.uk/PageRender/decTS/Park_and_Ride_occw.htm

What are your main areas of interest BTW?

Hope this helps!

[coin watch]

Parking in Oxford isn't great, there is very limited free parking and the car parks are quite expensive, though there's some more information about parking in Oxford here:

http://www.oxford.gov.uk/PageRender/decTS/Parking_occw.htm

The other option, if you don't want to get the train or coach/bus is to use the Park and Ride facilities (not a bad idea anyway, as driving in the centre of Oxford is very confusing if you don't know the area) - the parking is free at two of the sites (Thornhill and Water Eaton) and only £1.50 all day for the other ones, but you pay for the bus far into town, for details see:

http://www.oxford.gov.uk/PageRender/decTS/Park_and_Ride_occw.htm

What are your main areas of interest BTW?

Hope this helps!

Thanks for that.

The Tower mint of Charles I is my main interest and from what I understand the museum holds a reasonable group of coins to browse, so a day out may be on it's way!