Post Your United Kingdom (Great Britain) Coin Acquisitions.

Wow! That is a real beauty, Daltonista! I have the same coin, but it's not very nice. It came to me in a lot of foreign coins and tokens.

My latest addition takes me down to less than 3 designs left in my Peter Kempson Buildings and Gates of Coventry collection. Whoo Hoo!

This is showing the Bablake Hospital founded in 1506.

There are 5 different reverse designs, all but the George Frederick Handel are very similar, only having spacing or period/dot placement differences. Reverse #5 is the bust of G.F. Handel reverse, and by far and away the most difficult one and (expensive ones) to find. This is a really nice bronzed proof, that came out of the fantastic Deane Part II collection. Really chuffed to have added this one in my collection!


click to enlarge

In 1344 Queen Isabella gave lands called 'Babbelak' to the Guild of St. John to build a church, or chapel. This was the original St. John the Baptist church, one of the most important historic buildings in Coventry. Some historians have suggested that giving land for the church was an act of atonement for her role in the death of her husband, Edward II.

The guild church was supported by a college of priests, living in quarters immediately behind the church. The term college in this sense does not suggest a place of education, but a form of monastic institution, with residences for priests whose job was to say Mass in the church for the souls of the college patrons. It seems that the ecclesiastical college must have taken on an educational aspect quite quickly, for in 1364 a 'Bablake school' is recorded, possibly established on land given by Isabella's grandson, Edward, the Black Prince.

In 1507 Thomas Bond, a wealthy draper and another former mayor of Coventry founded an almshouse, or 'hospital', attached to the existing school. Together, the Hospital and school form a beautiful courtyard of historic buildings reached through an arched entrance on Hill Street.

The Hospital was intended to provide accommodation for elderly pensioners who agreed to say prayers for the benefactor in exchange for a place to stay. So the role of the pensioners was very much the same as the original college of priests established by the Guild of St. John several centuries earlier.

The future of the school was assured in 1563 when Thomas Wheatley, former mayor of Coventry, gave the school a chest of silver ingots. The origin of the ingots makes a fascinating tale. It seems that Wheatley ordered a shipment of steel wedges from Spain. Instead of steel wedges, he received a chest full of silver ingots. He tried to discover the rightful owner of the ingots but failing in his quest he gave the entire chest to the school.

The connection to St. John's church still exists today in the form of an annual Blablake Carol service at Christmas. During the medieval period school students also served as church choristers, and in 1734 the vicar of St. Johns also served as the school's headmaster.

The school expanded during the 19th century after several sizeable bequests, and in the 1890s began to move to a new complex of buildings on Coundon Road, leaving their former quarters to become offices.

The exterior facade of Bond's Hospital was rebuilt in 1832, but the core of the building is late medieval. There are a dozen bed-sit apartments, a common room, and a rear garden in which a section of the medieval city wall of Coventry runs. Bond's Hospital is very much a male equivalent of Ford's Hospital on Greyfriars Lane, established slightly later for elderly women.

The Hospital still offers accommodation for the elderly. Unfortunately, because the Hospital is a private dwelling place, there is no public access, though you can get very good views through the Hill Street entrance, and even better views from the churchyard of St. John the Baptist, accessed off Spon Street.


Bablake Hospital as it stands presently.

Westcoin, that is a stunner! Wishing you the best of luck in getting the remaining three.
And thank you for the interesting and informative historical background. By the way, what is the connection between Handel and Coventry?

I believe it is due to him staying there on his trips from London to Dublin as he played his operas and other music pieces around the British Isles on a tour in 1742. Especially famous for his "Messiah" and it is said he performed it at St. Michaels cathedral in Coventry, one of the greatest cathedrals (IMO) ever designed and built, it is only partially standing today after being bombed in WWII by the relentless German airstrikes.

https://www.coventrysociety.org.uk/...st-michaels/

The St. Michael's Church Penny coin was die sunk by Wyon, and struck by Peter Kempson, it is by far and away my personal favorite of all the Dalton & Hamer provincial tokens and coins they cataloged. I had a chance to purchase one in May, 2023 but didn't pull the trigger as I'd like an even nicer specimen, as it will be the only penny in my Kempson Buildings and Gates Coventry collection and would be the highlight as well.

For those that don't know of it, here is the coin I decided not to purchase. Yeah I probably should have bought to have while continuing the search, as they only tend to go up in value, and I could already be selling it for a small profit. DOH! There were also a few examples struck in silver.


So technically I only had this coin for a few hours and only on reserve, not in hand. For those curious it was priced at $600.00 USD.

Westcoin, thank you for the clarification. And yes, you should have pulled the trigger!

Fantastic!

Ran out of space for the full name?