Saturday 12 June 1998, 10.30 - 4.30, at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, UK.

       Following the success of last year's Indian Study Day on the coinage of the Mughals, this second colloquium will focus on those issues that purport to be struck for Mughal rulers but were in fact produced by other authorities. These include the coinages of the emerging indigenous rulers such as the Marathas, Jats, and Rajputs, the Princely States down to the 1850s, and the European mercantile companies. The speakers are expected to include Shailendra Bhandare, Jan Lingen and Ken Wiggins, and we also hope to involve historians of the period.
       Offers of further papers would be very welcome.

       The colloquium is open to all. There is no fee, but space will be limited so those wishing to attend should contact Mark Blackburn, Department of Coins and Medals, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge CB2 1RB (tel. 01223 332917; e-mail: mab1001@cam.ac.uk).

       The annual general meeting of the Society will be held at 2 p.m. on 5 June 1999 at the Cumberland Coin Fair in the Cumberland Hotel, Marble Arch in London. The business of the meeting will be:

• to receive the Council's report on the activities of the Society during the previous year;
• to receive and consider the Society's accounts for the previous year;
• to elect members of the Council.

       The Society's constitution provides that at the annual general meeting in 1999, and at every third annual general meeting thereafter, all officers and other members of the Society's council (with the exception of the regional secretaries) are to stand for election or re-election. The officers are Secretary General, Deputy Secretary General, Treasurer, Newsletter Editor, Secretary, Membership Secretary, Publications Secretary and not more than three other members of the Society. The members of the provisional council are Nick Rhodes, Secretary General; Stan Goron, Deputy Secretary General and Newsletter Editor; David Priestley, Treasurer; Peter Smith, Secretary; Joe Cribb, Publications Secretary; Paul Withers, Membership Secretary; other members Tony Holmes, Venetia Porter, and Howard Simmons. All members of the provisional council are standing for re-election at the meeting. No other candidates have been nominated. If you are unable to attend the meeting but wish to vote you may appoint the chairman of the meeting or some other member as your proxy to vote on a poll in your place. A form of proxy for use at the meeting meeting will be available from Regional Secretaries or the ONS Secretary. To be valid this must be signed and returned in accordance with the instructions on it.
       After the meeting there will be talks on the following:

• Tony Holmes: a glance at Sri Lanka
• Nicholas Rhodes: Tripura
• David Priestley: a Turkoman subject

       Having acted as Regional Secretary for the United Kingdom and Ireland since 1975, Ken Wiggins has finally decided to hand over the reins to a younger member of ONS. Now in his 70s, Ken is one of the founder members of ONS. He has been collecting coins since he was a small boy and his main area of interest for many years has been the coins of the Indian Princely States and other contemporary Indian issues. A short profile of Ken appeared in Newsletter 106 (May-June 1987). The Society is greatly indebted to Ken for all his work on its behalf and we hope he will continue to enjoy his collecting activities and his membership to the full.

       The new Regional Secretary, to replace Ken, is Peter Smith, the Society’s current Secretary, who has generously agreed to take on both roles. Would members in the UK and Ireland please note that any unpaid subscriptions should be paid as soon as possible to Peter.

       The regional meeting of the ONS, which, in previous years, has taken place in TØbingen, will be held next time in Jena on 17 to 18 April 1999. The programme will be as follows:

Saturday, 17 April 1999

Sunday, 18 April 1999

       Members of the ONS and other interested in oriental numismatics are invited to attend. For further information please contact: S. Heidemann, Institut fØr Sprachen und Kulturen des Vorderen Orients, Orientalsiches MØnzkabinett, Loebdergraben 24a, D-07743 Jena, Germany. Tel: ++49 3641 944850 e-mail: x7hest@dagobert.rz.uni-jena.de.
       The ONS meeting in Jena report.

       The ONS meeting at the British Museum Coin and Medal Department on Saturday 13 March 1999, mentioned in the previous newsletter duly took place, immediately after a meeting of the ONS council. Following coffee, those attending were treated to a highly informative guided tour by Joe Cribb of the Raffles exhibition then on display at the British Museum. Then after lunch, three talks were given, namely:

       There will be an ONS Indian Coin Study Day at the British Museum, Department of Coins and Medals, 10.30am-4.30pm, 8 May. The topic of the day will be Indian punch-marked coins.        Anyone interested in participating or giving a short presentation, in invited to contact Joe Cribb on 0171 323 8585 or e-mail jcribb@british-museum.ac.uk.