From the start of this year the department will be known as the Department of Money and Medals.
It begs the question ‘why?’.
Since the turn of the 19th century, coins and medals found an identity within the Department of Antiquities, then becoming a separate department in the 1860s. I first ventured through its doors in the late 1950s.
‘Money and Medals’ is so 21st century, but when it comes down to it, it is no more accurate than ‘Coins and Medals’ and, I think it might be fair to presume, this time-wasting and expensive choice was not one made by the staff of the department.
Could I ask the museum to have less of the ‘Away with the old and to Hell with tradition’ culture and to let the department concentrate on all the things it does so well: coins and medals?
Daniel Fearon
