British Coins

John Atkinson

John Atkinson (1937-2018) was born on 29 June 1937 and brought up in London. He spent the first years of his working life in farming and horse-breeding before joining the Army in the late 1950s, spending three years in the Life Guards and seeing active service in Aden. It was at this time that he bought his first English medieval coin, a Edward III penny, thus commencing his lifelong interest in studying and collecting coins of the period.

After leaving the Army he went to art college in Harrogate and then took part-time voluntary work in archaeological conservation while working for Dunlop. Eventually he became sufficiently qualified as a conservator to take a full time job with the Passmore Edwards Museum in London during the late 1960s. He moved to Liverpool in 1970 to work for the North of England Museum and Art Gallery Service and in 1976 moved to Newcastle-upon-Tyne, where he worked until his retirement.

As well as numismatics John also had a keen interest in and an extensive knowledge of pre-history, history, genealogy, paleontology, zoology, antiques (notably ceramics) and philately. Although a keen collector, his interest in objects was primarily academic and acquisition was always both preceded and succeeded by extensive research. This was true most notably with his research into the English early medieval coinage.
David Shepherd

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