The Royal Numismatic Society is a learned society

Learned society

A learned society is an organization that exists to promote an academic discipline/profession, as well a group of disciplines. Membership may be open to all, may require possession of some qualification, or may be an honor conferred by election, as is the case with the oldest learned societies,...

 and charity

Charitable organization

A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization . It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization (NPO). It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A...

 based in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, United Kingdom which promotes research into all branches of numismatics

Numismatics

Numismatics is the study or collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money, and related objects. While numismatists are often characterized as students or collectors of coins, the discipline also includes the broader study of money and other payment media used to resolve debts and the...

. Its lectures and publications deal with classical, Asian, medieval and modern coins, paper money, tokens and medals.

It was founded in 1836 as the Numismatic Society of London and received the title of the
Royal Numismatic Society from Edward VII

Edward VII of the United Kingdom

Edward VII was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910...

 by Royal Charter in 1904. Its present patron is HM Queen Elizabeth II

Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom

Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...

.

Presidents of the RNS

• 1836-39 John Lee
• 1839-41 Edward Hawkins
  Edward Hawkins (numismatist)
  Edward Hawkins was an English numismatist and antiquary. He is known as a keeper at the British Museum.-Life:Born at Macclesfield on 5 May 1780, he was the eldest son of Edward Hawkins of Macclesfield, banker, by his wife Ellen, daughter of Brian Hodgson of Ashbourne, Derbyshire...
  
  
• 1841-43 H.H. Wilson
• 1843-45 Lord Albert Conyngham
  Albert Denison, 1st Baron Londesborough
  Albert Denison Denison, 1st Baron Londesborough, KCH, FRS, FSA was a British Liberal Party politician and diplomat, known as Lord Albert Conyngham from 1816-49.-Early life and career:...
  
  
• 1845-47 H.H. Wilson
• 1847-49 W.D. Haggard
• 1849-51 Edward Hawkins
  Edward Hawkins (numismatist)
  Edward Hawkins was an English numismatist and antiquary. He is known as a keeper at the British Museum.-Life:Born at Macclesfield on 5 May 1780, he was the eldest son of Edward Hawkins of Macclesfield, banker, by his wife Ellen, daughter of Brian Hodgson of Ashbourne, Derbyshire...
  
  
• 1851-55 The Lord Londesborough
  Albert Denison, 1st Baron Londesborough
  Albert Denison Denison, 1st Baron Londesborough, KCH, FRS, FSA was a British Liberal Party politician and diplomat, known as Lord Albert Conyngham from 1816-49.-Early life and career:...
  
    (Formerly Lord Albert Conyngham, President 1843-45)
• 1855-74 W.S.W. Vaux
  William Sandys Wright Vaux
  William Sandys Wright Vaux FRS , was a celebrated British antiquary of the 19th century.-Biography:Vaux, only son of William Vaux , prebendary of Winchester Cathedral and vicar of Wanborough, Wiltshire, was born on 28 February 1818...
  
  
• 1874-1908 Sir John Evans
• 1908-14 Sir Henry H. Howarth
• 1914-19 Sir Arthur Evans
• 1919-30 Sir Charles Oman
  Charles Oman
  Sir Charles William Chadwick Oman was a British military historian of the early 20th century. His reconstructions of medieval battles from the fragmentary and distorted accounts left by chroniclers were pioneering...
  
  
• 1930-35 Percy Webb
• 1935-36 Sir George MacDonald
• 1936-37 Percy Webb
• 1937-42 E.A. Sydenham
• 1942-48 Harold Mattingly
• 1948-53 C.H.V. Sutherland
• 1953-56 Michael Grant
• 1956-61 C.E. Blunt
• 1961-66 Philip Grierson
  Philip Grierson
  Philip Grierson, FBA was a British historian and numismatist, emeritus professor of numismatics at Cambridge University and a fellow of Gonville and Caius College for over seventy years...
  
  
• 1966-70 D.F.Allen
• 1970-74 Colin M. Kraay
• 1974-79 R.A.G. Carson
• 1979-84 D.G. Sellwood
• 1984-89 J.P.C. Kent
• 1989-94 T.V. Buttrey
• 1994-99 D.M. Metcalf
• 1999-2004 H.B. Mattingly
• 2005-2009 Joe Cribb
• 2009-present Nicholas Mayhew

Publications

The Numismatic Chronicle is the annual publication of the Royal Numismatic Society. A decade index is published in every tenth volume, and the most recent decade index is on the Royal Numismatic Society website.

The RNS also publishes the series Coin Hoards.

The RNS also publishes Special Publications (SP). These include the following titles:

• SP12: P. Balog, Coinage of the Ayyubids, 1981.
• SP20: A.S. Robertson, An Inventory of Romano-British Coin Hoards IX, 2000.
• SP23: M. Archibald & M. Cowell (eds), Metallurgy in Numismatics III, 1993.
• SP24: D.J. Macdonald, The Coinage of Aphrodisias, 1992.
• SP25: R.T. Williams, The Silver Coinage of Velia, 1992.
• SP26: G.L. Duncan, Coin Circulation in the Balkan and Danubian Provinces, A.D. 294-578, 1993.
• SP30: W.A. Oddy & M. Cowell (eds), Metallurgy in Numismatics IV, 1998.
• SP31: N.J. Mayhew (ed.), The Gros Tournois, 1997.
• SP32: D.M. Metcalf, An Atlas of Anglo-Saxon and Norman Coin Finds, c. 973-1086, 1998.
• SP34: K. Butcher, Coinage in Roman Syria, 2004.
• SP36: R. Abdy, I. Leins & J. Williams (eds), Coin Hoards from Roman Britain XI, 2002.
• SP37: D. Hartill, Qing Cash, 2003.
• SP38: Y. Courtney, Public House Tokens in England and Wales c.1830-c.1920, 2004.
• SP39: H.M. Malek, The Dabuyid Ispahbads and Early 'Abbasid Governors of Tabaristan: History and Numismatics, 2004.
• SP40: K.A. Sheedy, The Archaic and early Classical Coinages of the Cyclades, 2006.
• SP41: W. Seaby & S.A.Ireland, A Catalogue of Ancient Coins in the Cabinet of Sir Rodger Newdigate of Arbury Hall, * Warwickshire: A Grand Tour Collection in the Warwickshire Museum.
• SP42: J.A.W., The Bronze Coinage of the Achaian Koinon, The Currency of a Federal Ideal.
• SP43: A. Johnston, Greek Imperial Denominations, ca 200-275: A study of the Roman Provincial Bronze Coinages of Asia Minor.
• SP44: J. Casey, A Catalogue of the Greek, Roman and Byzantine Coins in Sinop Museum (Turkey) and Related Historical and Numismatic Studies.
• SP45: R. Penhallurick (ed. by P. Guest and N. Wells), Ancient and Early Medieval Coins from Cornwall and Scilly.
• SP46: R. Bland and X. Loriot, Roman and Early Byzantine Gold Coins Found in Britain and Ireland.
• SP47: V.S. Curtis, M.E. Askari, E.J. Pendleton, R. Hodges, A-A. Safi, Sasanian Coins: A Sylloge of the Sasanian Coins in the National Museum of Iran (Muzeh Melli Iran), Tehran. Vol 1: Ardashir I - Hormizd IV.