English Coins from the Collection of the late Dr John Hulett

Dr John Hulett (1929 - 2017)
John Hulett was born in Birmingham on 26 August 1929, the only son of Arthur Hulett and his wife Hilda, nee Flint. They lived at Hall Green, moving to Shirley in 1936 and then to St Albans in 1942 to enable his father to work at his firm’s head office.
Educated at Shirley College and St Albans School, John was awarded an open exhibition (a type of scholarship) to Magdalen College, Oxford, in 1948 to read chemistry. His interest in numismatics began in 1940 when a family friend gave him a bag of assorted coins and he proceeded to augment his collection with purchases of 17th and 18th century English silver coins from a shop in Birmingham from 1940 to 1942.
At St Albans he soon got to know the curator of the Museum, A.H. Poulton, a keen collector himself. John remembered seeing a stack of Cromwell crowns on his desk! Poulton encouraged him, letting John have a small box of duplicates at what seem now to be giveaway prices, several times a year, as well as putting him in contact with Seaby and Baldwin – both of whom he visited in the late 1940s. John’s initiative led to the formation of the St Albans (Hertfordshire) Numismatic Society, where he first met the late Alan Rayner. John graduated from Oxford with a B.A. in 1951 and was awarded 2nd class honours in 1952. This was sufficient to earn him a grant to continue at Oxford as a research student in physical chemistry which eventually resulted in his gaining a doctorate, and he was awarded the degrees of M.A. and D Phil in 1955.
A significant change in John’s life occurred in the summer of 1955, when he was seconded to agricultural work in Dorset for two years in lieu of national service. To his surprise, he enjoyed haymaking, harvesting and milking cows so much that he would spend a few weeks with his farming friends each year, turning his hand to whatever was required.
After his excursion into agriculture, John was fortunate to be able to return to Oxford on a three- year ICI research fellowship, which involved not only laboratory work but also undergraduate tutorial sessions. In 1960 he was appointed to a full lectureship in chemical engineering at Leeds University, to which was soon added an associate lectureship in Physical Chemistry. This latter post he held until offered early retirement during the university reorganisation in 1988. By then he had also been university admissions tutor for Chemical Engineering for 22 years, so his time in Leeds was busy.
Meanwhile the coin collection was growing quietly. Two local collectors’ shop owners, Bob Platt in Leeds and Nigel Pickering in Otley, found him coins, often on an approval basis. He also came to know a number of private dealers who did business by post. On a visit to London he met Michael Sharp and they became firm friends for many years, with Michael acting as John’s agent at the London auctions. John was also privileged, particularly after his retirement, to purchase coins from the rolls of Lingford material and boxes of Lockett auction lots which had been stored in Baldwin’s basement, to be viewed only by favoured
clients.
In October 1988 John became a gentleman of leisure and moved to Dorset, but it was not an idle retirement. His farming friends had retired, so the farm did not call for his activity. He had the time to go for long runs and, as the years went by, long walks. He kept fit at exercise classes and led a busy life preaching in some Brethren churches in Dorset and Devon. In this context he was prevailed upon to write a 20-page theological quarterly magazine for a chapel in Sidmouth, where he preached one Sunday in every three. This ran for over 60 issues, with a distribution of over 160 copies per issue, until, sadly, old age, ill- health and decreasing numbers forced the chapel to close in 2008.
The family heart problems (his father having succumbed to a fatal heart attack in 1964) caught up with him early in 2005 and he spent a week in Dorchester hospital, being sent home with a big bag of pills. A repeat performance later in the year meant a triple heart bypass operation and six weeks in Southampton and Dorchester hospitals. It worked wonders, he recovered, was very much as fit as before, keeping up his exercise classes and brisk walks, regularly up to six miles.
Still the collection grew. He enjoyed his visits from collectors and members of the trade and his cabinets at Wool were open to all like-minded individuals, whether students carrying out their own research or those just wishing to spend a few hours talking coins. Occasionally if he acquired anything of significant interest he would burst into print with a note in Spink’s Numismatic Circular or, less frequently, Seaby’s Coin & Medal Bulletin. John died on 4 March 2017 at the age of 87.
John’s collection is nothing if not vast and consists, for the most part, of English hammered silver. He was very ‘old school’ about condition, in that if he needed a piece he bought it, as much as his pocket would allow. With an average income his collection was initially more quantity than quality, but the sheer volume of material he collected makes it one of the largest and most interesting assemblages of our time. His friendship with Michael Sharp led to serious development of the Charles I element of the collection, both Tower and provincial, with particular emphasis on west country mints. He would have been amused to be the subject of a major named auction and portions of the collection will continue to be sold by DNW.
Stephen Mitchell/P.J.P-M.
Collection Information
This collection was sold in 20 parts:
- 13 September 2017
- 12 December 2017
- 21 February 2018
- 13 March 2018
- 12 June 2018
- 18 September 2018
- 14 November 2018
- 3 December 2018
- 16 January 2019
- 20 February 2019
- 24 April 2019
- 5 June 2019
- 9 October 2019
- 4 December 2019
- 12 February 2020
- 10 March 2020
- 8 April 2020
- 6 May 2020
- 8 July 2020
- 1 December 2020
Other Collections Sold in 2020
- London 17th Century Tokens from the Collection of Quentin Archer
- British Tokens from the Collection formed by the late Jeffrey Gardiner
- English Coins from the Collection of the late Dr John Hulett
- The North Yorkshire Moors Collection of British Coins
- British Copper and Bronze Coins from the Collection formed by the late Hiram Brown
- Coins of Elizabeth I from the Collection Formed by Walter Wilkinson
- The David Kirch Collection of Jersey Paper Money
- A Collection of German Militaria
- The Collection of London 17th Century Tokens Formed by the Late Cole Danehower
- A Collection of Coins of the Indian Sultanates
- English and Anglo-Gallic Coins from the Michael Gietzelt Collection
- The Sutton Coldfield Collection of British Coins
- Charity Sale from the Archive of the AIB (formerly First Trust Bank)
- A Specialist Group of Milled Silver Coins
- Indian Coins from the Collection of the late John Roberts-Lewis
- Indian Coins from the Collection of John Rose
- Indian Historical Medals from the Collection formed by Michael Shaw
- The Yves Cataroche Collection of Guernsey Banknotes
- A Collection of Awards to the Q-Ship H.M.S. Penshurst
- A Collection of Army Gallantry Awards to the Royal Navy, the Royal Marines, and the Royal Air Force
- A Collection of Waterloo Medals
- A Collection of Irish Coins, the Property of a Gentleman
- Irish Coins from the Michael Gietzelt Collection
- A Collection of Irish Historical Medals, the Property of a Gentleman
- The Brian Dawson Collection of British Tokens
- A Collection of Historical Medals, the property of a Gentleman
- A Collection of Medals formed by the Reverend Canon Nigel Nicholson, OStJ, DL
- A Collection of Police Medals
- The Collection of British Colonial Coins formed by the late John Roberts-Lewis
- The Antony Scammell Collection of British Coins
- A Collection of Queen’s South Africa Medals for the Relief of Ladysmith
- A Collection of 17th Century Tokens formed by a Gentleman Deceased
- Essex 18th Century Tokens from the Collection of the late Peter Spurdens
- Duplicate 19th Century Tokens from the Collection of the late Francis Cokayne
- The Malcolm Assistant Collection of Market Checks
- A Group of Tickets and Passes Related to Horse Racing
- Duplicate Southwark 17th Century Tokens from the Collection formed by the late Cole Danehower
- The Antony Scammell Collection of Roman Coins
- The Sarah Bernhardt Collection of Jewellery and Objects of Vertu
- The Culling Collection of Military Watches
- The Amherst Family Medals
- A Collection of Naval General Service Medals 1793-1840
- A Collection of Egypt and Sudan Medals for the Battle of Tel-el-Kebir
- A Collection of German Militaria
- An Interesting Collection of Bank of England Error Notes
- A Specialist Group of Milled Silver Coins
- A Collection of Queen’s South Africa Medals to the Royal Navy
- A Collection of Queen’s South Africa Medals for the Defence of Kimberley, Ladysmith and Mafeking
- A Collection of Queen’s South Africa Medals for the Relief of Mafeking and Kimberley
- A Small Collection of Medals to War Correspondents
- A Collection of South Atlantic Medals
- A Collection of Irish Tokens, Tickets and Passes, the Property of a Gentleman
- 18th Century Tokens from the Collection formed by the late David Barry Bailey
- Tickets and Passes of London from the David Young Collection
- Tokens of Cheshire and Lancashire from the Collection formed by Bob Lyall
- The Chislehurst Collection
- The Jack Webb Collection of Medals and Militaria
- A Specialist Group of Milled Bronze Coins
- The Collection of Scottish Coins formed by Michael Gietzelt
- A Fine Collection of Medals to the South Wales Borderers
- A Collection of Egypt and Sudan Medals to the Royal Navy
- The Maclaine Family Medals
- A Collection of Rupees of British India
- The Collection of British Tokens formed by John Rose
- Medals from the Collection of Warwick Cary
- A Collection of Egypt and Sudan Medals 1882-89
- A Remarkable Collection of Bank of England Errors - Part One
- A Collection of Medals to the Gloucestershire Regiment
- British Coins from the Collection of a Decorated Korean War Veteran
- A Collection of French Historical Medals, the Property of a Gentleman
- A Collection of Medals to the Royal Welsh Fusiliers
- The Collection of 17th Century Tokens formed by the late Robert Thompson
- Sussex Tokens, Tickets and Medals from the Collection formed by the late Ron Kerridge
- A Collection of British Historical Medals, the Property of a Gentleman
- Golfing Medals, the Property of Gary Alliss
- A Collection of Medals and Coins of Edward VIII
- A Collection of Medals to the Norfolk Regiment
- Medals from the Collection of the Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum
- A Collection of Queen’s South Africa Medals to the Royal Navy
- English Coins from the Collection of the late Peter Spurdens
- The Don Kenefick Collection of Historical Medals
- The ‘Boys at the Lake’ Collection of Durand’s Famous People of the World Medals
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