Today the Carnival Destiny brought us unique patrons: numismatists. People who collect coins.New to the collection of the National Museum is the Spiller coin. This is the oldest Western artifact ever found on the Turks and Caicos Islands, and it has just been returned to the museum in last few months.
The director took this small group of people back to the conservation lab to view the rare coin on a special unscheduled behind the scenes tour. Tour member John Bailey (the enthusastic numismatist of present day, not the silversmith and swordmakers from 1780's New York) was thrilled to see the coin and gave an impromtu lecture on the manufcture of coins in the 14th century. "It's definitly before 1590," he said confidently. The uneven edge of the coin points to it's hammer and anvil manufacture.
The museum has dated the coin from between 1542 and 1558. The detour to see the coin made for an exciting and interesting morning.
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