Fred Pridmore!

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Fred Pridmore made one of the best contributions to commonwealth countries' numismatic history, especially the history of Colonial India. This is a post dedicated to the person he was. Please add information you know about Fred Pridmore to this post.

Here is a picture of Fred Pridmore I managed to track down.

[Ansari]

Great work.....would love to know more about him and his work.

[Figleaf]

Fred Pridmore was totally committed to British Commonwealth coins. I was told that he skipped meals, rather than not buy a coin he wanted. He was a meticulous researcher. His books are not mere copies of other people's work, but the result of original research. He exposed a large number of fakes and fantasies and he was one of the first to realise the historical importance of tokens.

Peter

[Coinsforever]

It would be another interesting thread if someone share more information about Fred Pridmore for  his commendable work .

I would consider F.pridmore as one of the pioneer & researcher  for British commonwealth coin .

If some one has any papers do  post here , part of his book  etc.

Cheers

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Here's the preface to his book "Volume 1 : East India Company Presidency Series"

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Here's an article I found about Pridmore...

FRED PRIDMORE

  Granvyl Hulse writes: "I can say with a great deal of pleasure
  that Fred Pridmore and I were friends for many years. Before
  he retired from the Army I visited him at his home while he
  was on leave. I have never in my life have seen such beautiful
  specimens. I would guess that he had practically every coin
  he wrote about.

  I saw patterns sitting in individual cases something like those
  that held the old pocket watches.  The copper in some had
  turned to such a lovely shade of brown that one almost drooled
  when looking at them. What I remember the most about that
  meeting was his explaining to me that when he went overseas
  he locked his collection up in the attic, and then rented out his
  house. Can anyone visualize living under Ft. Knox with only a
  wooden door and a padlock between you and the gold?

  Fred started out in the British Army as an enlisted man and
  worked his way up to the rank of Major. He told me that he
  started collecting coins as a young boy.  When he thought that
  he had a fine collection he took them to an elderly man who
  was also a collector and asked his opinion of his (Fred's)
  collection. The gentleman went over the collection. Picked
  out about five or six coins that were in uncirculated condition,
  and told him to throw the rest out on the street. This made a
  lasting impression on Fred, and he went on to tell me that in
  later years he would go without lunch just to save up enough
  money to buy the one coin he wanted in uncirculated or proof.
  He was a dear man, a true gentleman, and I miss him."
  Wayne Homren, Editor

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That's from the NI Bulletin, if I remember correctly. Granvyl Hulse and I have corresponded for a very long time. He is a member of this site, but not active at this time.

Peter

[Coinsforever]

Another article about Major Fred Pridmore showing  his character & passion for coins.


Paul writes:
I felt sure that someone would come up with something. And indeed someone (Kenneth Bressett) did - and more, not only with a scan of the article for which my friend was looking, but also a most interesting interchange of information that followed, which has been enlightening, not only for my friend, but for me on a series of coins that I scarcely knew existed.

It prompts me to mention that for 35 years I corresponded with Fred Pridmore. He was a remarkable person who always answered letters so fast that his reply invariably came return of post.

Nowadays though, we have the tremendous advantage of the internet, which means that others can share in the correspondence, and replies are virtually instantaneous, and can be accompanied by a high-resolution image of the coin being discussed.

How much my friend misses by not trying to become computer literate. I could certainly recommend him becoming a reader of The E-Sylum. My thanks to you, to Kenneth Bressett and to The E-Sylum.

Source: article
Cheers

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That's from the NI Bulletin, if I remember correctly. Granvyl Hulse and I have corresponded for a very long time. He is a member of this site, but not active at this time.

Peter

Cool! If he was reading this, it would be very interesting to hear him tell more about Fred Pridmore.

[asm]

Oesho adds:

[Oesho]

Thanks to Amit for uploading this clipping from the ONS-Newsletter #67 (August 1980).
Ken Wiggins had been befriended for many years with Fred Pridmore and they often co-operated in research on subjects of mutual interest.
On one occasion I was able to join Ken in a visit to 'Old' Pridmore, as Ken used to call him, at his residence in Taunton. I still remember this visit (must be second half of the '70's) rather well. His book on the Coins of the British Commonwealth of Nations, Part IV India (Volume I). East India Company: Presidency series had been out for a couple of years by then. We sat over the lunch discussing collecting Indian coins, particular those of the British East India Company of course. He was very eager to know what I was able to collect and instantly would answer any questions I had in this series. I presented him a small South Indian cash coin, which he thought might be an issue of the B.E.I.C. and wanted it for further research.
His collection got auctioned by Glendining & Co. in conjunction with A.H. Baldwin & Sons Ltd.
Part I: The West Indies, Canada, Europe, Africa was auctioned on 21-22 September 1981.
Part II: Asian Territories, India, Australasia on 18-19 October 1982
Finally Part III: The Uniform Coinage of India was auctioned on 17 October 1983.
I attended the sale of Part II, but to my astonishment the prices went well above the estimates (which in my opinion were already pretty high) and often doubled the estimate.
So I could acquire only a few coins from his collection. At another  auction I could acquired some Journals of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society  from Pridmore’s library. Typical for his systematic way of working, he would mark in pencil on the cover or inner facing page, on which pages something of numismatic interest was written.
He was a outspoken military man in his behavior, systematic, direct, but very helpful and knowledgeable. We kept in contact by writing till not long before his untimely dead in August 1980. He left us with a wealth of information. Since Fred passed away, now over 30 years ago, his works are still the prime source for information and the bases for the further research in this series.

[malj1]

I have this Isle of Man, Atholl Coinage, 1758 1d from Fred Pridmore's collection with his ticket showing his thoughts on the attribution of the initials counter-marked on it, N B T F
[His suggestion- New Brighton Toll ferry]

[cmerc]

I have been trying to obtain these books for a while now.  I found the Part 4, Vol 1: Presidency series in a university library, and made a copy.  I think it is excusable, since I am willing to pay for it, but the book is out of print. 

I am trying to get a copy of the second volume, Uniform Coinage, through the Interlibrary Loan program at my local library.  Today, they managed to obtain photocopies of the first five pages of Part 2 (Strait Settlements?) which is, of course, totally useless.  I shall keep trying, it is bound to be an excellent book with as much detail as the Presidency series book. 

[malj1]

Just checked Amazon they have a few copies of Pridmore.  No Part 4, Vol 2 unfortunately.

Part 2 Asian Territories is available; this too is very hard to come by.

See here

[FosseWay]

I too have been after the Pridmore volumes for ages, especially those dealing with British India. They do come up from time to time as Malcolm's Amazon search shows, but always at eyewatering expense. Unless some enterprising publisher decides to reprint them, we are stuck with this situation until 70 years after the death of the author (so 2050) before they can just become freely available on Google Books and such.