Peter Alan Rayner (8 December 1924 – 29 July 2007) was a British

author In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...

numismatic Numismatics is the study or collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money, medals, and related objects. Specialists, known as numismatists, are often characterized as students or collectors of coins, but the discipline also inclu ...

(coin collecting) books. He was known by his second name Alan, rather than his first, to avoid confusion with Peter Seaby, also a popular author, whose family firm Rayner joined at the age of 24.

Biography

Rayner lived in

Harpenden Harpenden () is a town and civil parish in the City and District of St Albans in the county of Hertfordshire, England. The population of the built-up area was 30,674 in the 2021 census, while the population of the civil parish was 31,128. Harpe ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

where he attended St George's School, Harpenden as a day boarder. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

he was conscripted into the mines as a Bevin Boy, although he was eventually released owing to ill health and enlisted in the Intelligence Corps. In 1948 he joined B.A. Seaby Limited as an assistant in the English Coin Department, and began to specialise in milled silver coins. In early 1954 he wrote a small 26-page booklet entitled ''The Designers and Engravers of the English Milled Coinage 1662 - 1953''. The book was published by Seaby's Numismatic Publications and covered each denomination showing the engravers and designers of both the obverse and reverse of each coin. In 1957 he helped prepare for print a second revised edition of the book called ''English Silver Coinage from 1649'', written by Herbert Allen Seaby and first published in 1949.English Silver Coinage Book by Rayner
''books.google.co.uk'' Retrieved 28 May 2020. This proved to be one of the most popular books published by B.A. Seaby Limited and further updated editions were printed in 1967, 1974, 1992, 2015, 2020 and the most recent 7th edition in 2021 (republished by author Maurice Bull and printed by Spink and son). The book is used by numismatists as a main reference for all English silver coinage from 1649 to the year 1992 with a three-lettered prefixed (ESC - referring to English Silver Coinage) numbering system attributable to each coin and any variant. In 1961 Rayner wrote ''Your Book of Coin Collecting'' (published by

Faber & Faber Faber and Faber Limited, commonly known as Faber & Faber or simply Faber, is an independent publishing house in London. Published authors and poets include T. S. Eliot (an early Faber editor and director), W. H. Auden, C. S. Lewis, Margaret S ...

London). This presented to the new collector of coins 'a complete guide to Coin Collecting'. In 1966 he also wrote the book ''Coin Collecting For Amateurs'' published by Frederick Muller Ltd of Fleet Street. Rayner remained at Seaby's until 1974, when he left to join the English branch of the coin company Paramount. He immediately became a valued member of staff whose knowledge of silver coins was unrivalled. He also specialised in foreign coins, in particular German.

Personal life

He is survived by his Swiss wife Madeleine (from

Schaffhausen Schaffhausen (; ; ; ; ), historically known in English as Shaffhouse, is a list of towns in Switzerland, town with historic roots, a municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in northern Switzerland, and the capital of the canton of Schaffh ...

who caused Rayner to learn Schweizerdeutsch - Swiss German), four children (Christopher, Peter, Hester and John) and eight grandchildren.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rayner, Peter Alan British numismatists Bevin Boys People educated at St George's School, Harpenden People from Harpenden 1924 births 2007 deaths Intelligence Corps soldiers Military personnel from Hertfordshire British Army personnel of World War II