Royal Numismatic Society
UK learned society for numismatics, founded 1836
The Royal Numismatic Society (RNS), formerly Numismatic Society of London, is a learned society and charity based in London, United Kingdom, which promotes research into all branches of numismatics.
Membership
Foremost collectors and researchers, both professional and amateur, in the field of numismatics are amongst the fellows of the Society. They must be elected to the Society by the Council. The Numismatic Chronicle is the annual publication of the Royal Numismatic Society.
History
The society was founded in 1836 as the Numismatic Society of London and received the title "Royal Numismatic Society" from Edward VII by royal charter in 1904. The history of the Society was presented as a series of annual Presidential addresses by R.A. Carson – these were published in the Numismatic Chronicle between 1975 and 1978. The fifth and latest instalment was written to mark the 150th anniversary of the Society in 1986, and the full text was published in 1986 as A History of the Royal Numismatic Society, 1936-1986 (London, 1986).
The society has had several royal patrons, including King Edward VII and Queen Elizabeth II.
Publications
The society has an annual journal, The Numismatic Chronicle, and publishes a book series known as the Special Publications.
“Royal Numismatic Society” enters the record as uK learned society for numismatics, founded 1836. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Royal, Numismatic and Society can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Contemporary correspondence, administrative files and participant testimony can test how later narratives organized the event or institution. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3942072. VIAF identifies the subject as 136013212. The Library of Congress control number is n50069420. 4 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1836, 1904, 1975 and 1978.
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This entry incorporates text from “Royal Numismatic Society” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.