Frederick A. Liberatore writes:

The Rev. Richard J. Plant, who died peacefully at his home in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, onAugust 2nd , was a longstanding contributor to Coin News. His distinctive approach to writingabout coins arose from a life-long quest to make coins accessible to collectors who lackedhis own classical education. His articles and books, typically illustrated by his ownmeticulous, hand-drawn illustrations aimed at making clear features difficult to discern oneven the best photographs, brought coins to life. Neither as a collector or as a writer wasPlant much interested in a coin's monetary value. He focussed instead on makingconnections to the history, myths, places, objects and people on them.

Plant was born in London in 1928, the son of a Scottish-Australian father and Welshmother. His father, a civil engineer who had returned to London to join up in 1917 afterseveral rejections by the Australian army because of his poor eyesight, went blind whenRichard was very young. He won a scholarship to Emmanuel School in Clapham and wasevacuated during the war. His first coin was a 1916 zinc coin from the German occupation ofBelgium. A keen student of Latin and Greek, he built his collection up by identifying coins fordealers on the Portobello road in London in exchange for a few coins. During NationalService in 1945 he was stationed in what is now Libya, and once found a bronze of Valens inthe sand by the latrine.

Following demobilization Plant read classics at Oxford University then trained for theMethodist ministry in Cambridge, where he added Hebrew and Semitic languages to his boxof tricks. He subsequently served in a number of towns and cities around the UK. His writingcareer began in the 1960s, with an article for a Spinks magazine on the coat of arms ofLorraine. But it was in 1973, with Arabic Coins and How to Read Them, that he really brokethrough. He wrote in spare moments during the working day; the writer of this obituaryrecalls holding a torch for him to draw by in the evenings during the three-day week of1973. The book won him the Royal Numismatic Society's Lohkta Memorial Prize in 1975.

This was followed in 1979 by Greek, Semitic Asiatic Coins and How to Read Them (reissuedin 2013). Plant always regarded this as his magnum opus, though he was perhapsunfortunate in his choice of publisher, and the volume is not as well-known as it deserves tobe. Like his first book, this was illustrated throughout by his trade-mark pen and inkdrawings. And also, like his first book, the choice of subject matter was to an extent drivenby his limited budget. In the 1970s, Arabic, Semitic and Asiatic coins tended to be cheaper tocollect than English, or even classical Greek coins, and Plant often began writing about coinsin his own collection.

On a clergy stipend, Plant only spent on coins what his royalties and identificationfees earned him. His notebooks often recorded not only the type, metal, weight andcondition of coins he had bought, but where he had got them and the price he paid.Frugality, patience, and skill in identifying coins meant he picked up bargains. In a longbiographical piece on him for The Celator in 2010, Mark Fox quotes Plant's recollection offinding an unpromising bronze coin in a dealers' box that, after a bit of cleaning, turned outto be a rare Judean coin over-stamped X by the Tenth Roman Legion during the occupationthat followed the destruction of the Jerusalem temple in AD 70. This was just the kind ofthing that interested him; a small piece of history in the palm of his hand.

In 1979 Seaby's published Plant's Greek Coin Types and Their Identification, whichtook the unique approach to listing pages of line-drawn illustrations of human figures, gods,half-human mythological creatures, animals, birds and inanimate objects as a quick and easyway to identify them. (A Cambridge classics doctoral student told me that, armed with thisguide, he had outperformed all-comers in identifying coins during a prestigious coinidentification course at the British School in Athens). A similar approach was taken in hisguides to Roman Base Metal Coins (2000) and Roman Silver Coins (2005), both of whichproved popular and became standard tools for identification for collector and specialistalike. Once, seeking to buy a few Indian coins from a shop in Cochin, I saw my Father'sbooks behind the counter, and on producing proof of my identity to the sceptical dealer,negotiated a pleasing discount when I told him who the coins were for.

The last substantial book Plant wrote was A Numismatic Journey Through the Bible(2007), which began life as a series of illustrated talks for church groups. Other books existabout early Judean coinage, or about the coins used in Judea during the life of Jesus ofNazareth. Plant's book dealt with all that, but also used coins from other periods and placesthat he could connect to biblical events and characters.

Plant's Coin Lexicon and Coin Classroom articles for Coin News proved to be anespecially fruitful late vehicle for his interests. These allowed him to roam freely fromancient to modern, and from Western to Eastern coins, to explain words like Maeander andphalanx. Here, the full scope of his linguistic, historical and numismatic knowledge washarnessed to his quirky humour and imagination.

Plant always thought that clergy without a hobby tended to be over earnest and a bittoo intense for their own good. Coin collecting and writing nearly always played second orthird fiddle to his long and faithful Christian ministry and to his family. But his hobby kepthim sane; through it he made friends around the world with whom he enjoyed emailedconversations, especially as his physical world contracted. His unconventional writing will bemissed by many, as will his extensive knowledge, his winsome charm and his definingmodesty.

To watch a video of the funeral service, see:
R J PLANT 1200(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2GH42mVbBA&feature=youtu.be)

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
NEW EDITION: GREEK, SEMITIC, ASIATIC COINS AND HOW TO READ THEM EDITION(https://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v16n13a05.html)