Obituary - Michael Metcalf

Michael Metcalf

It is with great sadness that the Society learned of the death of YNS member Emeritus Professor David Michael Metcalf who died on 25 October 2018.  Professor Metcalf was Keeper of the Heberden Coin Room in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford from 1963 and a Professorial Governing Body Fellow of Wolfson from 1982 to 1998 and an Emeritus Fellow from 1998 to 2018. 

He was a prolific author and speaker in several numismatic fields including Anglo-Saxon coinage, where his seminal Thrymsas and Sceattas in the Ashmolean Museum Oxford (1993-4) remains a landmark publication, built on a then unparalleled corpus of finds, in a previously largely neglected field.

He was happy to speculate on various aspects of coinage in the hope that discussion would be stimulated, and better arguments would prevail. He gave encouragement and guidance to many collectors and students of numismatics and was a prolific correspondent, typically answering letters by return post.

He was characteristically mild-mannered and perceptive, handling difficult situations, such as Elizabeth Pirie’s deeply controversial arrangement of Northumbrian stycas, with great tact and sensitivity, though he was quite capable of taking a robust approach.

His passing represents a major loss to the world of numismatic and beyond.

More info at

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2018/nov/19/michael-metcalf-obituary?CMP=share_