Books about Coins

[£400 for a Penny ?]

Seasonal greetings and best wishes to all.

I'm a very keen collector of books on coins, as well as coins, and I thought I would ask the Forum "If you had to take one coin book with you to prison/desert island/shopping with the missus, what would it be"

I would take "The Splendid Shilling" by James O'Donald Mays

It's tremendous.

Any others that I need to know about ?

[AardHawk]

The Guidebook & Catalogue of British Commonwealth Coins 3rd edition 1649-1971. Full of useful snippets and info. Just found its got three pages on GB "miniature coins". Fascinating!

Merry Christmas to all.

Edited December 25, 2009 by AardHawk

[Peckris]

I'm slightly dogding the actual question as this isn't my favourite book (Peck has a lot in its favour), but a fascinating item I picked up in an auction is a Spink publication from 1925, "The Milled Silver Coinage of England". In its layout you can immediately see where ESC got their design from, as it is arranged exactly the same way, but with the value in certain conditions as two extra columns. It's all the more interesting when you realise that THESE ARE SPINKS' SELLING PRICES FOR THE TIME. I.e. you could use the book to order actual coins from. A BU 1905 halfcrown for 15/- (75p) anyone? And yet, they also say of Edward VII silver in general, that many coins for that reign are scarce. It was a fact known even 85 years ago!

[Peter]

I'm not arty farty but as a read and reference Coincraft 2000 is up there if this could be updated with latest info plus printed on better paper (and get rid of the prices)...a good read....a bit too big for the back pocket at coin fairs though

[Kronos]

I recently purchased 'A Basic Guide to Buying and Selling Coins' by Michael Freeman published in 1983. It's not a bad read even though it’s a bit dated now.

Another one I purchased at the beginning of the year is ‘An Advanced Guide to Coin Collecting’ by Howard Linecar published in 1970.

[Peckris]

I recently purchased 'A Basic Guide to Buying and Selling Coins' by Michael Freeman published in 1983. It's not a bad read even though it’s a bit dated now.

Another one I purchased at the beginning of the year is ‘An Advanced Guide to Coin Collecting’ by Howard Linecar published in 1970.

Funnily enough I just re-read that Freeman book - I found him very sniffy and much too exacting about the conditions required for investing in coins, while the later book - ??"Investing in Coins" by J Pearson Andrew from 1986, which is also dated, but is a better book about investments generally and coins in particular.

[£400 for a Penny ?]

Nods of agreement to all, but what I really meant was 'reads' rather than catalogues if that makes sense ?

Most of us, I guess, dip in and out of the catalogue variety of book.

The splendid shilling is not a catalogue, it's an historical portrait. Another example of a 'read' would be 'A Silver Legend' The story of the Maria Theresa Thaler by Clara Semple.

Just wondering if there were any more of the genre to put on my list.....

[AardHawk]

Ok, for non catalogue type books then its got to be Numismatic Forgery by Charles M Larson. Any one who's looking for a career change, then this is the book for you!

[Gary D]

Ok, for non catalogue type books then its got to be Numismatic Forgery by Charles M Larson. Any one who's looking for a career change, then this is the book for you!

Currently my constant companions are Dave Grooms Bronze coin Varities and Dereks grading British Coins, probably in that order.

Gary

[RLC35]

I agree with Gary about the two books he mentioned. But if I was allowed only one (1) book for reference, it would be Krause "Standard Catalog of World Coins." While the Krause Catalog lacks a lot of the benefits of The Peck and Freeman books, with respect to English coins, it is the largest and most complete World Coin reference available. The biggest issue with Krause, is there are multiple books that must be purchased to have the full set. Each volume is about 2 1/2" thick, and cost about $65.00 each. Each volume covers 100 years. Just MHO!

[DaveG38]

Ok, for non catalogue type books then its got to be Numismatic Forgery by Charles M Larson. Any one who's looking for a career change, then this is the book for you!

Currently my constant companions are Dave Grooms Bronze coin Varities and Dereks grading British Coins, probably in that order.

Gary

Gary,

Thank you very much for the free 'plug.' However, I really don't see my book as well written as its aim was always to just layout all the indicators for collectors, more a case of extensively researched, I feel. From some of your 'finds' lately, I get the impression it's done you well as a source book, for which I'm pleased.

I don't know if you are into silver as well as bronze, but if so, then watch out for the sister book, 'The Identification of British 20th Century Silver Coin Varieties.' I've just about finished all the pre-decimal material and am just stating the research for the decimal series. Should be ready in a few months and contains many varieties either not described in Davies or which are just given a passing mention. As in the case of the bronze, I have tried to include all the features from all the sources, so that it is easy to unambiguously distinguish the types.