what book

[wasswasp]

people talking about a ref book than say things like (Davies lists 3 varieties ) what book are they talking about please and what other book are a must thanks

[Rob]

people talking about a ref book than say things like (Davies lists 3 varieties ) what book are they talking about please and what other book are a must thanks

Davies is British Silver Coins since 1816 by P J Davies. It goes into more detail on die differences than ESC (English Silver Coinage since 1649) which only has the most obvious varieties, but covers a shorter period.

Your interests are labelled as shillings, pennies and halfpennies, but the books most suited to you will depend on the dates covered and so only some of the books mentioned will be of use. For pennies and halfpennies then the bible is Peck which covers 1558-1963 in the second edition (1964). Slightly more specialisation is found in Freeman's The Bronze Coinage of Great Britain (2nd.ed 1985 or 2006 reprint). Pennies are studied in depth in Michael Gouby's The British Bronze Penny 1860-1970. Hammered halfpennies are covered by Paul & Bente Withers excellent 5 volumes of Small Change covering Edward I-Commonwealth. Dave Groom has produced a book on the "Identification of English 20th century Silver Coin varieties" and another on the bronze, but this covers only post 1900. Generally speaking, the greater the detail, the shorter the period covered.

This list is not exhaustive. All of these books have something to offer, and so it really depends on your chosen area. This was recently discussed in the Oooh err, hmmm section link