Literature recommendations

[TomGoodheart]

All of us will have no doubt benefitted from a few books about coins whether it's just a price guide like CCGB or Coins of England to something more in-depth like Peck.

A few members have also commented that old auction sales catalogues can be an interesting and useful resource.

So I thought it might be helpful to have a thread where people can make recommendations of anything literature related they feel others might find of interest.

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[TomGoodheart]

And below I list my own small collection of auction sales I have found most useful relating to the Tower shillings of Charles I:

Glendining 24 Mar 1920 Catalogue of a Choice Collection of English Coins from Edward VI to Present Day, formed by Mr Grant R. Francis

Grant Francis worked on a system for classifying the silver coins issued at the Tower mint during the reign of Charles I. His papers were published over several volumes of the BNJ and when his collection was sold more coins than usual were illustrated due to collector interest.

Glendining 25 April 1955 Deceased Lady Collector (Helen Farquhar collection)

Glendining 11-17 Oct 1956 Richard Cyril Lockett (Part IV (English Part II))

This part of the huge Lockett collection (sold over 13 auctions) This sale holds the largest number of shillings subsequently bought by John Brooker for his collection.

Glendining 15-16 May 1968 Collection of English hammered Silver Coins formed by the late Dr E Burstal

Glendining 23 April 1991 Collection of English Coins formed by the late Bernard Roy Osborne

Roy Osborne made a detailed (dare I say obsessive!?) study of the Tower shillings, coming up with his own classification system. Another set of papers of interest and a useful (though sparsely illustrated) sale.

Glendining 7 June 1974 English & Scottish Coins from the R C Lockett Collection (Clonterbrook Trust)

Spink 139 16 Nov 1999 The Martin Hughes Collection of English Coins

Some great quality pieces and well illustrated.

Spink 145 12-14 July 2000 Ancient, English and Foreign (The J M Ashby Collection of English Coins)

Similar to Hughes, a good selection of photographed coins.

DNW 26 Sept 2007 The 2007 COINEX Auction including Silver Coins of Charles I from a Private Collection

DNW 24-30 Sept 2008 The 2008 COINEX Auction including Silver Coins of Charles I from a Private Collection (Part II)

Excellent collection of coins from an unidentified source that had probably not seen daylight since before WWI.


Also well worth a mention:

North, J. J. & Preston-Morley, P. J. Sylloge of Coins of the British Isles 33. The John G Brooker Collection. Coins of Charles I (1625-1649).

Brooker's collection was large and focused ... and fortunately photographed and recorded almost in entirety. If you want one book about the coins of Charles I this should be it.

Spink Numismatic Circular April 2001, Vol CIX No 2 for the Roger Shuttlewood Tudor and Stuart shillings. Why Spink chose to sell these via the Circular I have no idea. But it provides an excellent record for the series.

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Edited December 9, 2014 by TomGoodheart

[azda]

Several catalogues in there i'd liké to try and find, but a curious question, has there been a large dispersement of ER I coinage, would like something on this also

[TomGoodheart]

Quite some time ago I came across Timothy D. Cook's englishhammered site.
There he posted a list he was given entitled "The Fifty Most Important Auctions of English Coins"

Obviously there can be some debate as to what makes a collection 'great' but this seems a good start. Please note that it does focus on hammered coins.

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Edited December 9, 2014 by TomGoodheart

[TomGoodheart]

Several catalogues in there i'd liké to try and find, but a curious question, has there been a large dispersement of ER I coinage, would like something on this also

I suspect Rob might be able to come up with a few suggestions there ...

[pies]

What about BNJ's ?

[Rob]

Several catalogues in there i'd liké to try and find, but a curious question, has there been a large dispersement of ER I coinage, would like something on this also

I suspect Rob might be able to come up with a few suggestions there ...

It depends on what ER1 refers to. Early Roman, Edward, Elizabeth or Ethelred?

I can do a lot of things on the above lists such as Burstal, Osborne, Peter Mitchell, Shuttlewood sale and SNC, Mack, Bridgewater House, Cuff, Rostron, Shepherd, not to mention others such as Willis, Doubleday, Elmore-Jones, Adams halfcrowns etc.

BNJs tend not to be too useful for deciding which is a good example of a type. Authors will use their own coins which may or more likely not be the best example. The point about having a diverse library of catalogues is that it allows you to compare different coins and see where they come in the pecking order. Anything in the top 5 or 10% is likely to be in demand, though that can only be determined through knowledge.

[damian1986]

Much much appreciated Richard!

Now if everyone else can do the same for their chosen area of focus I can pick up a little bit of everything!?

[azda]

Elizabeth I Rob

[Rob]

Elizabeth I Rob

See what I can do.

[Peckris]

I'm going to make the case - not for the first time! - for the 1925 "Milled Silver Coinage of England", published by Spink, a reprint of the Numismatic Circular from 1924. It's fascinating for several reasons, but these are two:

- it was obviously - from the layout - a precursor of ESC

- it was a genuine catalogue; every coin listed was for sale!! and the listing is complete for its time (in fact, the collection they are selling had more varieties than are included here, but the editor says "...impossible to notice all the slight variations and dies noted by Mr Wallis...")

Even in 1925, they were able to say of Edward VII "Many of the coins of this reign are quite scarce". Of George V they say "All other denominations have been issued regularly, and none are rare."

One of the most interesting books I own.

[Peter]

I'm going to make the case - not for the first time! - for the 1925 "Milled Silver Coinage of England", published by Spink, a reprint of the Numismatic Circular from 1924. It's fascinating for several reasons, but these are two:

- it was obviously - from the layout - a precursor of ESC

- it was a genuine catalogue; every coin listed was for sale!! and the listing is complete for its time (in fact, the collection they are selling had more varieties than are included here, but the editor says "...impossible to notice all the slight variations and dies noted by Mr Wallis...")

Even in 1925, they were able to say of Edward VII "Many of the coins of this reign are quite scarce". Of George V they say "All other denominations have been issued regularly, and none are rare."

One of the most interesting books I own.

Surely not better than Spanking year book.

[Peckris]

I'm going to make the case - not for the first time! - for the 1925 "Milled Silver Coinage of England", published by Spink, a reprint of the Numismatic Circular from 1924. It's fascinating for several reasons, but these are two:

- it was obviously - from the layout - a precursor of ESC

- it was a genuine catalogue; every coin listed was for sale!! and the listing is complete for its time (in fact, the collection they are selling had more varieties than are included here, but the editor says "...impossible to notice all the slight variations and dies noted by Mr Wallis...")

Even in 1925, they were able to say of Edward VII "Many of the coins of this reign are quite scarce". Of George V they say "All other denominations have been issued regularly, and none are rare."

One of the most interesting books I own.

Surely not better than Spanking year book.

Spank for yourself

[copper123]

Spank the monkey????

[Peter]

Slap the bishop

Wax the dolphin

Madame palm and her 5 beautiful daughters.

Good thread

[Paulus]

Carry on Collecting Peter

[Coinery]

[Peckris]

Carry on Collecting Peter

COC P ?

[TomGoodheart]

Thought I'd add a few catalogues I've managed to track down since starting this list.  All bought for their inclusion of Tower issue shillings of Charles I, but many will touch on other areas that might be of interest to members:

Sotheby 17 Oct 1921  -  Catalogue of the Important Collection of Hammered English silver coins of the period Edward I to Charles II;

The property of Raymond Carlyon-Britton Esq

R C-B's father PWP C-B was also a prolific collector and founder of the British Numismatic Society.  Both had very decent collections with some real gems, though as with many older catalogues only a proportion (the better and rarer) of the coins are illustrated.

 

Glendining 22 Jan 1952 Catalogue of Greek, Roman, English and Scottish Coins Formed by the Late V.J.E. Ryan

- Second Part English, Scottish and Irish Silver Coins

 

Glendining 5th June 1991 The Willis Collection Pt.1 Edward III to the Commonwealth

 

Bonhams 17 October 2006 The Clarendon Coin Collection Part Two

 

DNW 12 Nov 2015 Sale 133 including Coins of Charles I from the Lyall Collection      A good selection of shillings illustrated in this one.  

Also (currently) available to view online:  http://www.dnw.co.uk/auction-archive/special-collections/results.php?specialcollection_id=399

 

Edited January 2, 2016 by TomGoodheart

[Peter]

Another good string in your bow Richard.

Well done.

[InforaPenny]

I have found the Coincraft catalogue, last published in 2000, to be a useful reference and guide for collecting UK coins. This includes Collecting Hints for virtually all types and series...

Best Regards,

InforaPenny

 

 

[pokal02]

What do people recommend for Crown collections?  I've got van Roekel, Rees-Jones, Whetmore and Karon - anything obvious (within the last, say, 40 years) I should get?

For my groats I've got Buck, Brady & now Motcomb - anything else?

 

 

[Rob]

Sorry, not a lot, there's Mantegassa (Spink 113). All the must haves I would recommend are over 40 years. The only crown sale that just makes it into the time frame is Cooper, though I note you have gone back in time with Whetmore.

Crowns are easy enough to find illustrated all the way back to the 19th century, but anything small had to be really good or particularly rare

[kal]

If you extend the time frame a little, say to post war you could then include Paget 1946, Nightingale 1951, and Lingford 1950, probably among the best crown collections ever assembled.

[Rob]

The first illustrated dedicated crown collection was Barron in 1906. There are plenty of sales with a lot of crowns in, but these are usually interspersed with other things.