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Thanks for replies, I see Galata have a copy of Spink 113 Mantegassa for sale,  so will probably relieve them of it.  I prefer the more recent catalogues for the better quality of pictures but may well pick up some of the others mentioned at a later date. 

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Does anyone have any recommendations of books that cover the coin production process in Britain and how it has changed?

Thanks

Matt

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How far back did you want to go Matt?  There are roughly three periods, from hammered (hand struck) coinage (- 1662), through early milled; use of mechanisation (rollers and presses) in the mid-1500s to the modern machine made milled coinage we have today (1816-)  

Some people probably don't worry so much about the hammered as it produces very different looking coins from the current ones.  There are different books covering the different periods..

In the meantime have you seen this:  http://www.predecimal.com/p1celtic  It's a short overview of the history of British coinage written by Ken Elks. 

You might find it of interest?

 

Edited by TomGoodheart

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Matt, a few articles that may be of interest.

BNJ 1962, Medieval minting techniques http://www.britnumsoc.org/publications/Digital%20BNJ/1962.shtml

BNJ 2004, The 1787 Shilling - A transition in minting technique, an interesting article with some information on the production of the 1787 shilling and some of the advancement towards modern coinage. http://www.britnumsoc.org/publications/Digital%20BNJ/2004.shtml

BNJ 2000, Theres an article about the use of the reducing machine http://www.britnumsoc.org/publications/Digital%20BNJ/2000.shtml

Not sure where your area of interest lies, but these are some articles I enjoyed reading and may be of help to you. 

 

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Thanks both for your recommendations, they definitely look interesting.  Overall I'd like to have a good knowledge of production techniques for all the periods mentioned, however I have just started collecting and only have >1816 milled coins so far, so I think I'd start with that and work back

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Looking for some advice! With all the chat over variations in this forum I am inclined to improve my knowledge and reference library - particularly for British Bronze coinage. I have quite a few excellent condition examples in my collection, but I only know of the main variations listed in ESC, so I may have some satrs lurking in the depths!

I have ESC of course but find it very limited and difficult to follow in this area. I have an old copy of Freeman but I gather this is out of date in many areas. I presume I need Gouby - what is the latest printing, how much should I expect to pay and where might I get a copy? Do I need Peck? Is there anything else I should go for? (I saw some chat about a new publication coming from Chris P on the topic, but I haven't seen a publication date (or am I being blind again?).)

Thanks!

Paddy

 

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The new Freeman is the new publication from Chris, it's an updated version, have a look here for a list of all the books that are sold by Chris (including that new Freeman)

I would definitely recommend that, and the following;

- Gouby (http://www.michael-coins.co.uk/) I believe you can buy them directly from him, ask him to sign it if you do ;) 

- Groom (a forum member here) you can buy his book here > https://www.amazon.com/Identification-British-Century-Bronze-Varieties/dp/1409285502 and is a must if you want to seriously get into varieties, it has a lot in there that the others don't cover

You can get Peck, it's a great book but most is covered in these 3 books. Depending on how far back you go, there are other publications like Jerrams' study (I forget the name) on early Victorian bronze or Bramah (but I think that's coppers only).

The first 3 will get you where you want to go for now :) 

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5 hours ago, Nordle11 said:

The new Freeman is the new publication from Chris, it's an updated version, have a look here for a list of all the books that are sold by Chris (including that new Freeman)

I would definitely recommend that, and the following;

- Gouby (http://www.michael-coins.co.uk/) I believe you can buy them directly from him, ask him to sign it if you do ;) 

- Groom (a forum member here) you can buy his book here > https://www.amazon.com/Identification-British-Century-Bronze-Varieties/dp/1409285502 and is a must if you want to seriously get into varieties, it has a lot in there that the others don't cover

You can get Peck, it's a great book but most is covered in these 3 books. Depending on how far back you go, there are other publications like Jerrams' study (I forget the name) on early Victorian bronze or Bramah (but I think that's coppers only).

The first 3 will get you where you want to go for now :) 

That's great - thanks. I will get onto it!

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What bronze denominations do you collect? If it is pennies then Gouby is the correct choice, if it is farthings or halfpennies then you would be better with other references

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2 minutes ago, Colin G. said:

What bronze denominations do you collect? If it is pennies then Gouby is the correct choice, if it is farthings or halfpennies then you would be better with other references

I am very sad - I collect ALL denominations of British milled coins, but I have confined myself to standard issues so far. I have examples of all the Standard pennies with and without H except the mega-rare. I have the same for Halfpennies and farthings except a few early tin ones. (To do this I have been prepared to take coins in any condition to start with and have then gradually upgraded.) I have quite a few varieties of Pennies and halfpennies that I have been able to identify, but I do not know if any of my "standard" ones are actually rarer varieties. (Most have come from collections bought at Car boot sales and general auctions, so most have not been through the hands of a serious collector recently.)

Hence my interest in learning more and spending some happy winter months going through them and, hopefully, finding a few pleasant surprises!

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Just now, Paddy said:

I am very sad - I collect ALL denominations of British milled coins, but I have confined myself to standard issues so far. I have examples of all the Standard pennies with and without H except the mega-rare. I have the same for Halfpennies and farthings except a few early tin ones. (To do this I have been prepared to take coins in any condition to start with and have then gradually upgraded.) I have quite a few varieties of Pennies and halfpennies that I have been able to identify, but I do not know if any of my "standard" ones are actually rarer varieties. (Most have come from collections bought at Car boot sales and general auctions, so most have not been through the hands of a serious collector recently.)

Hence my interest in learning more and spending some happy winter months going through them and, hopefully, finding a few pleasant surprises!

What about the pennies with KN? :rolleyes:

If you want to do some penny variety hunting, you can't go wrong looking here

What's your period of collecting (as in 1860 - 1970)?

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Loads of good research material on old threads here.

Otherwise if pennies get the updated Freeman and take it from there :)

 

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1 minute ago, Nordle11 said:

What about the pennies with KN? :rolleyes:

If you want to do some penny variety hunting, you can't go wrong looking here

What's your period of collecting (as in 1860 - 1970)?

Yes of course I have the KNs - I was just being brief! :rolleyes:

Thanks for all your links - I will investigate later.

My period collecting is ALL milled - so Oliver Cromwell to the latest decimal coins. (And yes, the Elizabeth I milled examples when I can get them too.) The only recent exclusion is the modern £5 coins since the Royal Mint went crazy with the numbers and prices of these non-circulation issues. (I also don't count Channel Islands etc - mainland English/British only.) And Gold is out - just can't afford it.

In Bronze I am complete on all the standard issues right through, though some of the scarcer ones are pretty rough. Lots of gaps in the tin issues. Silver - missing a handful back to 1860, thereafter missing quite a few of the larger denominations back to 1694. Before that I have quite a few, but more gaps than ticks, to the beginning of Charles II. No Cromwell yet.

And just to keep me going I set a newer target of one of each monarch in the hammered back as far as I can go...

So seriously insane!

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1 minute ago, Paulus said:

Don't forget the milled issues of Charles I too ...

Haven't seen any of those yet - another gap to deal with! (but to be fair I would rather a Saxon penny to fill one of my gaps....)

 

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I'm about to post a question about one of mine in the Hammered section

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Back to crowns - the Cooper sale is quoted in a couple of dealers lists as being 'Glendinning 24/10/73'.  Is this correct? I have this catalogue (unless there were 2 sales on that date) but can't see Cooper mentioned anywhere (it's mostly Charles II Crowns in my catalogue).  

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He had some coins in that sale and also in sales10/4/74 and 24/3/76, but the main collection was sold at Glens on 8/11/1978. The first ref was noted on a dealer's catalogue as being his. You need Manville and Robertson ;)

 

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1 hour ago, pokal02 said:

Thanks Rob, both items added to my wish list.

Both? There are 4 catalogues and 3 vols of M&R

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Can anyone recommend any books for varieties of milled silver please.

Maybe the groom one or similar i havent got any ?.

Not really interested in anything before 1860.

Thanks.

Pete.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Posted the above an hour ago and should of spent the time reading old threads first as the question has been asked before :)

 

Edited by PWA 1967
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Spent the last couple of weeks reading the Groom and Davies books and both strongly recommended.

The Groom one was more suitable really for what i was looking for " The identification of British 20th century silver coin varieties ".

I just need to find the coins now :)

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Don't know if this floats your boats guys Noble Numismatics auction 21-27 november 2017. Some real nice coins on offer hammered right the way through milled inc 1905 unc shilling est $1500. tad skinny i feel :)

http://www.noble.com.au/auctions/search/?ar=1&c=39&g=Any%20grade&q=&e=Any%20estimate&p=1

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I recently became aware that the A.N.S., Internet Archive and the Newman Numismatic Portal have teamed up and made available digital scans of early Sotheby Sale Catalogues.  (Pre-Tyssen to 1922, including Dimsdale, Montagu, Murdoch, etc.) 

The scans of the catalogues, including those with plates, are very good and many have the added bonus of being named and priced; not the same, of course, as having the originals but a great resource for those conducting research.  

Link to page:  https://archive.org

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