January 27, 2024
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A new collector can advance to becoming an experienced numismatist by examining many coins, reading as many books as possible, joining a numismatic society, and obtaining advice from more knowledgeable collectors. May I suggest the following books:
MCCAMMON, A.L.T. Currencies of the Anglo Norman Isles
The Channel Islands are known by the French as the Anglo Norman Isles, thus the title. The author, a Jersey man and international banker, has gathered from his own collection, the most detailed information for this series. The result is a reasoned and enthralling story, richly illustrated with 365 pages, from the earliest times to the present. As the author puts it, "The aim of this book is to introduce the currencies of the Channel Islands to students and collectors of three distinct series; the Gaulish -- particularly the Armorican -- series, current in the Channel Island region over 2000 years ago; the French series which was the staple currency of the Islands for a millennium; and the 'modern' series, current for the last 200 years. These three subjects are bound together by the history of the Islands, of France and of Britain; and throughout the later narrative it will also be seen that British currency plays it part." This is the one book a collector must own to study this series.
LOBEL, DAVIDSON, HAILSTONE, & CALLIGAS. Coincraft's Standard Catalogue of the Coins of Scotland, Ireland, Channel Islands & Isle of Man. 1999. 434 pp.
Since 1995 the Coincraft Standard Catalgoue of English & UK Coins has taken its place as a standard for collectors of these coins. Although this is considered a very important work, there was one thing missing and now this void has been filled. This book informs us on the coinage of Scotland, Ireland, the Isle of Man, and more importantly (at least for us) the coins of the Channel Islands. Also included are notes on the Sciliy Isles and Lundy. The complicated early issues of Scotland are carefully and clearly documented. The Irish section documents the Irish Free State and republican issues. Although Scotland and all of Ireland occupy exactly three-quarters of the book, the best part for us comes next. The Channel Islands section occupies a further 55 pages and a wealth of documentation on this coinages exists. The Isle of Man section contains 32 pages. The photographs are excellent and as an aid to rarity, mintage figures are given where possible.
WITHERS, PAUL and BENTE. British Copper Tokens 1811-1820.
Fully illustrated and written with a new approach, setting the standard for the next millennium. Covers the tokens of England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland, including the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. The date range for the tokens of Ireland and the Isle of Man is extended to 1805 - 1830. 257 pages. A4 size. Printed on archival quality paper. Case bound. Almost all tokens catalogued are illustrated. Extensively and enthusiastically researched with information on issuers, engravers and manufacturers obtained from contemporary documents, directories, newspapers, and other sources, including much information not previously published. The tokens are catalogued in alphabetical order of the town of issue. Introduction with an economic and social history of 19th century tokens, much of it taken from the columns of contemporary newspapers. Simple continuous numbering system avoids potential confusion. Each item fully catalogued and illustrated. Information recorded includes diameter, edge type, die axis, average weight, and rarity. Although Davis listed every major type, he missed many varieties and did not record edge types, die axis or weight, and he often got the rarity wrong. About 185 new dies not catalogued by Davis are listed, plus a further 215 metal, edge, or die axis variants. Corrects the errors of previous writers such as Sharp, Davis, Samuel, and Bell, etc. Full indexes for legends, types, place names, and issuers. Bibliography. Over 50 different edge types are defined and illustrated. Davis mentions only two manufacturers, one of whom probably didn’t make tokens. Research indicates that there were at least eighteen. Advice on how to research your local tokens. Canadian tokens listed by Davis are also covered - and accurately listed for the first time since Courteau did it.
MAYS, JAMES O'DONALD. Tokens of Those Trying Times, A Social History of Britain's 19th Century Silver Tokens.
The dawn of the Regency Period may have signaled the advent of an exciting era in British architecture and the arts in general, but it also marked a new low in the national economy. No new coin of the realm had been struck since 1787. Coin in circulation was badly worn and included many foreign pieces. Pandemonium reigned daily in the market place. High prices, low wages and fear that machines would replace man, caused wide- spread civil unrest. Then, in 1811, first one trader, then another, defied the government's monopoly of coin and issued tokens of silver in a range of denominations. Two even appeared in gold. By the following year nearly 100 places had silver tokens. Their issuers, by and large, were public-spirited men and women. A few were regarded as villains, but most were looked upon as heroes, Parliament was divided on the issue, with the Earl of Lauderdale staunchly defending the tokens. Eventually they were banned at the end of 1814. But the point had been made that the public would rather have token coinage than none at all. This work tells the story of these tokens and the remarkable people who issued them.
LINECAR, H.W.A. British Coin Designs and Designers London, 1977.
This book is a survey of the designs and designers of British coinage from the silver pennies of the Norman Conquest to the coins of Queen Elizabeth II. Mr. Linecar provides information concerning the moneyers and engravers who influenced early coin design or had some control over it. From the time of Henry VIII, very much more is known about designers and a most comprehensive account of English coinage has been provided from that time on.
ALMANZAR, ALCEDO. Coins of Guernsey and Jersey (The British Channel Islands). San Antonio. 1965.
18 pages, with a very interesting price list. Would you buy an uncirculated 1858 Jersey 1/13 for $5.50 or an uncirculated 1909 Jersey 1/12 for $5.00?
ATKINS, JAMES. The Coins and Tokens of The Possessions and Colonies of The British Empire. London, Reprint. First published in 1888. 1993.
402 pages, a standard reference. Contents: I. Europe: The channel islands, The isle of man, Gibraltar, Malta, The Ionian islands and Cyprus. And including the Anglo-Hanoverian coinage of Hanover with Brunswick Luneburg, east Friesland, and Brunswick Wolfenbuttel. II. Asia: 1. Embracing the presidencies of Bombay, Bengal and Madras. The Indian empire, Ceylon, Sumatra, Malacca, Pulu-Penang and the straits settlements, together with Java, Hong-Kong, Labuan, Borneo, Sarawak and Mauritius. III. Africa: Consisting of the Gold Coast, Sierra Leone, St. Helena, The Cape Colony, Griqua town and Natal. IV. America: Comprising the early American coinages and Newfoundland. The dominion of Canada, which includes New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward's Island, Magdalen island, British Columbia and Upper and Lower Canada. Together with the West Indies, British Honduras, and British Guiana. V. Australasia: Embracing in Australia the provinces of New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia. And including the islands of Van Dieman's Land or Tasmania, and New Zealand. Index.
BELL, R.C. Copper Commercial Coins 1811-1819. Newcastle, 1964.
An excellent reference on English tokens with 238 pages with several pages dedicated to Jersey, 202 tokens illustrated. The 19th century series of tokens has an aura of desirability with collectors of the tokens. However, these tokens do not possess the charm and artistic merit of the 18th century tokens, nor the quaintness and fascination of the 17th century pieces, but on their merits as industrial coins brought into being of necessity of finance the new age they have a down to earth character and an honesty entirely their own.
DAVIS, W. J. The Nineteenth Century Token Coinage of Great Britain, Ireland, the Channel Islands and The Isle of Man, to which are added Tokens of Over One Penny Value of Any Period. 1969 Durst Reprint.
With 284 pages, this book is a major reference on 19th century token coinage. Pages 240, 241, and 242 give a detailed description of tokens from the Channel Islands.
EXLEY, W. Guernsey Coinage. Guernsey. 1969.
40 pages, with varieties not listed in McCammon's book.
PRIDMORE, F. The Coins of The British Commonwealth of Nations, Part 1: European Territories. London, 1960.
With 98 pages, this is considered a standard reference and is illustrated throughout. Seventeen informative pages of details concerning Jersey coins.
HOWLETT, C.J. History & Catalogue of Channel Islands Coinages. Guernsey. 1968.
In twenty pages, this is a nice introduction to collecting coins from the Guernsey and Jersey.


And now for some other books that might be of interest.


BELL, R.C. Commercial Coins 1787-1804. Newcastle, 1963.
An excellent reference on English tokens with 319 pages, 514 tokens illustrated, and 47 figures.
BERRY, GEORGE. Seventeenth Century England: Traders and Their Tokens. London, 1988.
The vast number of tokens, that appeared in the seventeenth century between the years 1648 and 1672, provides a unique insight into contemporary English life and trade. Tokens were issued by innkeepers and alehouse women, grocers and cheesemongers, doctors and chemists, carriers and chapmen, wool merchants and weavers, hatters and cappers, carpenters and glaziers, clock and watch makers, booksellers and stationers, goldsmiths and pewterers, postmasters and coffee houses, prisons and work houses, opticians and jewelers, cutlers and bell founders, boat men and horse hirers. Few aspects of life, in this fascinating age, are not touched upon by contemporary tokens. The author has attempted to explore the background of the issuers, enter their homes, meet their families, observe their eating habits, their smoking habits, their shopping habits, their travel habits, their clothing, their reading habits, their sport, their medical care, their treatment of the poor, and even their religion.
CLERMONT, ANDRE DE & WHEELER, JOHN. Spink's Catalogue of British Colonial & Commonwealth Coins. London. 1986.
This is a standard reference for British coins. This book has been compiled so as to provide a standard type catalogue of the coins of the British Commonwealth & as a popular reference as to the value of the series for the collector & dealer. Every issue is recorded, giving details of dates, major varieties, comparative rarity, values for various grades of condition and proofs. The scope of the catalogue includes all coins issued by government or official authority for a colonial or mandated territory, and for those countries now independent nations of the British Commonwealth, or nations formerly part of the Commonwealth which it is appropriate to include. Where there is special interest, numerous merchant and traders tokens have been included. Topics covered include proofs, values for proofs, patterns, varieties, concoctions, mules, restrikes, recording of dates and issue types, definition of condition, rarity and value. An interesting section covers American colonial coinage. There are hundreds of photos of over 300 years of coinage.
CRAIG, WILLIAM. Coins of the World, 1750-1850. 3rd ed. Racine, Wisconsin. 1976.
478 pages, illustrations
DALTON, R., and HAMER, S.H. The Provincial Token-Coinage of the 18th Century, illustrated. 1967 reprint.
567 pages, illustrations. The standard reference. The provincial tokens are a fascinating series for any collector to attempt to obtain, and are ripe with political satire, interesting architecture, sculpture, animals and boats. The new revision by Allan Davisson has added 500 pieces to the original work. This British series is rich with token and medallic issues, but no other series offers the complexity and variety of the late 18th century token series so thoroughly catalogued in this reference. The series reflects fascination with the emerging minting technology of the late 1700's and political, advertising and artistic goals. The exceptionally thorough catalogue provided by Dalton and Hamer makes it both easier and more challenging to look at many different aspects of this complex series. Basic organization and classification has been done. In addition to all this, most pieces in the series are inexpensive and well within the reach of most collector budgets. Many are also aesthetically delightful.
DAVENPORT, JOHN S. European Crowns and Talers Since 1800. 2nd ed. London, 1964.
The author endeavors to illustrate every main crown size coin. The alphabetical arrangement of the states and of all the inscriptions in the appendices furnish quick and easy identification of any coin. An historical sketch of each region with 974 coin-types noted, most are illustrated in 423 pages Also several maps are used to show the location of the states.
----European Crowns 1484-1600. Frankfurt am Main, 1977.
The author continues his quest to illustrate every crown size coin. Three fourths of the book details Austria, Italy, and the Netherlands. The book has 320 pages of useful information with 900 coin-types described and most are illustrated.
----German Talers 1500-1600. Frankfurt, 1979.
1,162 varieties listed, most are illustrated on 422 pages.
----German Church and City Talers 1600-1700. Galesburg, 1967.
349 pages
----German Talers 1700-1800. London, 1965 second edition.
416 pages
FRIEDBERG, R. Coins of the British World, Complete from 500 A.D. to the Present. New York, 1962.
With 210 pages, this nicely illustrated book has a short section devoted to Jersey coins.
GILL, D. The Coinage of Ethiopia, Eritrea and Italian Somalia. Garden City, 1991.
342 pages, extensively illustrated.
HOBSON, B. Catalogue of Scandinavian Coins, Gold, Silver and minor coins since 1534 with their valuations. New York, 1970.
Covers all coins of Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland, with values in two grades with over 128 pages.
----Historic Gold Coins of the World. New York, 1971.
A general introduction to gold coins throughout the ages, accompanied by 484 gorgeous enlarged photographs in full color. Very entertaining and informative text with interesting anecdotes throughout the 192 pages.
DE JERSEY, PHILIP. Celtic Coinage in Britain. Buckinghamshire, 1996.
56 pp, 88 ills. In the space of little more than a hundred years, from the Roman conquest of Gaul in the mid first century BC to the defeat of Boudica in AD 61, Britain saw the final and arguably the most impressive phase in the development of Celtic coinage. The coins are not only beautiful and attractive in their own right, but are also extraordinarily useful evidence in our attempts to understand Celtic society at this period. This book provides a general introduction to Celtic coinage in Britain, it analyses how and why the coins were made, describing the most significant types and many of the more obscure varieties, and explains how the coins and the images they carry can reveal information on the political, economic and social life of the Celts. The book is fully illustrated with some of the best examples of Celtic coinage Philip de Jersey has been employed at the Institute of Archaeology in Oxford to maintain and computerize the Celtic Coin Index, a detailed record of more than twenty thousand British Celtic coins.
MACKAY, JAMES. A History of Modern English Coinage. London, 1984.
With 208 pages, this book spans five centuries; from the primitive hammered coins of precious metal worth their face value, to the mass produced base metal coins of today.
NATHANSON,ALAN J. Thomas Simon, his life and work 1618-1665.London. 1975.
60 pages. Few names are better known in the history of English numismatics and die-engraving than that of Thomas Simon. His expertise in die-cutting, combined with the technical skill of the French mint engraver Peter Blondeau, changed the face of the English coinage. His personal history is at times enigmatic and his fortunes under Parliament and King near tragic in the setting of the English Civil War and the Restoration. Between them, Simon and Blondeau transformed the medieval methods of the English mint into the beginnings of the modern mechanization of today. Yet, through all their work together, and the innumerable difficulties placed in their way, they produced coins and medals whose concept and beautiful design, coupled with precision striking, still give us great delight. Many of them are among the rarest of pieces in the English series, and certainly the most beautiful. Alan Nathanson explores Thomas Simon's life and his work, his creation of dies for coins, medals, and seals to give a rounded picture of England's greatest engraver. Examples of all his major works are illustrated either from the actual coins and medals, or from George Vertue's highly accurate engravings. For the fir time all the facts known about Thomas Simon are brought together with his work in one book from the scattered literature that has appeared about him over the last two-hundred years. With 49 illustrations.
North, J.J. English Hammered Coinage, Volume 1. Early Anglo-Saxon to Henry 111, C. 600-1272. 1994.
320 pages, 20 plates, maps, lists of mints and moneyers, diagrams. Casebound. A major revision of this standard work incorporating the considerable research and numerous finds of the last 15 years. Original numbers have been retained, but there have been major revisions, especially in the 10th century coins and the historical section. This fully revised third edition combines the considerable research and numerous finds of the past fifteen years. Included are definitive lists of the mints and moneyers of the late Anglo-Saxons, full details of the 'sceatta' series and completely revised lists of the tenth century coinage. Many new finds of the reigns of Henry I and Stephen and the Anarchy have filled the gaps in the lists along with amendments to the Short-Cross and Long-Cross coinages where all main varieties are now illustrated.
---- English Hammered Coinage, Volume 2. Edward I to Charles II, 1271-1662. 1992.
224 pages, 11 plates. Casebound. The principal amendments to this third revised edition have been in the coinages of 1279-1351 and the provincial issues of Charles I, both of which have recently been the subject of Sylloges dealing solely with the coins of these periods. Much new information has been incorporated into the relevant sections on the strength of important studies published recently including the base shillings of Edwards VI, the milled coinage of Elizabeth I, the Tower shillings of Charles I and the mint of York of Charles I.
PRIDMORE, F. The Coins of the Commonwealth of Nations to the End of the Reign of George VI (1952) Part 3, West Indies (Bermuda, British Guiana, British Honduras and the British West Indies). London, 1965.
364 pages, profusely illustrated. A standard reference. Gives a very good description of the mutilated coins prior to 1818 and the considerable number of modern copies.
---- The Coins of The British Commonwealth of Nations, Part 4, India Volume 1: East India Company Presidency Series 1642-1835.
275 pages, profusely illustrated.
---- The Coins of The British Commonwealth of Nations, Part 4, India Volume 2: Uniform Coinage of the East India Company 1835-58 and the Imperial Period 1858-1947
245 pages, profusely illustrated.
RAYNER, ALAN. English Silver Coinage Since 1649. London. 1992.
252 pages, over 3000 coins listed and more than 400 illustrated. The most up-to-date guide on English silver coinage. Covers many varieties, including overdates, etc. not in The Stanford Catalogue.
ROBINSON, FRANK. Confessions of a Numismatic Fanatic: How to get the Most Out of Coin Collecting. Lodi, 1992.
210 pages of the best overall coin collecting book ever printed! This should be required reading for every collector.
SEABY, PETER. Coins of England and the United Kingdom. 1998 Catalog- 33rd Edition. London, 1997.
300+ pages. Lists of all major coin types of England from Celtic to modern times. Many new revisions in the values. Over 1500 illustrations. The standard reference.
---- Coins and Tokens of Ireland. London, 1970.
167pp.
---- Coins and Tokens of Scotland. London, 1972.
160pp. Part 4 of the Seaby Standard Catalogue series.
SEABY, PETER and BUSSELL, MONICA. British Copper Coins and Their Values. London, 1968.
Out of the 117 pages, 7 pages are dedicated to pricing [in 1968] Jersey coins.
SEABY, PETER and PURVEY, P.F. Coins of Scotland, Ireland & The Islands (Jersey, Guernsey, Man & Lundy), Standard Catalogue of British Coins, Volume 2. London, 1984.
Out of the 222 pages, 13 pages are dedicated to pricing [in 1984] Jersey coins.
TROWBRIDGE, RICHARD Crowns of the British Empire. Iola, 1971.
In the 170 pages, the author attempts to give a complete historical and factual reference on British Empire crowns. A nice little book for pre-Elizabeth II crowns.
VICE, DAVID. The Coinage of British West Africa and St. Helena 1684-1958. Birmingham, 1983.
237 pages. A standard reference. The author gives an excellent account of the various types of currency in use in British West Africa (Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Gold Coast, and the Gambia) and St. Helena from about 1684 to the formation of the modern national coinages of 1959.
WILLIAMS, J. (Editor). Money, A History.1997.
256 pages, illustrated throughout with over 550 photographs, many in color. Cloth. Whether or not money 'makes the world go round', few phenomena in human history have been the focus of so much constant and fevered attention, occasioned so many moral and religious strictures or been the cause of so much strife and competition between individuals, institutions and states. This book examines the history of money, its spread and cultural diversity throughout the world, from the earliest known records of payments to the cashless money of our own day, and sets it against a background of broader economic and social issues, such as the varied moral, political and religious attitudes provoked by money in different cultures. The authors begin by tracing the growth and development of monetary systems from the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt to the establishment of coinage in the Greek and Roman worlds. The next chapters develop a broader geographical view, looking at the monetary systems of Europe during the Middle Ages, the Islamic world, India and China. In the final part of the book the focus is on the processes by which money has become a global phenomenon, with chapters exploring its expanding role in early modern Europe and the Americas, the effect of European contacts on the local payment systems of Africa and Oceania, and the increasing impact in the last two centuries of economic thought on monetary affairs. Written by a team of specialist curators from the Department of Coins and Medals in the British Museum, the book is illustrated with over 500 examples of coins and other forms of money.


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