World and Ancient Library Recommendations 0

[Architecht]

So we have another thread in the FAQ section for book recommendations, but most of those posts are U.S. coin related. I thought I'd start a new thread here to collect great books for world and ancient collectors.

 

What are the key parts of your reference libraries for your collecting specialties?

Edited October 15, 2008 by Architecht

[satootoko]

Readily available, and indispensible, basic references for collecting Japanese coins are:

 

• Japanese Coinage, Jacobs & Vermeule (1972), covers history of Japanese coinage, traditional coinage and modern coinage, including Chinese and Korean puppet state issues, B/W pictures.
   
  
• Modern Japanese Coinage, Cummings (2d Ed., 1978), brief description of traditional coinage and detailed coverage of modern era, commencing 1867, more comprehensive puppet state coverage, B/W pictures.
   
  
• Nihon Kahei Katarogu (Japan Money Catalog), Japanese Numismatic Coin Dealers Association (annual), detailed catalog of ancient, modern, and puppet state coins and notes, including information on mintages, varieties, mint/proof sets, military notes, patterns, etc., color pictures with foldout wall chart.

 

There are a multitude of other, not so readily available but useful, books in English and other languages, including:

• Catalog of Modern Japanese Korean Manchuduo Coins, Spadone (1960).
   
  
• Introduction to Money, The Bank of Japan (1948), bi-lingual Japanese/English.
   
  
• Silver Crowns of the Far East, Oka (1966), predominantly in Japanese, with English coin details and B/W illustrations.
   
  
• Die Munzen Japans Ab 1868, Dietzel (1971), German catalog of Japanese coins and notes, B/W photos.

 

For those interested in the cash coin aspect of pre-Meiji coinage:

• Ding Fubao's catalog for those who read Chinese, and Fisher's Ding (1990) for those who don't, drawings of Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Annamese cast coinage with translation of legends and mint identification.
   
  
• Chinese Currency (Currency of the Far East)Schjoth (1929), drawings and descriptions of a vast array of cast coinage, in English,

Edited February 27, 2006 by satootoko

[Architecht]

 

Very nice! An excellent list. I was thinking we'd see mostly one and two books per post. That's fantastic.

[gmarguli]

For Taler and crown sized world coins, the standard reference is the Davenport series. These are out of print, but they can be found.

• 
  
• German Talers, 1500-1600 Prices on this have moved up dramatically this past year. It's averaging well over $300 a copy, but it is the only mainstream reference for this type of material that I know of.
  
• German Secular Talers 1600-1700
  
• German Church and City Talers 1600-1700
  
• German talers 1700-1800
  
• European Crowns, 1484-1600
  
• European Crowns 1700-1800
  
• European Crowns and Talers Since 1800
  
• Silver Gulden 1559-1763
  
• Standard Price Guide to World Crowns & Talers, 1484-1968, as Cataloged by Dr. John S. Davenport Easiest one to use of all of them

 

For Ancient coins, I've found the Sayles books to be fairly easy to read and if you enjoy history, there is a lot of it in the book.

• Ancient Coin Collecting
  
• Ancient Coin Collecting II: Numismatic Art of the Greek World
  
• Ancient Coin Collecting III: The Roman World-Politics and Propaganda
  
• Ancient Coin Collecting IV: Roman Provincial Coins (Ancient Coin Collecting)
  
• Ancient Coin Collecting V: The Romanion/Byzantine Culture
  
• Ancient Coin Collecting VI: Non-Classical Cultures
  
• Classical Deception: Counterfeits, Forgeries and Reproductions of Ancient Coins
   
  

 

[IGWT]

F. Gigante, Monete Italiane dal '700 ad oggi [from 1700 to today] (13th ed. 2005). This book is the Italian version of the Red Book. It's understandable even if you don't speak Italian so long as you're familiar with the coinage.

[dorancoins]

So we have another thread in the FAQ section for book recommendations, but most of those posts are U.S. coin related. I thought I'd start a new thread here to collect great books for world and ancient collectors.

 

What are the key parts of your reference libraries for your collecting specialties?

 

All of the Standard Catalog of World Coin & Standard Catalog of Paper Money books.

[physics-fan3.14]

Are there any good books on Moroccan coinage, specifically of the French Protectorate period. I know of a couple, but neither of them are in English so they don't help me any.

[paperchaser-migration]

Well, how about:

 

Greek Coins and their Values by H.A.Seaby

Greek Coins & Cities by Norman Davis

English Copper,Tin and Bronze Coins in the British Museum 1558-1958

by C. Wilson Peck

[David France-migration]

For Russian coins the Krause and Mishler catalogues are as good as any for people who don't speak Russian. However, they're no good for Russian hammered coins, which were produced up to 1718.

 

The best introduction for those early coins is The Russian Monetary System by I.G. Spassky (1967). Another reliable publication which is still useful, despite being initially published in 1837, is Chaudoir's Apercu des Monnaies Russes (in French), reprinted in 1964. For those who want to brave Russian there is a wide variety of publications on early coins, but many (if not most) are rare. In recent years Grishin and Kleshchinov have published three die-linkage catalogues for the coinage of 1533-1645 and 1682-1718, which cover most of the common "wire money" which you see on eBay and elsewhere.

 

And a scattering of some other suggestions:

 

England - Seaby's Coins of England, printed annually

France - Duplessy (Les Monnaies Francaises Royales)

Germany - Krause

Spain - Calico (Numismatica Espanola)

Islamic - Steve Album for a concise survey, but Michael Mitchiner's enormous series of publications fill a lot of difficult gaps (and is illustrated); Walker's books are too expensive

India - Pridmore's four-volume series, Mitchiner, Tye (jitals) and others

Early Europe - Grierson's Medieval European Coinage

 

DF

[Topher]

Satootoko, where might I find the Nihon Kahei Katarogu? I am just starting a collection of Japanese coin, and I would LOVE to have a resource like that. You said it is an annual? Any chance that I could buy an old copy off of you?

[satootoko]

I get mine every year from EBay seller Takas-Japan, who puts them up with a BIN price shortly after they come out. The 2007 should be out in the next month or so.

 

BTW anatawa nihongono tsukaikataga wakatanai hito desu, ne!

[Topher]

Thank you much! I'll keep my eyes open.

 

ano, "tsukaikata" wa, nan desu ka?

[the_Thing ®]

How did I miss this thread?

 

 

The standard reference book for "Biblical" coins is

 

Guide to Biblical Coins by David Hendin

When you see biblical coins for auction or in catalogues, the will usually have a number, like Hendin 650.

 

The standard reference book for Byzantine coins is

 

Byzantine Coins and Their Values by David Sear

Just like biblical coins being ID'd by their Hendin book number, you'll find Byzantine coins listed as "Sear 295" or sometimes SB 295.

 

The standard reference book for so called "Crusader" coins is

 

Coins of the Crusader States by Alex G. Malloy

And as above you will see these coins ID'd, for example CCS16

 

 

 

For all 3 of those catagories, there are a few highly specialized reference books available, but in general, those will be the only reference books a collector would need. They can usually be had for about $60.00, you can buy directly from the authors and have the book inscribed. Make sure you buy the current editions, becuase they have all been updated.

 

 

The ultimate, must have holy grail reference book for Roman coins is

 

Roman Imperial Coins by Mattingly et al

This is a 10 volume set. There are some sets out there, but be prepared to pay between $1200.00 -$1500.00 for one.

[World Colonial]

The "Milled Columnarios of Central and South America" by Frank Gilboy and Hern's Handbook of South African Coinage by Brian Hern.

 

The first book cover spanish colonial pillars including die varieties, mintage techniques and rarity scales; a true reference book. (However, the print run was limited to 500 copies.) The second book is more of a price guide for all South African coins but it is the best book for these issues that I have been able to find.

[TwoKopeiki]

To add to the above list:

 

"Hookneck - El Aguila de Perfil" by Hubbard and O'Harrow. Fantastic reference on 1823-1825 Mexican profile eagle coinage (Hooknecks). Includes die varieties from the 3 mints producing them (Mexico City, Durango, Guanajuato), patterns, etc.

 

~Roman

[IlikeZARcoins]

My Bible is The Louis E. Eliasberg Collection of World Gold Coins and Medals by ANR in conjunction with Spink.

 

This was the catalogue for the World Gold Sale on April 18-19th, 2005.

 

It features some SENSATIONAL coins.....sensational to look at but also sensationally priced.

[shirohniichan]

"Catalogue of British Commonwealth Coins 1660- 1971" by James Remick

 

I use this book to help me identify 3d to crown size silver coins of George V for my collection. It's 35 years old, so some of the info may have been made obsolete by more recent research.

[Silvereagle82-migration]

I just added this one

 

EARLY MODERN GOLD COINS From the Deutsche Bundesbank Collection

Author: Ursula Hage-Jahneke & Reinhold Walburg w/ Annelore Schmidt

Translated into English by Edward Beasly

1985

 

This is the third and last of three volumes on gold coins by Deutsche Bundesbank from the collection of its Geld-museum. It contains several pages of historical information regarding the coins presented. Early Modern coins presented are from 1500 thru 1800. It contains 79 Fully illustrated enlarged color Plates of gold coins with a full page detailed description for each coin. The coins also have a B/W illustration of each coin in its actual size. The coins selected were important in the development of the monetary system or interesting historically or on account of their designs.

Its a large hardcover book 9"x12" and contains over 200 pages.

 

It is a beautiful book if you like world gold and if your like me, always looking for detailed descriptions or history on the coins you own or are interested in.

The first two volumes are on (1) Ancient Gold and (2) Medieval Gold. I'm looking for the Volume 2.

 

Examples of plates: 1545 England Crown, 1557 Flander Half-real, 1586 Utrecht Ducat, 1714 Japan Kobankin, 1790 Belguim Lion d'or, 1640 France Louis d'or

[Silvereagle82-migration]

Well I just recieved Volumes 1 and 2. I bought them straight from Deutsche Bundesbank ........they are identical in quality and information to the Volume 3 noted in my above post. Both books have beautiful large colored plates with very detailed coin descriptions. You don't find many reference books better than this set..... if you like world gold that is:)

Volume 1: Ancient Gold Coins

Volume 2: Gold Coins of the MIddle Ages

Edited March 9, 2007 by Silvereagle82

[Architecht]

Not a book, but this web site seems really really cool:

 

http://www.coinscatalog.com/index.php

[Coinguy19]

I'm just getting into German coins, I saw that there were some Thaler books listed but how how about books for some other German coins?

[Doogy]

anyone know a good book that gives the history of British Crowns, especially as it relates to the later (1800-1900) ones? I'm fascinated by these historic coins. thanks!

 

Doug

[GDJMSP]

Haven't posted here in some time, reckon this is a good place to try catching up

 

I'll go by category -

 

France -

 

Les Monmaies Francaises Feodales - Jean Duplessy

Les Monmaies Francaises Royales, De Hugues Capet A Louis XVI - Jean Duplessy vols. 1 & 2

Monnaies Royales Francaises 1610-1792 - Victor Gadoury

Monnaies Francaies 1789-2003 - Victro Gadoury

Les Monmaies Royales Francaises, De Hugues Capet A Louis XVI - Louis Ciani

The Gros Tournois - Proceedings of the Fourteenth Oxford Symposium on Coinage and Monetary History - edited by N.J. Mayhew

 

Great Britain -

 

English Hammered Coinage, vol 1 c.650-1272 - J.J. North

English Hammered Coinage, vol 2 c.1272-1662 - J.J. North

Coins of England and the United Kingdom - Spink

ANS Numismatic Notes & Monographs #93, Foriegn Imitations of the English Noble - Herbert E. Ives

 

Spanish Colonial -

 

The Columnarios of Central and South America 1732-1772 - Frank F. Gilboy

The Practical Book of Cobs - Frank Sedwick

Eight Reales and Pesos of the New World, 1st & 2nd editions - Carlos A. Elizondo

The Coinage of the Forst Mint of the Americas at Mexico City - Robert I. Nesmith

Numimsatic History of Mexico - Alberto Pradeau

8 Reales Cobs of Potosi - Emilio Paoletti

Cobs, Pieces of Eight and Treasure Coins 1536-1773 - Sewall Menzell

 

Netherlands -

 

de nederlandse munten, van 1795 tot heden - Johan Mevius

Le Benelux D'Or - A. Delmonte

Le Benelux D'Argent - A. Delmonte

The Dutch Gold Ducat 1586-1986 - Albert A.J. Scheffers

 

Venice -

 

Zecca - Alan M. Stahl

The Venetian Gold Ducat and Its Imitations - Herbert E. Ives & Philip Grierson

 

General Reference -

 

The Early Dated Coins of Europe 1234-1500 - Robert A. Levinson

Coins of Medieval Europe - Philip Grierson

Money of the World - Ira & Larry Goldberg

Coins of the World - R.A.G. Carson

World Dollars 1477-1877 1st & 2nd editions - Lee M. Bachtell

[Silvereagle82-migration]

This is my current numismatic library; I also have over 100 auction catalogs for world coins from US and Europe dating back to 2005. (USA - Stack, ANR, Heritage, Ira & Larry Goldberg, CNG, The Numismatic Store and Europe - Kuenker, Jean Elsen, USB, Dix Noonan, Dr. Busso Peus Nache, Gorny & Mosch, Hess - Devo)

 

 

World General Reference:

Standard Catalog of World Coins (18th Century 1701-1800) – 3rd Edition,Krause and Mishler 2002

Standard Catalog of World Coins (18th Century 1801-1900) – 4th Edition,Krause and Mishler 2004

 

Netherlands:

Le Benelux D’Or (Gold), A. Delmonte 1964

Le Benelux D’Argent (Silver), A.Delmonte 1967

 

England:

Coins Of England and The United Kingdom – Volume I -16th Edition, Peter Seaby 1978

 

Gold:

Gold Coins of the World (Ancient Times – 2002) – 7th Edition, Arthur and Ira Friedberg

Standard Catalog of World Gold Coins (1500s - 2004) – 5th Edition, Krause and Mishler

Ancient Gold Coins - Deutsche Bundesbank Collection, Maria R.-Alfoldi 1983

Gold Coins Of The Middle Ages - Deutsche Bundesbank Collection, Joachim Weschke and Ursula Hagen-Jahnke 1983

Early Modern Gold Coins - Deutsche Bundesbank Collection, Ursula Hagen-Jahnke and Reinhold Walburg 1985

Gold Coins of The Americas, Robert P. Harris 1971

Historic Gold Coins of The World, Burton Hobson 1971

Contemporary World Gold Coins, Sanford J. Durst

The Dutch Gold Ducat (1586-1986), Albert A.J. Scheffers 1986

 

Maria Theresa:

Corpus Nummorum Regni Mariae Theresiae, Tassilo Eypeltauer 1973

A Silver Legend, The Story of the Maria Theresa Thaler, Clara Semple 2005

 

 

Europe:

European Crowns and Talers Since 1800, John S. Davenport 1964

European Crowns 1700-1800, John S. Davenport 1964

 

United States:

The Official Red Book Guide Book Of United States Coins 60th Edition,

R.S. Yeoman 2007

The Official Red Book of Morgan Silver Dollars, Q. David Bowers 2004

 

Miscellaneous:

Confessions Of A Numismatic Fanatic: How To Get the Most Out Of Coin Collecting, Frank S. Robinson 1992

Money Of The World, Ira and Larry Goldberg 2007

Coins In History, John Porteous 1969

The Expert’s Guide To Collecting And Investing In Rare Coins, Q. David Bowers 2006

 

Edited March 21, 2008 by Silvereagle82

[johnwindmills-migration]

Do you know where I can get a copy of:

 

"Catalogue of British Commonwealth Coins 1660- 1971" by James Remick.

 

I am a complete novice in coin collecting (in collecting anything actually) but I am looking for a list of all the Edward VII coins. I have information on the coins issued in England but I would like to know what coins were issued throughout the Empire with Edward VII on the obverse.

 

The reason for this is that I had a grandson called Edward born in 2007 and I thought it would be nice to collect a set of coins from 100 years before his birth which happens to be during the reigh of Edward VII. I have a set of 1907 English silver & copper coins and I have a few Canadian coins but I would like to know the scale of the task that i have undertaken.

[rbrown4]

Go to this link, it is about 2/3 of the way down the page under British/Colonial.

http://www.coincoin.com/bkEULA.htm

Rey

Edited May 24, 2008 by rbrown4

[DavidARay-migration]

I collect a lot of WW2 Era stuff and this book is a near complete catalog of worldwide coins, medals, notes, etc from that period,

 

World War II Remembered: History in your hands - a numismatic study.

C. Frederick Schwan & Joseph E. Boling

 

It has been out of print for about 12 years but is easy to find on the net.

[michael_s-migration]

For those interested in the cash coin aspect of pre-Meiji coinage:

• Ding Fubao's catalog for those who read Chinese, and Fisher's Ding (1990) for those who don't, drawings of Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Annamese cast coinage with translation of legends and mint identification.
   
  
• Chinese Currency (Currency of the Far East)Schjoth (1929), drawings and descriptions of a vast array of cast coinage, in English,

 

Google has digitized Neil Gordon Munro's "Coins of Japan" from 1904, which covers the cast, pre-Meiji coinage:

http://books.google.com/books?id=S418biR7q4wC

 

You can read it on the web, or download the whole book as a PDF.

 

It appears the original book is quite expensive to obtain.

 

-Mike

[michael_s-migration]

Google Books has more coin-related books from the 19th and early 20th centuries for free. Dye's coin encyclopædia from 1883 is pretty interesting, and weighs in at 1154 pages! Thank goodness for the PDF version.

 

-Mike

[Bugmann1974]

The internet archive, they have a large number of books that have expired copyrights in PDF form.

 

Here is what you get when you search "coins", over 500 hits.

 

http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=coins%20AND%20mediatype%3Atexts