Ancient and world coin books

Hi all, I wanted to start a thread about books. One of the main problem with references is that you don't know how good it will be, and cannot browse through it, before you buy it. If there were a Barnes and Noble for these, it would be great, but unfortunately most of us do not live anywhere near such a place. This is what I would like to create here, a place to see and get a review of reference books.

Just to give an idea, though I know its not very clear, here is my main bookshelves for books:



I have many of the standards listed. Here is a sample of a new book I received:

Here is David Hartill's new book on Japanese cash coinage.



Its a softcover book, and follows the same conventions as his famous Chinese reference. The book is printed on demand, and is very inexpensive. I got this delivered from Scott Semans for less than $20.

Similar to the Chinese edition, he uses rarity bands to show both rarity and value. I find this method helpful to gauge relative rarity of the coins, but not very helpful to determine value. This is because the bands are just too broad. However, a price guide to such coins are hard to achieve anyway, so its a slight shortcoming. Overall, this is a great resource for western collectors. There are listed a great many rarities, of course, as the early Japanese coinage is basically one group of extremely rare coins. The main value of this book is the great description of the minting process of cash coins, and a finding guide for Kanei Tsuho coins, that have a myriad of varieties not easily descernible otherwise.

​edited - copyright

Besides covering Cash coins, this volume also covers the early gold and silver coins issued in the 19th century. For references, I don't think this will replace the Japanese dealers catalog for pricing, but it should replace Munro as the best English language resource for learning about these coins.

Overall, I give this book a high recommendation for any English language collectors who have more than a passing curiousity of these coins. I would give this recommendation at a price tag of $50, at less than $20 delivered to the US, its a certified bargain for information not easily found elsewhere.

So, anyone else wish to know about and see other ancient references? Just post what references you want to see.

Chris

 

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Please throw in the first 3 volumes of Roman Coins & Their Values 1-2-3 from Sear, they are at my dads.

This is my little batch here at home including my new book.

 

Impressive library! So, you're not just a pretty face.

 

Really? I thought fair use laws allowed the publication of samples during a review in which the reviewer or site was not making money on it. That is part of the reason I didn't scan the pages, but rather just took pictures of them so they wouldn't be very usable, but would allow the reader to see what they are like.

Is it ok if I get Mr. Hartill's permission? I have gotten permission from him before to use parts of his work with attribution of course.

Btw Doug, I do have others, these are just my main section that I keep upstairs. I have a 4x7' bookshelf nearly full downstairs of Celators, ONS and ANS pubs, lesser books, and duplicates. We should compare volumes.

Chris

 

Apparently my local coin has a big library and though I am not sure what is in it, it would be a great way to check out reference material and decide I needed it or not.

 

It is a great idea, though even a "large coin section" is relative. My little library here is larger than most university libraries for ancient coins. In fact, I have loaned out some of these books through interlibrary loan to university students due to them being unable to find them.

However, your idea is sound. If I would have had the chance to look at these books before I bought them I probably ouldn't own a quarter of them, leaving me more money for better books. Not all coin books are worth owning, or a best fit for every collector. That is why I created this thread, for people to ask about a particular book.

 

In addition to the standards for Canadian and U.S. coins and paper money, I have this one "Silent Witness":

 

Well I believe I could get Mr, Hartill's but since I was wanting to do others, the point is moot. Maybe just pics of the outside of the book and a verbal description of the contents I guess then. If anyone wanted to see the interior of a book, I could deal with that privately.

Nice library. Mine would be much smaller than that if you excluded my ancient volumes. I do have some world and US coin books, but not as many as that by a long shot, maybe just a shelf and a half.

 

Wow - my shelves are almost as full. More so even, if you count the auction catalogs and non-numismatic primary sources.

I also have a ton of digital books. Scans of various numismatic articles, journals, and monographs with varying degrees of legality. I don't particularly like using them, but if it means I have an article that I wouldn't otherwise be able to access, its clearly worth while.

 

Btw in the lower right of the first photo is one of my newest books, "From Persepolis to the Punjab". I cannot recommend it highly enough as an excellent resource for anyone interested in ancient middle eastern numismatics. A good friend from here recommended it, and it was a fantastic recommendation.

 

Reading the copywrite notice on the Hartill Chinese book, I suspect the proper person to get permission from is the author since it specifically states "...from the author." For comparison, the notice on the 2002 Failmezger book for which I did the photo work specifies "..from the publisher" pointing out the difference between the old style of publishing where a publisher rinsked printing a bunch of books and the new 'print on demand' way where books are printed to cover orders so there will be no remainder stock. I know a couple cases where an author was required to buy the existing stock of his book to prevent the publisher dumping it on the remainder market at a price that would upset people who bought it at full price. Printing 'On Demand' has changed several things about book publishing when you consider 'Vanity Press' books and more books on obscure subjects like old coins are falling into that category.

 

Very true sir. I should posted more about the subject. I knew Mr. hartill owned the rights since I had obtained from him to reproduce a publication for the Des Moines Coin Club once. What I did was lay in Robert Tye's, (also with permission), excellent article on the reign of Wang Mang, and Mr. Hartill's section on Wang Mang coinage together in one handout, along with a Wang Mang coin attached to the front like the Chicago Coin Club does their non-typical money handouts at the CICF. I did this for the Iowa state show we hosted. I thought it was a nice handout. Even with that, I think I actually only gave out 6 to people who showed up for my presentation, mailed one copy each to the authors, and donated serial number 1 to the club. The rest are sitting in my basement somewhere as we speak. Iowa does not have many people interested in non-US coins I guess, lol.

Chris

 

I've really enjoyed David Hendin's book Guide to Biblical Coins, fifth edition, Mr. Hendin was kind to autograph one for me.


The expansion and renovation of his typing system was very helpful and the plates and drawings in the book are wonderful helps!

 

Yes, Mr Hendin does a very good job with his Biblical coin series. My only "gripe" is that by making multiple editions, he thereby removes most value from previous ones. It more like a redbook where you need to buy each successive edition. At least they only come out every 5 years or so. He also has a few other interesting books, like one on ancient scale weights, and sells on Ebay under Amphoracoins.

Sometimes I find a few of his Roman coins as "biblical" a stretch. Every edition he seems to find more Roman coins somehow related to ancient Israel.

 

wow that's an impressive coin library. I wish I lived close by you.

 

Copyright law...you would think it was advertising for the copyright owner in this case wouldnt you? if i saw a page of a book i liked then i may buy the book...madness!

 

Why are ancient coin reference books so darn expensive? $80 for a David Sears books! Why???

 

I suppose it's like college text books. Very limited call for the book so the price must be high enough to pay for the printing. I would suggest finding an older single volume version of Sear's book rather than the multi volume set for a couple of reasons. First, it will be cheaper. And second, I think it's easier to use. The prices quoted in the books haven't changed enough to make too much of a difference. Besides, prices can be updated almost daily through the internet via coins sold or coins offered.