The subject line is the title of a book. There are many copies available online starting at about $50. I would prefer to have some idea what I am getting before I spend that much on a book. The author is Richard Upton. Is anyone familiar with it who can give an opinion?
Upton is easy to use, but has no pics and was published in 1970 so the prices are useless. I bought my copy in the 90's and paid about $10. Personally, I wouldn't spend much more than that today. There is also German War Tokens, by Lamb that is easy to use and has some pics, but was published in the 60's. Once again nice to have if you find it cheap. If you are truly interested in metal notgeld, I would strongly recommend Die Deutschen Notmunzen by Walter Funck copyright 2012 (there is an earlier version with a slightly diff title but get the 2012 version). It's in German, and can be hard to translate the details (some numismatic terms aren't in my German-English dictionary), but it lists everything, down to sub-types that are differentiated by 0.5mm spacing changes. There is a German-English numismatic dictionary on the net (I don't have the link handy) that helps with translation. I know very little German but am able to use it. I no longer use the Upton or Lamb references For Porcelain, there is a 6 volume set by Schon. I limit my collection to issues marked with a denomination, and that is covered in 1 of the 6 volumes, so I don't need the set. It's in German, and can be pricey but it's the best reference for porcelain Bottom line, skip Upton and buy Funck. I think I got mine for $60-70 when it came out 5 years ago. 700 pages vs 200 for Upton
Thanks very much. That is what I needed to know: no pictures equals no use. Someone told me about the Schon series before (probably you?) and I looked into it but it was too expensive when I am merely interested and don't intend to add extensively to my small collection of porcelain. But perhaps the Funck book is worth looking at even though, like you, my German is very limited. Thanks again for the help. EDIT: Found it on Amazon for $65
This is a typical page from Upton. As @Oldhoopster said it's very old school. If you want to go this route, the Menzel catalogue is far more comprehensive and also has plates of many of the coins at the end.
Thanks @Numismat. Definitely not interested in Upton. How does Menzel compare to Funck given that I only have rudimentary German? It is about half the price on Amazon but sometimes you get what you pay for.
I have Menzel as well, but it's more of a token reference. A bit of an overkill if you're just doing notgeld. Actually, I've never used Menzel for attributing Notgeld. Only Upton and Lamb, then exclusively Funck since I got it @sakata . I never had any problem looking up coins in Upton even though it didn't have pics. However, Funck is so much more comprehensive. if you're going to have to drop close to $50 for Upton, then bite the bullet and get Funck. BTW: Funk does not list Porcelain. Munzen Aus Porzellan und Ton by Scheuch (I listed the wrong author previously). I think I got my Copy from Paul Landsberg about 15 years ago(he's on vcoins)
Funck is a good catalog, but if you want the porcelain issues, the 2014 updated Menzel catalog is exactly what you need. Title: Deutsche Notmunzen Und Sonstige Geldersatzmarken 1840-1990 (1993), newest edition is 2014. Edit: yes, overkill indeed for just notgeld, but never hurts to get more bang for your buck with reference materials
