Hello all, I got serious about coin collecting a few years ago. I've focused mainly on U.S. coins, but now I'd like to branch out into pre-decimal UK coinage, especially farthings. I'd like to start by getting some books. This appears to be the UK equivalent of the Red Book: Coins of England by Emma Howard. Is this a good book to start with or is there something better?
@paddyman98 that one is the decimal part. The pre-decimal half is the one that @croesus_amok needs as a starter. The 2025 issue is available on Amazon for £31 in the UK. (This is the book in the OP link - until 2025 this was known as the Spink book, but rights were sold to Sovereign Rarities last year, hence the association to Emma Howard now.) The other usual references include the Freeman book "Bronze Coinage of Great Britain", which is the source of Freeman numbers often associated with GB Bronze coins from Pennies to Farthings. (Listed on Amazon but currently unavailable.) If you are going pre Victoria, you might want "English Copper, Tin and Bronze Coins" by C W Peck. This covers 1558 to 1958 in the second edition. (There may be later editions.) Not on Amazon, I can see it on other sites for around £100. A very useful website is this: https://aboutfarthings.co.uk/catalogue/ although it is not being maintained at present. I hope that helps!
For Bronze farthings the Michael Freeman book is quite good but hasn't been updated in a few years. https://www.commonwealthcoins.net/book/british-fractional-bronze is the most up to date reference book on British bronze farthing varieties that I am aware of, although there have been a couple more discoveries since its publication. I'm not sure about an up to date reference on copper farthings though.
