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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;TheRed, post: 3035497, member: 87080&quot;]Dolley, Frank. <i>Anglo Saxon Pennies</i>. The British Museum, London 1964.</p><p>Cost: aprox $10 used</p><p>Pages: 32</p><p>[ATTACH=full]756998[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>Grade: B</p><p><br /></p><p>This little booklet, at 32 pages and 16 plates it is hard to call it a book, was a impulse purchase late one night, but one that turned out to be a good one.&nbsp; The booklet covers Anglo-Saxon pennies from their emergence in Kent in the 8th century until the Norman invasion in 1066.&nbsp; After a brief introduction the booklet spends a few pages covering the coins in the British Museum as well as the importance of Anglo Saxon pennies.&nbsp; The rest of the text covers three distinct eras of coinage.&nbsp; The first era covers coins from the earliest pennies through the reign of Alfred the Great.&nbsp; The next era that is covered spans the reigns of Alfred&#039;s successors through Eadgar the Peaceful.&nbsp; Finally, the booklet covers the last century of Anglo-Saxon pennies, including those of the Norse kings such as Canute.&nbsp;&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>The focus of the text of the booklet is on the coins themselves, which are illustrated in 16 black and white plates with 3 coins per plate.&nbsp; The text covers the change in rulers in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms as well as the development of legends, portraits, and even mint locations.&nbsp; There is also a color frontispiece with three gold pennies.&nbsp; With such limited space, and thousands of types of pennies to chose from, the author focuses on the rarer and more historically significant pennies as apposed to the more common types.&nbsp; Thus a penny minted by Alfred to commemorate the capture of London or one minted by Eadmund for the reconquest of Derby are shown instead of a more &#039;common&#039; type for those kings.&nbsp;&nbsp; </p><p>Despite the focus on many rare or unique coins, and the limited number of coins that were illustrated, the booklet was an enjoyable, if brief, read.&nbsp; It did a decent job of introducing the development and changes in Anglo-Saxon pennies over roughly 300 years and putting them in their historical context.&nbsp; My major complaint is that the text was dry.&nbsp; So much more historical information could have been added to make a more compelling read.&nbsp; Another issue is that more coins could have been illustrated, especially for the later rulers.&nbsp; Those criticisms are probably unfair though.&nbsp; More historical information and more illustrated coins would have transformed this small booklet into a major work of numismatics, beyond its purpose as an easily accessible introduction to Anglo-Saxon pennies.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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