30 years after auctioning my British coin collection (mostly milled issues), this numismatic area is drawing me back, although now I'm mostly looking at hammered silver beginning with Edward I. I see lots of auction listings that indicate that an issue is rare. This is widely found in good collections being offered and rare issues command a premium even in lower grades. What are the best references for English hammered coins documenting varieties and mints? Back in the 70's and 80's, I owned both volumes of JJ North but basically found them not very useful. The issues of Charles I, for example, are particularly rich in variety, but I could use some guidance on navigating them. Are the BMC catalogs good references for the later hammered issues? Others? I don't mind paying high prices for books but I want to know they will be useful. Any input would be appreciated.
Best I ever ran across were the North books. But that's for books. If you're serious about this, you might better info, at least in regard to values, on these 2 websites. https://www.acsearch.info/ https://www.coinarchives.com/ They used to be free but gained so much in popularity that they aren't anymore. But they have the best auction records for the kind of stuff you're talking about that I ever found.
I cannot claim to be an expert on English hammered and I often use online help from the predecimal.com forum where there are a number of the top experts regularly contributing. Starting point for books must be the Annual Spink Coins of England and the United Kingdom, which will get you most of the way with most coins. If you want to get into more detail there is a series of books published by Galata and edited by Paul and Bente R Withers in their Small Change series, which will cover you in detail from Edward I to the Commonwealth. Earlier than that I still use North, though I agree it is a bit of a nightmare and well overdue an update and reprint. I am sure there are many more books on specific areas - I met a man once who had devoted his life to documenting just the varieties of Elizabeth I sixpences, and had produced a book on the topic, but I have forgotten his name!
Thanks for the guidance GDJMSP and PaddyB, I'll pursue the Spink book first. As I was just searching my library, I found hidden in the back, an old copy of Seaby's Coins of England and the United Kingdom, which has some of the detail I was hoping for. I assume the Spink books are similar. Perhaps Spink actually took over the publishing of these books when Seaby went away(?)
Yes, Spink superseeded Seaby. I have an older edition of Spink, but it is quite good. If you are familiar with United States coinage Spink is the equivalent of the red book. It is a good general guide, but there are more detailed Specialists references.
