Coins Books

In my book, "Astronomical Symbols on Ancient and Medieval Coins", I devote an entire chapter to the astronomical symbols that were depicted on medieval English coinage as signs of divine right to sovereignty. As part of my research, I read numerous books on medieval English history, and I found that Boon's book, "Coins of the Anarchy," was especially useful.

Not only were there many items of interest that added to my understanding of the history of Stephen's reign, but of all the books about Stephen that I read, Boon's book was one of the most interesting reads. The photos of coins struck during the anarchy are wonderful. Boon adds some detailed history to go along with each coin that he describes.

I highly recommend this book to all who are interested in English history, with particluar emphasis on the civil war between the Angevins and the Royalists.

Marshall Faintich

Richard L. Currier received his A.B. and Ph.D. degrees in Anthropology from the University of California at Berkley. Lots of pictures of ancient coins with a color section.
Contents include:
* How Coins Began
* The First Real Coins
* Weights, Measures, and Values
* Seafarers and Conquerors of the Holy Land
* The Struggle Between The Romans and the Jews
* The Coins of Roman Palestine
* Hoards and Treasures

Of course this is a small book and can only give an overview but it makes a good beginning or supplement.

This is less a book than a "display case" for an actual coin from the time and place of Jesus. Discovered by an archaeologist. Contains numbered certificate of authenticity from The American Historic Society. The display page inside the book allows viewing of both sides of the coin. On my coin one side has what looks like a spoked wheel; the other side has lettering (greek?) and a small figure.

As a comprehensive catalog of the coins of the various Indian sultanates, this work not only supersedes the separate museum catalogs and other specialized works on Delhi, Gujarat, Bengal and so on, it also far surpasses the earlier "comprehensive" catalog by Dilip Rajgor. The end of the book includes a Rajgor conversion table in case your collection is catalogued using his numbers. Inscriptions are given in Romanized transliteration, but are not translated. Almost every type is photographed. This will be the standard reference for quite some time.

Excellent book-highly recommended to Turkish coin collectors.

Beautiful Numismatic Survey

A Review of "Coins - Pleasures and Treasures" by John Porteous

John Porteous covers a lot of coin history with this book. The author selected the prime examples from each of the eras covered. There are 32 pages of color photographs and 100 black and white photographs. There is ample historic background material to give a significant context.

Copyright 1964
Reprinted 1967

128 pages

Contents
1 - Coins of the Greeks
2 - Romans and Byzantines
3 - European Coinage in the Middle Ages
4 - The Renaissance and the Baroque
5 - Coinage Transformed

The subject selection is excellent and the photographs are outstanding.

I recommend this book as a good survey book on numismatics.

Perfect gift for my dad. He loved it! He learned new things and enjoys having the book as an ongoing resource for his bottle bank collecting interest.

If you have any interest in collecting coin-operated machines or in their history, you should get this book. There are a large number of color pictures of historic slot machines, arcade machines, pinball machines, trade stimulators, and jukeboxes. In addition to the pictures and market prices, there is a lot of information about the history of these machines, and tips for collectors. This book was a great help when I purchased a vintage slot machine.

This is your basic folder for collecting your state quarters. Since it is a Littleton Custom Coin Folder it comes in their standard dark green, with "Fifty States Commemorative Quarters 1999-2008" on the cover. Obviously if you are a serious coin collector then you want a folder that will match the rest of your sets, in which case there is a good chance that they are Littleton folders as well. Otherwise there are other folders that you can get that will give you a lot more information (some appear to be quite kid friendly), but I wanted the basic. To tell the truth, my father had green coin folders for his coin collection and so it had to be green as far as I was concerned. After all, green is the color of money. Not that coins are green, but they are money. Hey, childhood associations are strong, what do you want from me?

There are four panels in the folder. The first describes the series, also known as the Statehood Quarter Program, and explains some of the changes made to the obverse and reverse of the quarter. The next panel contrasts the obverse of the Washington Quarter (1932-1998) with the obverse of the Fifty State Commemorative Quarter (1998-2008). There are slots for each of those (although I used the bicentennial quarter obverse just to be different), and for the set of five quarters for 1999 and 2000. Panel three has the quarters for 2001-2004, and panel four for 2005-2008. So you will end up with $13 worth of quarters. I just got picked up the Nevada quarter so I am current and up to date. Just be aware that if it has not already happened, finding your own state quarter could prove to be the most difficult (last year I found more Minnesota state quarters in Oregon than I did in Minnesota; irony abounds).

Under each state name is listed the date it entered the union, except for the original 13 colonies, in which case the date is when it ratified the constitution. So the fifty quarters are arranged in chronological order, although since a state does not officially enter the union until the president signs the legislation. This is a trivial matter, but when the bills for statehood for both North and South Dakota, along with Montana and Washington, were passed on February 22, 1889, which was actually during the first administration of Grover Cleveland, it was Benjamin Harrison who got to sign the proclamations on November 2, 1889. However, the rivalry between the Dakotas was such that which ever territory was admitted first as a state could lord in over the other. So Harrison had Secretary of State James Blaine shuffle the papers and hide the text so that the president really did not know which one he signed first. However, the tradition was established to list North Dakota before South Dakota, but the chronology could be off here, at least they probably think so in South Dakota. However, that is something the rest of us can probably live with.

VERY WELL WRITTEN, WITH GREAT PHOTOS. BOWERS KNOWS THE SUBJECT AND HAS WRITTEN A GREAT BOOK FOR ANYONE INTERESTED IN U.S. COMMEMORATIVE COINS. EACH COIN IS GIVEN ITS DUE, FROM THE MORE OBSCURE ISSUES (E.G. THE OLD SPANISH TRAIL) TO THE MEGA-ISSUES (LIKE THE OREGON TRAIL ISSUE). PLUS, BOWERS TELLS HOW EACH COIN CAME ABOUT, AND WHAT ITS MINTING WAS INTENDED TO HONOR AND FUND. THIS BOOK ONLY NEEDS A COMPANION BOOK TO COVER THE COMMEMORATIVES MINTED SINCE IT WAS WRITTEN.