English Hammered Coinage Vol 2: Edward 1 to Charles 11 1272-1662 (Hardcover)

It includes 1600 photographs of good examples of each type in an appendix rather than inserted within the text, which is probably why some readers have judged this book as lacking in photographic illustrations (they didn't read far enough to find them!). In fact, it contains 3 to 4 times as many photos per coin type compared with Spink's 'Coins of England' 2005, and they are of at least equal quality.

What this book gives you that others don't is more and better keys to identification. Its drawings of individual letter shapes, crown shapes, and the lists of types that go with them (in addition to the photographs) really make the difference between identifying a coin positively and being unsure.

The other invaluable bonus is the additional info on mints, and the dating of types. If you buy and sell coins online you will know what a difference to the sale price specific information can make. I have more than doubled my online auction prices since including the information in this book into my descriptions! Instead of saying only 'This coin was minted in the reign of King John', which I might have worked out from Spink's 'Coins of England', I can now say things like 'This coin is one of the earliest of its issue, minted 1209-1211, and shows the rare long serifs characteristic...'.

To work out what I had, I bought a superb book by Peck - English Coins in the British Museum. Excellent, detailed, well illustrated and sadly out of print. Unfortunately the book starts with 17th Century coins and I had a few coins from the 13th Century. Time to buy another book!

I bought this book by North on the recommendation of a coin dealer, so I was full of anticipation as I opened the Amazon box. I rushed to classify my coins.

What a shock! The Edward I section covers Pennies well, but the photo illustrations (essential to following the text) are so poorly reproduced as to be useless. Often the obverse of coins are shown but not reverse. DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK IF YOU COLLECT HALF-PENNIES or FARTHINGS as there are almost no illustrations. This is a real problem as they look very different from the Pennies.

There are a few subtle differences between Farthings from Edward I to Edward III. This was poorly discussed and not illustrated at all.

Eventually went to the British Museum and did my own research. Wow - with good examples to look at it was all so much clearer. The North descriptions of early Farthings are so poor that dozens of coin dealers unintentionally mis-classify their coins. Bad for collectors, bad for dealers and bad for the publisher.

I really feel that I wasted my money. The publisher must do something to improve the quality of the reproductions. This is the third edition. Maybe it's time to update the format & content.

I gave this book 2 stars because I hope it gets better in later sections. It's just too depressing to think it doesn't.