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What are your favorite World Coin books?


Theodosius

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Hello world coin collectors.

I am starting to get more serious about collecting world coins, especially larger European silver coins from 1450-1800. I like artistic, animals, city views and historical themes.

What are some good, entertaining books to go with that area? They don't need to be coin books specifically.

Thanks, John

ErzholdLeopoldARTalerAustria.jpg.37c0d35ac7d9992e573542ec5e1e33ae.jpg

AUSTRIA, ERZHERZOG LEOPOLD AR TALER

Davenport 3338b, Very Fine, 42.3mm, 28.43 grams, 1632, Hall mint

 

Edited by Theodosius
Fixed spelling error. Added coin attribution.
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How about the Davenport guides to European crowns and talers? As I understand it, there are various versions. The one I have is a one-volume paperback published in 1983, entitled "Standard price guide to world crowns & talers, 1484-1968, as cataloged by Dr. John S. Davenport."

Edited by DonnaML
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Hi Donna,

I have one of the Davenport series: European Crowns 1700-1800. It is a great reference book but not something you would read cover to cover. He provides a brief narrative of the history of each of the countries and some information about the various people illustrated on the coins. I have three more of the series on order.

I also have the Krause world coin series books, which are also good reference books.

John

 

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The problem is that most of the good books are written in German. I can't speak or read German. Google translate helps but can be quite time consuming. I have all of the Davenport books which is the best reference in my opinion but as you said, is sparse on details. There is a harder to find although reasonably priced when you do:

Germanic Coinages: Charlemagne through Wilhelm II    by William D. Craig  This has a lot of good information that you can't find anywhere else. Written in English

THE COINS OF THE GERMAN STATES    by Kurt Jaeger & Albert Pick This is a 12 volume softcover set that is very informational, but written in German

Loser-Thaler    by Duve  Another nice inexpensive book when you can find a copy. This concentrates on multiple thalers. Written in German

 

I know you said European but my focus is on Germany. 
 

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Thanks Chris, I will look for those. I can read some German, maybe this will motivate me to learn more. 

Unfortunately, the vendor just cancelled my 3 book Davenport order because they moved and their books are all disorganized...

John

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I have found that many volumes of Davenport are available on Amazon. Some are reasonable and some are expensive. So I've reordered some more volumes.

I've also found the Wikipedia article on "Thaler" to be a really good overview and a good place to get started if you're interested in the series.

John

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I have two go-to references.

For world crowns I've used a very handy, albeit dated, reference based on the Davenport catalog numbers.

514n7ehB0zL._SX333_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

 

For Latin America, Spain and Portugal, I've relied on the one volume Krause publication.  Again price information is dated, but the volume is quite comprehensive and it can give one a relative sense of rarity or scaricty.

61bxFAwFfXL._SX386_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

Edited by robinjojo
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I mainly collect  Italian States coins from 1600 to 1861.  My favorite reference catalog is the annual "Gigante Catalogo Nazionale delle Monete Italiane dal '700 All 'Euro" .  It's written in Italian and is very popular with Italian coin collectors.   

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