The E-Sylum:  Volume 9, Number 24, June 11, 2006, Article 4

NEW BOOK ON TOWER MINT HAMMERED SILVER COINS OF ELIZABETH I

Paul Withers writes: "This morning we got the proofs of our book
'The Galata Guide to the Pennies of Edward I and II back from the
printers.  We are working on a book 'Anglo-Gallic Coins' which is
going to have all of the very latest material and research.  As
well as which Galata Print Ltd is pleased to be publishing a new
volume entitled "The Hammered Silver Coins Produced at the Tower
Mint During the Reign of Elizabeth I"

Size A4. Card covers. 84 pages, 18 of which are plates of
illustrations of the coins, either photographs, or superb line
drawings of punches. Price £24 plus £2 postage.

Elizabeth inherited a currency that consisted largely of her
father's debased coin, though by the opening of her reign the
mint was once again striking in sterling silver and was producing
the same denominations that had been struck by her grandfather
and his predecessors. The coins however contained only two thirds
as much silver as those of Henry VII and there is ample evidence
that Elizabeth's hope was to restore not only the denominations
but also the weights to what they had been in earlier times.

But turning the clock back was not an option. Spain was transporting
the treasure of the New World to Europe and the increased use of
money in England required a new approach. Setting her dream aside,
Elizabeth experimented with different combinations of denominations,
and by the end of the reign had chosen a set that then remained
unchanged until the introduction of decimal coins three and half
centuries later.

This excellent new work is written by I D Brown, C H Comber, and
W Wilkinson, who may be known to some of you as David, Chris and
Wilkie respectively. Even more of you may know the writer of this
note, who stood on one leg and squinted through a camera viewfinder
to take the photographs for the illustrations.

Such books as this are not written without a great deal of painstaking
effort and this one has been under construction for many years, each
of its authors bringing his own special talents to the project. Chris
Comber has an eye for the unusual, Walter 'Wilkie' Wilkinson an eye
for detail, while David Brown, the one with the computer, was left to
write the text and put it all together.

The authors resisted the temptation to produce a catalogue with rarity
ratings and check boxes as such an approach to the hammered coinage
is not appropriate, but their hope is that they have produced a book
that students of the Tudor series will find helpful and informative
whether they are collectors or students of history.

A photograph of each coin type is shown as is a line drawing of the
finer points of the illustration so that identifying features may be
spotted on worn, damaged or clipped coins."

For ordering information, see the Galata web site (www.galata.co.uk)
or email Paul at Paul@galata.co.uk.

  Wayne Homren, Editor

	coinbooks.org Web

The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization 
promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org.

To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor 
at this address: whomren@coinlibrary.com

To subscribe go to: https://my.binhost.com/lists/listinfo/esylum