BOOK REVIEW: NAVAL AND MARITIME ENGRAVED COINS

I came across an engraved coin book on eBay about a month ago and I was quick to purchase it so I could add it to my library of love token books. I recall a LTS member asking me about a book previously this year and I think this is the same book. At the time, when I was described the nature of the book, I thought that it might have been the prisoner token book that came out around the millennium. However, the title was different than I had recalled. I would say this is a new love token reference book, but it was published back in 2004 in England. Good news sure travels slowly.

The problem with books sold on the internet is that you cannot leaf through the pages to see what is included in the book. Upon reading the description about the book, I learned that there were 140 pieces covered with nearly 300 pages of text and images and 16 pages of color plates. The author Sim Comfort states, Contained in this octavo volume is the first full study of maritime engraved coins and all the various types of ships found in this rare art form. The time span is from the mid 18th to the beginning of the 20th century. Included are 140 pieces that depict the great men-of-war during the age of fighting, Indiamen, privateers, convict ships, slavers and numerous merchantmen.

The coins are organized chronologically by the author. Those that do not bear engraved dates are estimated by a ship's name or style of a ship. The first engraved coin pictured is dated 1745 and the final coin is the Grand Fleet 1918. I immediately thought of Fred Schwan and his interest in WWI and WWII engraved coins. As soon as it arrived in the mail, I was snapping photos and sending them to Fred. Included were two HMS Dreadnought engraved coins. After I had Fred sufficiently salivating with excitement, I then sat down for about three hours and started reading the book.

I love the layout of the book as a reference. Each coin has a header with a few words to describe the coin (ex. Ship's name, battle name, memento mori, anchor, steamship, etc....). Then the obverse and reverse of the coin are pictured below in a nice large size for viewing. Under the coin, in bold text are subheadings of Description, Condition, Background, Nationality, and Date. It is very easy to follow and it is full of history about the ships and people. I love all the coin designs and they are probably easier to view and enjoy in the book than in hand because the one thing about early copper engraved coins is that they can often be very dark and harder to view.

For more information about the Love Token Society, see:
http://lovetokensociety.com/

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
NEW BOOK: NAVAL AND MARITIME ENGRAVED COINS (https://www.coinbooks.org/v21/esylum_v21n22a09.html)

	NBS (coinbooks.org) Web