Featured Reference books

For book collectors, essential references are Carter's ABC For Book Collectors, Turner's Bookman's Glossary, Zempel & Verkler's First Editions: A Guide to Identification, McBride's Points of Issue and A Pocket Guide to the Identification of First Editions, Ahearn's Collected Books; and then specific author or subject bibliographies in the areas of collection.

 

Thank you very much

 

Jackson's silver and gold marks of England, Scotland and Ireland.

 

Does anyone have recommendations on a very complete and thorough reference guide for Ancient Coins? I just started collecting, and have a large array of coins I am trying to identify. Thank you!

 

Any recommended books on identifying antique furniture?

 

This eBay seller in NJ is always listing tin types, etc. I am not a collector, but I always enjoy looking at them. The photos of the period are amazing...the clothes, hairstyles, faces, backgrounds...
Example: https://www.ebay.com/itm/155113781980?hash=item241d807adc:g:VxsAAOSw5dBi9CkB

 

Thank you, @Pat Dennis . I've been buying photos through eBay since 1999. There are many wonderful sellers of photography there. I'm not familiar with that one, but it is not surprising because there are so many of them. Thank you for the link!

If you are on Facebook, there are also some nice groups you could join where people post photos from their collections. One of the biggest groups is Victorian Images. Although the title says "Images" it is really only for 19th-century photographic images.

 

Does anyone have recommendations on a very complete and thorough reference guide for Ancient Coins? I just started collecting, and have a large array of coins I am trying to identify. Thank you!


Jennifer - Ancient coins has no single book or series. The definitive reference for ancient roman coins is the 10 volume set RIC (Roman Imperial Coins). Retails for $1000-1300. Began as a survey of Roman coins held in royal collections during the 1700s and has been continuously updated since then. A bit difficult to use unless you're a true geek and are somewhat familiar with the style and format. A good beginner book is The Handbook of Roman Imperial Coins by David Van Meter. Roman Republican coins do not have a single 'one stop shop' book because of the variations and quantities of the coins. The History and Coinage of the Roman Imperators by David Sear and Roman Republican Moneyers and Their Coins, 63 BC - 49 BC by Michael Harlan are good starts.

The Greek world also cannot be limited to a single reference. A good reference for the serious collector of both Greek and Roman is The Oxford Handbook of Greek and Roman Coinage by William Metcalf. Greek only overview is Ancient Greek Coins (Coins in History) by G Kenneth Jenkins. Another good intro to Greeks is A Dictionary of Ancient Greek Coins by John Melville Jones. Greek Coins and Their Values Vol 1: Europe by David Sear is also a quality work.

A great place to start is the website WILDWINDS.COM . A friend of mine of 25 years, Dane Kurth, runs the site. It is a comprehensive photographic collection of ancient Greek and Roman coins, listed by city/state and ruler. Almost 100,000 coin photographs posted. Not only from great collections, but also from serious collectors. I have a dozen unique coins from my collection displayed there. Free of charge, it is the go to site for collectors, auction houses and coin sites.

My avatar here is of a silver denarius of Julius Caesar I bought probably 30 years ago. If you need assistance, please contact me offline. I'd be happy to help you out with IDs.

 

Oops, just saw the post I responded to is from 2020. But the reference list is still valid.

 

Great and very informative thread!

In my own area of arms and armour, and especially edged weapons, my favourite basic book for edged weapons is A Pictorial History of Swords & Bayonets, by R. J. Wlkinson-Latham. I bought this book as a young teenager when it first came out in 1973, and I had just starting collecting seriously. It was the best £3.50 I have ever invested! It was very expensive for me at the time, but I have always been thankful that I did so. 88 pages of text, and over 300 B&W plates showing many of the edged weapons of the world. Highly recommended as perhaps the best basic guide to the subject.
ISBN: 0 7110 0394 7. Published by Ian Allen Ltd. 1973.


If you want to know what you possibly may have , here is a good place to start!


On bayonets, which are a particular interest of mine, the best reference book out there in my opinion is Bayonets of the World , by Paul Kiesling. 670 pages with thousands of line drawings of many of the worlds bayonets, listed by country alphabetically, together with relative details, measurements, marks, scabbards etc. This mammoth edtion was first published between 1972 –1978 in four parts, but this is the updated and complete version. One of the most important refernce works on the subject. If you have a bayonet and do not know what it is, there is a guide in the book listed by length, which is a good place to start
ISBN: 978-90-70987-05-3. Published by S.I.Publications BV. 2009

 

Thank you for this valuable list of books