Gold Coins of Anglo-Saxon England

My copiously illustrated and cross-referenced, 160-page catalogue, Gold Coins of Anglo-Saxon England, is now available here. At a price of £30 (including P&P in UK), this hardback is excellent value. This is a prequel to Sceatta List, covering all known 'thrymsas' and other gold denominations. This is the first fully-illustrated catalogue of known specimens since Humphrey Sutherland's 1948 Anglo-Saxon Gold Coinage and includes nearly 100 different varieties with numerous large-scale, high resolution images not previously available. This accessible and indispensable, hardback volume is a must for all detectorists, field liaison officers, curators, scholars, dealers, auction cataloguers and collectors.

Trade enquiries to the publisher, Shaun Tyas of Paul Watkins Publishing.

Feedback

Treasure Hunitng, June 2023.

Email, 5th December 2023, from AW:

I think that it is a hugely valuable book. I hope that it finds the readership that it deserves.

AW.

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Email 10th June 2023, David Woods, University of Cork:

It really is an incredible help or inspiration to be finally able to see decent, enlarged photographs of these coins. So, well done there!

Best Wishes,

David

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Email 6th May 2023:

The large format and bold design is very attractive.

Best regards,

RS.

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Email, 27th March 2023, from a Continental buyer:

I picked your book from post office during my lunch break. I just got home from work and can't wait to read it. It looks awesome! It has become one of my favourite books already. I missed this kind of literature for some time and now I found it and got it too. It is invaluable for my research. I can't say how glad I am. Thanks for signing it for me.

Best regards,

JS.

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Email, 23rd March 2023,

Hi Tony,

I have finally had the time to sit down and read your wonderful new book, Gold Coins of Anglo Saxon England.

This is exactly how a reference book should be. Beautiful clear images, well spaced out and uncluttered, and printed in a size that doesn't require a magnifying glass to see the detail.

The introduction section gives the reader enough information (without getting too bogged down) to understand the background and evolution of Anglo Saxon coinage through this period, as well as the importance of Christianity and its influence and driving force on the production and subsequent designs.

The visual identification section is a clever and helpful filter for narrowing down types of coinage depending on bust type, designs and motifs and then fully referencing the coin type using catalogue numbers is spot on.

The main catalogue section is beautifully laid out and very informative. Firstly giving a brief summary under the individual type or issue and illustrating clear high resolution images. As a reader, I always want to see plenty of images, and this book certainly gives that in abundance. All other useful information such as size, inscriptions and references on individual specimens is also given with plenty of detail.
The records of other known specimens are also listed for individual types, which is excellent additional information.

In summary, this is a well thought out and cleverly structured book. The illustrations are plentiful and show off the coins in all their beautiful glory, helping the reader to clearly see every fine detail. The Information given is excellent and the balance of background history is spot on.

Without a doubt, an incredibly well priced book for the quality and a must have for any detectorists' book shelf.

It was an absolute pleasure to read.

Kind regards,
Nick Argent.

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27^th January 2023, Andy Gillis, Dealer in Ancient Coins & Antiquities wrote:

Very interesting and informative. Even in today's digital age you cannot beat a proper reference book like this. Great images, up-to-date information and, to top it off, some of the coins illustrated are old friends.

Best £30 I've spent in a long time.

Well done Tony

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On 31/10/2022 12:20, Julian Evan-Hart wrote:

Morning Tony

That was fast - your book arrived this morning. WOW what a beautiful publication - lavishly illustrated - very few books truly approach ‘comprehensive’ but until someone with a detector finds another unique issue this work sure is.

Thank you for signing it too. My next few days shall be taken up digesting this. Stunning! Well done!

Best,

Jules.

Julian Evan-Hart,

Editor,

Treasure Hunting magazine.

Julian@treasurehunting.co.uk

07715 680584.

On 31/10/2022 17:35, Julian Evan-Hart wrote:

Hi Tony, am so loving this - a truly fabulous book. Cheers Jules.

On 31/10/2022 18:33, Julian Evan-Hart wrote:

Cheers Tony, Please feel free to use any quotes I make and please use my full name as I’d be proud to be associated with this book.

Best,

Jules.

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On 2nd November 2022, Demian J. Morrisroe, USA, wrote:

Hi Tony,

I received the book today and it is excellent. I found it very pleasant to finally bump my extremely dog-eared copy of Sutherland's book on the gold coinage down to a lower shelf in favor of a publication in full color and up-to-date. I was particularly interested to discover several variations on the Two Emperors type that I had never seen before.

In short, it's a worthy accompaniment to Sceatta List and the other standard references.

I'll be in touch.

Best,

Demian

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Comment on Facebook group Saxon Coins Sceats and Thrymsas:

JB: Fantastic the other books are amazing.

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From DS, 2^nd November 2022:

Hello Tony,

It looks good, nice and cleanly laid out. I understand why the quality of the illustrations vary so much as they come from all over the place, but it’s a nice production...Well done and congratulations in getting it into print. You deserve a medal - but you won’t get one!

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From a leading Anglo-Saxon coinage specialist, 2^nd November 2022:

Have read through my copy and it is very helpful to have this. Overall it shows how little survives and how one or two types dominate.

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From CH, 3^rd November 2022:

Very many thanks for sending the Catalogue last week. It's beautiful! So informative it rewards poring over at length.

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From SH, 3^rd November 2022:

Many thanks for your new book which just arrived today wonderfully wrapped and secure and a great book.

Nice addition to our library and thanks for signing it.

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From WB, 7^th November 2022:

What a lovely read thank you!

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From Kevin Easton, 10^th November 2022:

Dear Tony

…regarding your new book, you have managed to put it in a format that works, not just for academics, but also for someone like myself who is interested in a whole manner of old and ancient finds. Everything is easily explained, with excellent images. I’ve been metal detecting for 30-odd years now, and would have loved to have had a book like this when I had just started detecting.

It’s a must, as you just don’t know when one of these special little coins will turn up.

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From Eric Vandenbossche, France, 14^th November 2022:

Hi Tony,

I received your book earlier this weekend. It's wonderful, it's a beautiful comprehensive publication and very well illustrated. I have advertised it on French forums, maybe you will get orders.

And thanks for signing it.

It is a very good work, congratulations.

Best regards,

Eric

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From David Fanning, Kolbe & Fanning Numismatic Booksellers, 18^th November 2022:

The gold coins of Anglo-Saxon England are among the most fascinating series of the early medieval period, but they have suffered from the lack of a modern reference that takes advantage of the recent proliferation of new information and the ease with which color photographs can be integrated into numismatic books. Tony Abramson’s new book provides numismatists and detectorists with an up-to-date resource on these rare and intriguing issues.

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From a good friend (since c.1957!), 19^th November 2022:

What a lovely feeling it must be to know that people really appreciate and value your work. We’ll done Tony, you must be very proud. The child numismatist done good ?

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From JPSS, 24^th November 2022:

I have just arrived home and found the book waiting for me. Many thanks and congratulations! I now have almost as many of your books as your coins!

It is a lovely book - and will be of great interest.

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From KC, 29^th November 2022:

I sincerely mean it when I say thank you so much for taking the time to write GCASE. At least I will get back some of the petrol money I've spent going to that field 3-5 days a year from 1998-2006; 2017-2022 because your valuation will be difficult to argue against I hope. Plus it might be some compensation for finding nothing all the time spent there when I have loads of potentially productive fields to explore but have only been able to spend the little time I have on the gold field.

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From RL, 26^th December 2022:

Your Gold coins of Anglo-Saxon England is a wonderful book. It's a beautiful book with very clear illustrations and clear text. Finding one of these coins is on my bucket list.

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Review: Luke Mundy, The Hammered Corner, YouTube 12^th December 2022

‘’Informative, comprehensive, easy to follow’’

As a student of numismatics for two and a half years, Abramson’s Sceatta List rarely left my side when I began learning about the Silver Saxon Sceattas. Now, thanks to Tony, I have the lesser-seen gold Anglo-Saxon coins to research into thanks to his new publication Gold Coins of Anglo-Saxon England.

With a coinage as rare as the gold Anglo-Saxon coins, it was no surprise to me that when I first began reading it was almost as if I had began collecting again, knowing nothing about the coins themselves. But Abramson worked his magic and laid out his book in such a cohesive way that even I, a beginner, could get stuck into it without previously knowing anything before.

We start with a very useful introduction into the five phases of production, the same chronological format that the book and coins follow, that makes it easy to reference coins and cite information. We see a smooth transition from historical context to the minting history that allows for an education read that makes this book stand out from many others.

The phases are then listed with coins falling into a similar referencing system seen in his Sceatta List. With so few examples existing compared to those of the silver denomination, this allows for a more detailed and extensive write up of each type, displaying a large coloured image (where possible), references, disposition, obverse and reverse descriptions, provenance, metrics, scarcity, information references, die varieties, references to other known specimens and where to find them and also a unique insight into the history of the coin types themselves.

Whether you’re a student of English numismatics and have a passion in the Anglo-Saxon period or are a complete beginner with no collecting path, this book is a must for your numismatic library. My only complaint is that I now have another area of numismatics to learn and not enough time or money!

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