Description
Withers, P. & B. Lions, Ships & Angels. The Galata Guide to Coin-Weights Found in Britain.
Coin weights are pieces of base metal used to check that coins made of precious metal were not below the lower legal weight limit, which would have made them worth only their metal value. Such weights have probably been made since the introduction of coins, and since medieval times coin-weights have often had a design similar to the coins themselves and it is those weights which feature here. From that design, initials, name or mark, and occasionally a date, these pieces often reveal when, where and by whom they were made, which is what makes collecting them interesting, and the information derived from them potentially valuable to archaeologists, historians and economists. This new and enlarged edition contains over 570 colour photographs of weights and around 50 line drawings. It not only identifies all major types of British coin-weight from 1344 to 1843 but also identifies most foreign coin weights likely to be found on British soil and provides details of the British and Foreign coins for which the weights were made. A comprehensive index is also included which makes this a fantastic guide for archaeologists, curators, collectors and metal detectors.
2011. 95 pages, colour illustrations throughout. Casebound.
