If you have ever wondered why you appear to have an ever-increasing amount of small denomination copper coins rattling around in your pocket, even in this world of credit cards and digital currency, this book will leave you wondering…is that all I’ve got. Small Change: A History of Everyday Coinage is an excellent introduction to the nuanced world of low denomination coins (only!) in British numismatics, with a wide-ranging brief to summarise the historical narrative that drove their issuing in an easily accessible 94 pages, many of which are given over to good quality and good-sized photographs of coins of every period.
Part 1 begins with a succinct summary of pre-money societies across the world before defining its subject: the ‘slippery concept’ of ‘small change’, which does not include forgeries…but does extend to countermarks, jettons, and tokens. Thus, while not providing anything more than a convenient general reference for anyone a passing background in numismatics, this book should be an essential introduction to many archaeologists, students and other readers who do not, and often find themselves looking at an odd coin and wondering how to begin to identify it (without asking a numismatist). Part 2 is entitled Britain 150 BC to AD 2019, and although sub-heading provide further period divisions, could perhaps be divided into more distinctive chapters. Nonetheless the content is excellent, striking a balance between the history and policies that drove the issuing of coins, from Iron Age tribes, the impact, and fluctuations of the Roman Empire to how Saxon and Medieval coinage was influenced, progressed, and altered. The pages on Tudor and Stewart coinage have the densest text but provides great social context, with notable reference to taverns and the punishments for forging and clipping. This leads into the introduction of tokens in late 18th century followed by milled coinage, and finally the modernity of the new site of the Royal Mint on Tower Hill in 1816, with a new range of copper, brass, and silver low denomination coins; finishing with a summary of why this did not lead to the disappearance of tokens.
Therefore, as an introduction and general narrative on the most common of British coinage types, this is a very engaging and well-written guide, with a great range of illustrations and should be highlighted to those who want to engage with numismatics. However, at its conclusion is perhaps its greatest omission in this feat, the acknowledgements include a useful list of websites where collections of coins may be found, but there is no section of recommended further reading, or period/thematic bibliography that would provide an ideal postscript to such an eloquent introduction to the world of small change.