The Catalog of the Ed Murphy Collection of Chopmarked Coins (The Chopmark Reference Series) Hardcover – October 27, 2024

Until relatively recently, chopmarked coins - currency countermarked by merchants in China and nearby regions, typically to confirm silver content - were thought to be damaged or at best, curiosities. Few pieces were considered important enough to be included in well-known numismatic collections, and fewer still were plated in public references. As a result, many chopmarked coins have lost their provenances with time; there are no comprehensive visual records of important chopmark collections such as those assembled by F. M. Rose and Hal Walls, apart from scattered pieces that were given pride of place in numismatic references or auction catalogs.The Ed Murphy Collection, assembled over several decades through dealers in the Philippines and through the American auction circuit, is one of the largest collections of its kind ever assembled. Meticulously photographed and incorporating Mr. Murphy's personal attributions, the catalog is intended to showcase one collector's particular interpretation of what constitutes a chopmark, and to provide an ironclad provenance for future collectors conducting background research on specific pieces. The Murphy Collection's particular strength is the comprehensive range of its host types, representing over 500 crowns, minors, and contemporary counterfeits constituting several hundred years, each of which is illustrated.Note that while the range of types is exceptional, the catalog provides little context for each piece or for chopmarks as a whole, and as such should be considered advanced reference material rather than an introductory guide to new collectors enterting the chopmark collecting space.Please note that this is the second edition of this work. The title was originally published on Nov. 5, 2023 under the pen name of 'James Wemmick', but this only resulted in confusion as more books have been added to the Chopmark Reference Series without the use of a pen name; additionally, Dan Huntsinger was added as a co-author in the second edition to reflect the considerable effort he has put into preparing and editing the images in the Murphy Collection, and the cover has been updated to match stylistically with the other works in the series. The only changes to the internal content from the first edition are attributions to the J.D. Bowman Collection, which was catalogued and published in the year since the first edition of the Murphy catalog was released. Read more