Dr John Sills, the Celtic numismatist from Grimsby, north Lincolnshire, has won a premier book prize. The council of the British Numismatic Society has recently awarded him the 2020 North Book Prize worth £500 for his “monumental” 825-page “Divided Kingdoms: The Iron Age old coinage of southern England” published by Chris Rudd in 2017. Described as “astonishing” by fellow numismatist Dr Philip de Jersey and “brilliant” by archaeologist Professor Sir Barry Cunliffe, Divided Kingdoms was judged the winner out of “no less than 17 titles published over the last four years”. Commenting on his award Dr Sills says: “I am delighted and honoured. This book took me ten years to research and write and, despite the fact that it weighs 8lbs and costs £95, has proved surprisingly popular with collectors and students of British Iron Age coins”.
Elizabeth Cottam, director of Chris Rudd Ltd. says: “A unique work of reference will always sell well if it meets a need, if it’s comprehensive and authoritative, and if it’s well illustrated. John’s Divided Kingdoms catalogues more than 10,000 Celtic gold coins of the southern, north Thames and Kent regions, is the first book that pulls together the past 50 years of coin finds to reconstruct the lost political history of southern Britain between Caesar and Claudius, and illustrates 600 of the coins with twice-size photos. I’m thrilled that Divided Kingdoms has been publicly acclaimed by the British Numismatic Society. In 2018 it was highly commended in the competition for the prestigious IAPN Book Prize.”
Dr John Sills was one of the authors of the well-known Catalogue “Ancient British Coins”.
The award-winning book “Divided Kingdoms: The Iron Age old coinage of southern England” by Dr John Sills can be found directly at Chris Rudd’s website.
