Good day everyone. As you can see from my profile, I am new here.
First, I must say that I am not an expert in numismatics, and am not a great collector as such (more of a "hoarder" type). But, I am a web programmer so I decided to combine hobby with profession, and build a web site. Yes, I know about Numista but there are many things I don't like there.
So... I have been working on this: http://onlinecoin.club/
The main idea being - it should be general reference site which allows "deep research" - not just a list of coins but also cross-referencing (who was the monarch who issued that coin / what else was issued during that reign; which mint struck this coin / what else did that mint issue etc.), plus proper attribution - which fact came from which source.
As part of that, I am building a database of all people that might appear on coinage. And... here's where it became messy. For example, this is a list of effigies: http://onlinecoin.club/Info/Effigies/ (in the future, ideally I want a full list there of every monarch ever depicted on a coin). But... catalogues and most books are usually vague on who designed what, which effigy is displayed on a particular coin etc. For example, look at the post-1801 coinage of King George III: http://onlinecoin.club/Info/Reigns/United_Kingdom/King_George_III/ - was it really that messy, so many different portraits used at the same time?
Can somebody spare some time and give me some feedback on what I have done so far?
The site is still under construction. British coinage is here: http://onlinecoin.club/Coins/Country/United_Kingdom/ (scroll down for pre-decimal). I am still working on the copper/bronze coinage so not everything is there yet.
ps I don't even want to go into the topic of sovereigns and half sovereigns, and how to untangle the post-1880 varieties which seem to be listed differently in British and in Australian catalogues (if anyone can tell me which Spink listing matches which McDonald number, I'll be eternally grateful...)