On Friday, Richard Lobel of Coincraft in London published this announcement. -Editor

This news was quite a shock. I hadn't met Phil in person, but corresponded with him often. I've included images of some of the books he published over the years. Here are thoughts from others throughout the hobby. -Editor

"I was tremendously saddened to hear of the very premature and sudden passing of Phil Skingley, someone I had known for at least 40 years - he had been connected with the numismatic trade for at least that long. We first got to know one another better in the mid 90's when I asked if he would join me in the Book Department at Spinks in London. From 1997, I believe it was, we looked after Books and Publishing together.

Whilst I had already been there for almost 30 years, the period he was with me there was a time of great change at the old company. Spink had purchased the Seaby list of books, including the lead publication Coins of England - and for many years Phil edited that publication - it is now owned by Sovereign Rarities, in London.

Other key works Spink acquired at the time were the famous and well-respected works relating to ancient coins produced by my close and long-standing friend, David Sear. I left Spinks in 2006, subsequently starting my own company dealing in out of print and rare Numismatic Books. Phil continued at Spinks as Manager of the Book Department. 10 years ago he left the old company to join Coincraft where I know he was extremely content, and he really had found his niche in the coin trade."

"I first met Phil in 1998 in Spink's old offices in King St. When they moved to Bloomsbury several years later I met with Phil and Douglas Saville in his office to discuss the marketing of the new volume in the Sear Roman Coins and Values series. DS was tied up that evening so he suggested that Phil and I go a local pub and "get pissed" which we did - in the cavernous basement of the Cumberland hotel. The first of many, many pints I enjoyed with him.

The next year Douglas indicated that he was done with the New York International and suggested Phil and I team up as Spink-Davis replacing Spink-Kolbe. For 20 years we worked that show - Phil flying into Boston, spending a couple days in Wenham and then the two of us driving a van down to the Waldorf and its several successors. He would ship over Spink published and second hand titles to merge with my stock. One year he sent 250 copies of the new Coins of England and we sold an incredible 175 - the balance he gave to me. Many great memories in New York but one of the best was the year before he was married. Without his knowledge Vicky flew into New York, somehow talked her way into his hotel room and was there when he rolled in.

Another year, he demonstrated his knowledge of English coins (and the trust Spink placed in him) as after the show I drove him to a Boston suburb to look at a gold coin collection. He valued it at a little over£200,000 and London said go ahead and buy it. Here was the manager of the book department spending nearly a quarter of a million on coins!

While at Spink, he published close to 100 titles, the quality (and diversity) of which reflected his guiding hand. And until Spink's owner Stocker inexplicably told him not to buy any more second hand books his knowledge of that market added£££ to the company's bottom line.

When he left Spink (after 1 weekend short of 20 years there) for Coincraft, he kept his eyes open for book deals, most notably the Spink library, and turned them over to me with little or no compensation asked. He was a tough but fair negotiator knowing the market and who might offer more.

He was a true fan of the New England Patriots and he should have in his closet 6 hats or T shirts. The last email I received from him a week ago cast doubts on Drake May's ability to cause me to have to buy him No. 7 (By the time anyone reads this, we will know if he was right or not).

Phil was a prince of a man, a wonderful friend, and most importantly a dedicated and loving husband and father. My heart goes out to Vicky, Red and Dexter."

"I'm shocked and incredibly sad to hear this awful news. We first met in 2014 at the New York International, through Charlie Davis and I would see him every year at this show. I would guess that our relationship was more professional than personal but on either level I liked him a great deal and truly regret that I did not get to know him better. At some point he became aware that I was working on a book about Washington medals. Either I had told him about it or Charlie had, and I was of course aware that he was in charge of the book division at Spink. Most of our early conversations were about books and or book production, a subject he knew a lot about and one that I had an endless fascination for. The story of how Spink came to publish Medallic Washington might be of interest.

In January 2016, Phil and I did not really know each other all that well. I think this was like the second time I had ever met him. We were at the New York International and both staying at the Waldorf Astoria. I was on the 27th floor and I assume he was on a higher floor because one morning as my wife and I were heading out to get coffee, we bumped into him coming down on the elevator. He was reading a newspaper which he lowered as we exchanged greetings. As we descended, he politely asked me how the Washington book was coming along and I, in my typical smart-ass way, replied that it was coming along fine but that it needed a publisher.

I fully expected that my slightly snarky reply would end the conversation, that his newspaper would snap back into place and we would finish the descent in silence. To my surprise, however, he said he might be interested and asked if I would be willing to show it to him? Honestly, I was flabbergasted, but needless to say, that night I sent him a PDF. To my even greater surprise, the next morning at Charlie's table he told me that he had looked it over and would like to publish it. I have to confess that at first I was stunned and perhaps a bit hesitant. I thought it might be strange to have a British company issue a book on Washington medals. Certainly there would be a touch of irony to it but the more I thought about it, the more I came to think there was also something poetic about it. I hope Phil did as well. Obviously we had a lot of communication after this, and Spink- read Phil, did a phenomenal job on Medallic Washington. It was Phil's idea to add the medallic photos to the book's covers and it was a brilliant one. The books were beautifully produced and everything I could have hoped for. He was brilliant and talented and did me a great honor for which I will forever be in his debt . My heart breaks for his family."

"I was saddened to hear of Phil Skingley's untimely passing. And very surprised, since we were the same age and I like to think I have plenty of time left.

There were others who knew Phil much better than I, but I remember him well from during his days with Spink, when I dealt with him on a number of occasions regarding both new and secondhand books. He had an energetic approach to his business, along with an upbeat manner that was always welcome. I enjoyed dealing with him and he will certainly be missed."

"I first met Phil at Spink in 1996 when he joined a stretched Douglas Saville in the book department. I had already been a client for a decade or more and it was noticeable the difference that this added resource made to the book and publishing department. The used and antiquarian book side was improved as was the quality of the Numismatic Circular. Over the next decade it was a great pleasure to visit them both frequently in London. After Douglas left, Phil became my main contact point at Spink and encouraged me to write pieces for the Numismatic Circular which I did with pleasure. When Hugh Cloke and I began work on the "London Mint Of Constantius and Constantine" it was Phil who reassured us that "if you write it, I'll publish it". Indeed he did! It was not without issues though, I was at Singapore airport in July 2015 when I got a call from Phil to say he had bad news - he was at the printers in Malta and the book's plates were too dark and unusable. The whole print run would have to be pulped and redone. He reassured me that the publication deadline, which was the International Numismatic Congress in Taormina, Sicily that September, would still be met.

"I next set eyes on Phil, in shorts and T-shirt striding through the Eastern Gate of Taormina with his sons Red and Dexter, one on his shoulders and one by his side (Vicky was sorting out the caravan at the campsite) and with a big grin he said, "Where's the conference centre? Shall we see if the books have arrived?". Indeed they had and LMCC was successfully launched the following day ...

"After he left Spink his presence was greatly missed by us although I did see him at various London coin fairs over the next decade when he always had time for a chat and seemed to be relishing his new challenge at Coincraft. The numismatic trade will miss him greatly."

"Phil Skingley was a good kind friend, past work colleague, and great trade contact for the past 30 years. I am one of the many people in the coin industry who will greatly miss him.

I first became friends with Phil when he started working at Spink with me circa 1996. He worked on the floor above me and we would pass customers over to each other daily whether they wanted books or coins. Phil was just over six months older than me and had also started in the trade at 18, working with Mike Veissid (who now organises UK coin fairs in London/ Birmingham/ York) at the Shrewsbury Collectors Centre, which was based at the castle gates and was local to where Phil lived with his parents.

Phil made the move to London seamlessly and became a firm friend and colleague to me and Antony Wilson at Spink as we were all of the same "school year" age. Though Phil was now concentrating on books and publications, he had had a firm introductory grounding in coins and was often chomping at the bit to help with anything coin related. If there was a spare collection that needed some work for stocking out or auction then Phil was always happy to help.

He had an amazing work ethic which only grew stronger as his career progressed. He was a great supporter and advocate in many joint deals we did when buying in coin collections which would also inevitably include libraries and he was always willing to travel. Antony Wilson emigrated to the USA in 1998 to run the Spink America office, therefore Phil would come to coin fairs with me as we were both keen to attend as many as possible UK wide, whilst trying to make our own individual marks in the coin and book business. I remember some very good trips we had particularly to the Irish Coin Fair in Dublin 1999, plus a one-off Manchester coin fair which took place in a then brand new Radisson hotel, which clearly was not prepared for an onslaught of coin dealers taking over their rooms and restaurant.

Once Spink moved to Bloomsbury in early 2000 the book and coin offices were on the same first floor though a pop up book shop eventually appeared near the ground floor entrance. As we were all together now on the same floor, our friendship grew and there were some great times shared on occasions like colleague's birthdays, major auctions, book launches and drinks receptions.

We shared many road trips over the years including one where we hired a small van to go to Dublin and back via the ferry at Anglesey to obtain the Prof. James Brindley library of principally ancient coin books and exhibit at the Dublin Coin Fair. We discovered a shared love of live music there, and later Phil would even trust me to buy him a CD to introduce him to something new if I was going to the record store at lunchtime. He enjoyed some part time DJing of an evening and even at Spink staff parties!

I left Spink in 2005 and ended up in A H Baldwin where our relationship as fellow traders continued symbiotically for years, with some good times shared at New York Coin Conventions, when he would help Charles Davis. Phil would kindly call on me for advice re new proposed publications in my specialized area for comment and proof reading, such was the trust and confidentiality between us.

Phil left Spink just over 10 years ago for pastures new at Coincraft with Richard Lobel and Ian Jull, whom he had always known well. It's fair to say that once you were a firm friend of Phil there was never any reason for that to change. As Richard would say "Phil joined him for the lifestyle, not the salary" and he had become a major working part of their company who will now be so sorely missed.

I last saw Phil in early November when he dropped off a deal at Sovereign Rarities we had made with him at Coincraft. As he left we hugged goodbye and agreed to meet up in the New Year for lunch. Little did I know that this would be the last time I would see him.

We will all miss Phil, he still had a great future ahead of him, now cut so cruelly short and our hearts and sympathy go out to Vicky and his two sons Redmond and Dexter. Rest in peace my friend, you will never be forgotten. "