Interesting coin books that aren't catalogs or references

Post books you recommend for reading, not as a reference. Here are eight that I thought were interesting:

 

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A few more:

 

Holt, Frank. Alexander The Great and The Mystery Of The Elephant Medallions

 

This gave me insights in coins relating to ancient economy.

 

Sounds fascinating!

 

Not an expensive book. And this is the index.

 

Here are a few that I've really enjoyed.

Roman Coins - C.H.V. Sutherland
Coins of the Roman Empire - R.A.G. Carson
The Metallurgy of Roman silver Coinage - K. Butcher and M. Ponting
Roman Coins - H. Mattingly

The Butcher and Ponting book is almost indispensable for understanding mint operations in the First Century.

Also, I have to second Monumental Coins mentioned above, it's a treat to read!

 

I'm glad you posted this thread @Roman Collector as I have been considering buying the following book on ancient economics.

Has anyone read this one? Have any thoughts or suggestions on similar books on ancient economics?

 

I've enjoyed what I've read of Crawford's "Coinage and Money Under the Roman Republic: Italy and the Mediterranean Economy". It's not meant to be a reference like his RRC that is generally used to attribute RR coins but instead is a book that attempts to trace the history of Roman money and how Rome went from not having coinage at the beginning of the Hellenistic period to its currency being the main monetary system across the Mediterranean by the time of Augustus.

I'be fallen behind on my reading due to how much time I've been forced to focus on work for the past couple of months but from the third or so of the book I've read so far I certainly recommend it for anyone interested in the coinage and history of the period.

 

Finley's book was published in 1973 and initiated a long and contentious discussion of the ancient economy. A book with interest to numismatists is
"Structure and Scale in the Roman Economy" (1990) by Richard Duncan-Jones. It has sections on "Time and distance," "Demography and manpower," "Agrarian patterns," "The world of cities," and "Tax-payment and tax-assessment." It is in a collection of his articles, with no coin photos, most of which emphasize quantification. If you are a professional scholar it is worth buying. If not, but you have a strong inclination to learn at a deep level, you will find it very interesting and might be able to get it from a local university library.

 

Some very good books are remarkably inexpensive because those potential readers who would have wanted the book two decades ago now expect to read (a paragraph or two--not a whole book!) on-line instead. Here is an good book written by a former president of the Royal Numismatic Society which has biographies of all the Roman emperors in chronological order:

https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/Se...&n=100121503&cm_sp=mbc-_-9780684183886-_-used

None of those copies on ABE are mine; I just searched the site and was struck by how cheap they were. It is an attractive hardcover.

 

I know many people dont like it when we discuss current auctions, but I'm not mentioning anything specific. CNG currently has 174 lots of single and multiple works plus another 123 lots auction catalogs from the ANS collection.

 

I just put my copy--the Republican moneyers volume too--in a pile to be dropped in one of the free Little Libraries around Rogers Park, Chicago, so if someone's in the neighborhood it won't even cost $3.80.

 

I very nice post worthy of saving for those in this area of interest.

 

I think we should start a thread on ancient coin books. It is coin related after all.

 

Okay, so this is the best thread ever, I want all the books I don't already own.

 

http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/book.html#vagi
I'll recommend volume 1 of David Vagi's Coinage and History of the Roman Empire, Coin World, 1999. I liked the second volume, too, but it is more of a catalog so does not fit this thread. Unfortunately, you won't find a Vagi half or whole for $3.80 and I can't see it being worth the ridiculous prices I have seen so I'll suggest hanging around the free Little Libraries around Rogers Park in the hope that Volodya will be tired of his soon.

 

A few good non-catalogue coin books:

 

In light of this thread I ordered "The Pocket Guide to Saint Paul" and "Testimoney."

This is part of the reason I love this forum, so thank you to everyone who posted to this thread!

 

I love this one:




Good weekend to everyone!!!