Of the countless reference books can I get by with Two? One for Greek and one for Roman. Forgot Britain.. Anyone have older copy I can buy? Rich Sear for Greek Price For Roman Spink Great Britain
I prefere how coins are organized in RIC compared to Sear. Although that's just a matter of taste. Sear's books are cheaper compared to getting all volumes of RIC and booth are good references. For greek coins I use The Handbook of Greek Coinage Series which I really like. They consists of 13 Volumes so quite some books and not cheap if you want to have all of them. I don't think there is a good one-way-book where you get everything, but there are lots of free online resources like wildwind and OCRE. I use them all the time.
Since you are asking for a single book, I assume that you are just starting out and want a general overview. Greek Coin Types by Richard Plant is the only single-volume book about Greek coins that I can think of, but I find it difficult to use, and it doesn't provide much background information. David Sear's Greek Coins and Their Values, vol I and vol II is more helpful, and you can probably pick up both volumes for close to the same price and the Plant book. For Romans, the Handbook of Roman Coins by David van Meter is, in my opinion, the best single-volume book to start out with.