Ancient (coin) books ;)

Milne is available on VCoins and Amazon used for a slightly higher price:
http://www.vcoins.com/en/stores/cha...ogue_of_alexandrian_coins/107461/Default.aspx

http://www.amazon.com/Catalogue-Ale...8&qid=1386439590&sr=8-17&keywords=milne+egypt

Pay your money and take your pick but remember that being willing to pay an additional $850 may make you a more serious collector in some circles. I spent some time with the copy in the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts library this summer and determined that I do not need to own the book. It is largely a catalog and you know how I feel about that.

 

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My used copy was indeed an ex-library-book, which usually isn't a big hit for anybody collecting first additions => however, for a simple bloke like myself, this book is "perfect" ... man, this baby even has a cool ol' library-card from the "Shropshire County Library", which is located in England (how neat is that, eh?)

Thanks again for recommending this book!!

 

What about Curtis? I know one collector who owns a copy, unfortunately she's three time zones away from me, so I can't borrow it.

 

Curtis is more of a handbook than Milne. Milne often goes too far for my liking but is very comprehensive and is the definitive in my eyes. Emmett is newer and falls somewhere between the two. I have all three and various others on Alexandria such as SNG France 4. I use them all for different things. Many dealers use Dattari which I haven't seen and am unable to comment upon.

 

Hi Martin ... wow, it's always awesome hearing from you ...

Ummm, by any chance have you read that Sutherland book? (I like it, but obviously a few of you "far-more-advanced folk" might not find the book quite as interesting as I did?)

Cheers, brother

 

Lets ask what is it we want to get out of a book? I prefer the owns with text and pictures that give me an idea about much more than a catalog. I don't want to know what the three letters at the bottom of the reverse are (XXI, ALE, SMA, KAS etc.) but why they are there and what about the coin would change if the letters changed. It is like the difference between giving a man a fish and teaching him to fish. Harder books are not necessarily better books. I hate the situation where I find books in two categories: so simple I could have written the thing and so complex I can't understand it. Books need to fit.

 

I have read various general Ancient numismatics books but not the Sutherland book. I have hundreds of numismatic books covering a hige variety of topics. When I delve into a new area I try and learn more about what is normal for the mint or city or time period I am getting into. I have the Sear series but they are largely unused as they just don't add anything for me as they are general lists without any detail or background information. They illustrate very few examples but don't help to understand chronology, stylistic differences etc. I have several general books but not the Sutherland one. I find these are good for placing some historical context and illustrations of coins that are generally beyond my dreams of owning. I do own several specialist catalogs and find them most beneficial when there is detailed background information and plenty of illustrations.
Martin

 

I am somewhere in the middle. I like both types of books, both SNGs with no background just to check references, as well as more explanation type books. I even like catalogs, since they may delve deep on a coin and makes for good bathroom reading.

For reading, my favorite Roman book is Roman Coins by Kent with photographs by Hoberman. Not a terribly cheap book thouh, or very easy to find.

As for conditions, I am not a snob and buy used all of the time. I do try to protect them as much as I can with dust jacket covers and being careful with them though.

 

As a tangent to this conversation, we tend to think we have a huge variety of Roman types available to us as collectors, when in fact, I'm willing to guess that we'll never see half of the coins listed in RIC in the marketplace. I made an exercise of looking for every Aurelian ant listed in RIC, and only managed to find a handful of the more common types for sale.

The catalog portion of the book was actually quite educational in terms of cherrypicking technique, because now I have a general sense of what's common and what isn't, at least when it comes to Aurelian ants. I intend to repeat the exercise with other series as well.