Post your favorite COIN book and related coin!

Hi everyone,

My favourite coin book is David Hendin's 'Guide to Biblical Coins.' Although, it's not my wallet's favourite.



Here is my bronze Shekel of Tyre. There's only a handful of these around. There was no trace of silver on it, so it's not a fouree. Pretty funky!



I don't think this exact coin is mentioned in the book, at least I don't remember reading about it. But, it's certainly related. Even though it's pretty worn, t's become one of my favourites because of the mystery that surrounds it.

Erin

 

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Having just acquired this book - I will have to come back to this thread.

 

I love the BC comics ...


Oh, and I also love our current coin-world similarities!!




Okay, fine ... some of you are more recognizable than others, but you all know who you are, yes?

Sometimes this place is pretty cool ... thanks for the great times, my coin-friends!!

 

I've received a lot of help and guidance from many on this site;

1. Was to get these 2 books. I finished the Sayles book and just started reading John Fox'.

2. Don't buy on Ebay until I'm more familiar with Ancient Coins. This advice came after I announced my first (and last for now) purchase there. It was suggested that I post it to see what you think. So I'll use that coin as my post.

Severus Alexander 17mm 2.5-3g

As usual ; Thanks !

 

i just finished reading this, enjoyed it very much...



here's a coin i got out more than once while reading. i spent 20 bucks on this coin, and have probably had my hand on it more than any other coin in my collection. i know now that it is an "agonistic" coin...and that agonistic coin didn't mean what i thought it meant before reading the book.






oh...and that it commemorates the pythian games, as it says on the bottom. i can read a tiny bit of my greek legends now...poorly.

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-lis...?ie=UTF8&condition=used&qid=1469479758&sr=8-1


Another book that is perhaps not my overall favorite but I believe the best of its class ever written is Frank Robinson's Confessions of a Numismatic Fanatic, 1992. I don't know if he still has any for sale but one person can get a really cheap ($3.08) on on Amazon. It is not worth the $116.04 asked by the seller from Japan. While there are chapters on ancients, the book is overall on collecting in general with chapters on fakes, tokens, ethics and many other subjects. My personal favorite is his essay on investing pointing out the fact that the last person in line is not going to make money in any investment scam. He wrote this in 1992 when the concept was young for US and not even begun for ancients so he has nothing to say on the matter.

I believe the book is a must read but readers must realize that a few things may have changed since 1992. I said, "a few" and "may". The coin is a Caesar I bought from Frank's auction in 1987 for $71. I suppose it may now be worth that much but it is not what Frank calls 'investment grade' and it is not for sale.

 

I liked this book a lot when I got it and I like to lend it out a lot (twice :/ ) to introduce others to ancients.



I really like the look and feel of this one.

 

There are some really great books in this thread! My reading list keeps growing ...

Here is my contribution. The book is quite eye-opening in the breadth of detail and amount of information about how Roman coins were manufactured. The coin is one of my favourite Syrian tets.

 

With inflation thats comes to $150 coin, about what it would go for now I suppose.

 

My favorite book (but I have a lot of close seconds) is this relatively new book which shines light on the Romans reasoning behind so much architecture on there coins. The coin I chose was hard to pick pick as well but I love the style of this coin minted by Tiberius to commemorate Augustus's death and this referred to as an Altar is probably the Augustus burial enclosure.

 

As a fan of Dr. Elkins, may we assume one of your 'close seconds' is this work of his opposing the efforts of the ACCG to keep private ownership of ancient coins a lawful hobby in the US?
https://www.academia.edu/12094010/_...ournal_of_Field_Archaeology_40.2_2015_236-243

 

My current favorite. It has some great background information on each ruler, as well as very interesting historical information.

 

No the close second was Price and Trell, coins and their cities. Thank-you for bringing this to my attention as I was not aware of what else Dr. Elkins was pursuing. For the record I am against any legislation that takes away collectors freedom and restricts choice, as I am a signatory Ursula Kampmann,s petition against the German Cultural protection act.

 

Thanks Doug, I just ordered a copy.

 

Personally of course, I strongly disagree with Elkin's stand on private collecting which shows a shocking lack of understanding of the contributions private collectors have added to the field of numismatics.

That being said, I value and enjoy his own contributions to the field. I only wish he would afford collectors the same courtesy.

 

Sorry, I have to post another book. I just bought this a few days ago at a coin convention. I have been looking for a copy for a while and this one was priced right.

 

I just recieved an open letter from Ursula Kampmann,s open petition if anyone is interested it goes as follows.
Dear signatory of the petition,

We would like to thank you for your dedication once more. Although the new law on the protection of cultural property has arrived, it has not turned out to be as bad as its first draft had suggested. All minerals and fossils, for instance, have been removed from the law, and the due diligence on the part of the private owner has been drastically mitigated. The most important victory though, was the general recognition that coins are not inherently archaeological objects, which implies great easement in terms of care and trade.

You were a part of this achievement. Without your signature, many politics would have believed that collecting was a matter of only a tiny elite. The associations who did excellent work for us collectors were able to appear much stronger with all of you backing them up and supporting them.

Of course we are not happy with this new law. And we are still particularly angry at the political entities who used the argument of the art trade supposedly financing terrorism as a moral pretext in order to motivate the legislation. They thus knowingly discredited a respectable, blameless part of society! The fact that Monika Grütters was made the CDU state chairwoman of Berlin on 2 December 2016 anyway, shows how large the gap between German politics and the people of Germany has in fact become.

Meanwhile it has actually been proven that ISIS could only have earned marginal amounts through antiquities trade – which comes as a surprise to no one who has seriously occupied themselves with the matter. Several journalists have also come to realise this. The so-called financing of terrorism was nothing but propaganda. The post-factual age has thus not only started with Trump, and God knows it is not limited to the United States of America.
gatesofnineveh.wordpress.com/2016/10/14/house-homeland-security-committee-releases-report-on-isis-financing/

We will wait and see how the new law will be put into action. And many of us are ready to take the crucial questions to court.

In case we should ever need your support as a collector in order to put out a petition against disproportionate restrictions by the legislative power, we will let you know.

Sincerely yours,
Ursula Kampmann

 

Got it also. You should post the German version so @Bing can understand...