Today I was the highest bidder on this lot: This looks very promising. I have only Sayles and Plant from before. Really looking forward to getting my hands on the HISTORIA NVMORVM. I don't know what more to say, I just got excited... Yeah, and the postage is going to cost me, so why not pick up something cheap to please @Parthicus ... And two denarii, also a reasonable price and interesting coins. Do any of you have any of those books? And do you use them?
@svessien : Yes, it's always worth buying a Parthian coin. They're kind of like potato chips: You swear you're going to eat just one, and then suddenly it's half an hour later, the entire bag is empty, your hands are covered in salt and crumbs, and you kind of want another potato chip... I own two of those books, the Sayles "Ancient Coin Collecting, Volume I" and the Icard "Dictionary of Greek Coin Inscriptions". Sayles' book is a useful overview of ancient coins, giving details about the various coinages and about how to evaluate and purchase coins. (The section on Internet-based resources, however, is badly out of date.) Icard's book basically just lists inscriptions from Greek coins as an aid to attribution. The unique feature is that the legends are circularly permuted, that is, you can look it up starting at any letter on the coin, which is helpful for coins with only partial inscriptions visible. I've used it to attribute some coins, although you could probably do the same nowadays online. I don't have the Richard Plant book, but I do have two others by the same author, "Arabic Coins and How to Read Them" and "Greek, Semitic, and Asiatic Coins and How to Read Them", both of which are absolutely invaluable in reading and attributing Near Eastern and Asian coins. Based on those books, I would expect that your book is also very worthwhile.
Niiiice! Considering that I am looking for coin books right now, this thread is bang on useful. Can you review a couple when they arrive and you have the time to go through them? My eye went straight to the Historia Numorum. Funnily enough I came across an 19th century first edition of that book defore I even got into coins. If I recall, it retailed under £100. Should I get it? I love old books too. Generally I love old things with a bit of artistry and history attached to them!
The three on the left are wonderful. Left-to-right they have fabulous pictures of spectacular coins a scholarly nearly up-to-date survey of Archaic and Classical Greek coins a nice survey of portrait coins and history
Congrats on the auction wins. I have read "The Hellenistic Kingdoms" and really enjoyed the book. The photographs are wonderful and the text is a good read. I highly recommend the book
That's a wonderful assortment of books! Dictionary of Greek Coin Inscriptions looks like it might be very useful. Please let me know how you like it .
I have a few of those books. I have the Icard "dictionary" in paper back. The introductory text is in French, but is not necessary for the use of the book. This book alphabetically lists Greek coin inscriptions in whole or in part and gives you linking information about the issuing authority. Most of the text is in Greek uncial (uppercase) lettering corresponding to the forms of coin inscriptions in whole or in part. It is a very handy volume to have at your fingertips until you become fluent enough in Greek coin inscriptions that you can parse things for yourself. But it is not a "beginner" book so much as a handy reference for help in attribution. I also have the Argonaut reprint edition of Head's Historia Nummorum. The book was assembled in the late 19th century (1800s) so the information tends to be dated, e.g. some place names have been reconsidered, some alternative attributions now, differences in archeological record, etc. Still, it is a good jumping off point for understanding how these coins may be/have been understood. I do not have the Svoronos picture index that illustrates Head's book, but suppose that it would help clarify some areas where attributions have changed in the last century and a quarter. The two volumes with Colin Kraay's name attached should be a good check on what you learn in Head (as would a volume or two by Martin Jessop Price). Kraay was the ancient numismatic Doctor Father of the mid 20th century. I think I have a scaled down version of his Methuen book, and when I attended to Greek coins you could not get enough of him. The book he did with Norman Davis on "Hellenistic" should be an authoritative and interesting read even today. The Franke and Hirmer book is a photographic adventure of some of the most luscious material you would want to see. Hirmer went on to collaborate on other Greek and Roman "coffee table" books, and he was the spark that got me interested in Greek in the first place (though the market realities forced me to move on). Unless I have my wires crossed I think the British Museum "Guide" is a general intro to the BMC Greek Catalog. Early 20th century scholarship and opinion. The Plant and Sayles books you know.
Thank you! I view the HISTORIA NVMMORVM and the BMC books as antiquities. Like my unusable Hill first issue. The rest of the books sound very interesting. Looking forward to it. Thanks for the good information.
In my earlier days in the hobby, I got a lot of enjoyment out of Historia Numorum. I even bought the slender separate 'Illustrations' volume of plates showing plaster casts of a few coins which you have, too. The book has been out of copyright for years and is available online. http://snible.org/coins/hn/ While some information is dated, there is a lot of good left in the old pages. It is not just a catalog as most newer books tend to be but has information that help us understand the subject. I believe yours is the 1963 reprint of the 1910 revised edition. (Check me on this.) Weights in HN are given in grains rather than grams as we see today. You may find this handy: https://www.google.com/search?q=gra...4j35i39j0l3.3878j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 for an approximate result, divide the mass value by 15.432
Thank you, Doug! I have now also gotten my hands on a collection of unattributed Greek bronzes. That’ll make the books useful. I’m not sure how deep I will delve into the dated books, but I’m looking forward to having it in my library.
Looks like a good collection. The first Greek coin book I bought was HISTORIA NVMORVM. I found it useful when I bought a coin outside my collecting area, Roman Republican. I think the picture book is a must. I still use it at times when I run across a cast bronze coin that is not in Crawford. The book covers a large area and can not address the details books with a narrow focus do.
Several of these books are excellent. Franke and Hirmer is an impressive "coffee table book" of Greek coins - the English version tends to be expensive in the $500 range. Kraay's Archaic and Classical Greek Coins is a wonderful overview of the subject. A good companion to Kraay would be Morkholm's Early Hellenistic Coinage. I have an original Icard Dictionary from 1929, and I have found it very useful for attributing partial-inscription Greek coins. For those wondering from time to time about the usefulness of certain numismatic books, I highly recommend Dennis Kroh's Ancient Coin Reference Reviews, which is a helpful collection of reviews of the most important numismatic book resources circa 1993, arranged by subject matter. It's a paperback and can be found in the $50 range.
The British Museum Guide is a catalog of highlights of the British Museum's collection of Greek coins. The 1932 printing features 801 coins printed on 50 high quality plates. Each gets a catalog-style description. There are 52 plates in the 1959 and 1965 reprints. In the days when there were not a lot of coins on the Internet I scanned my copy and put the plates online at http://snible.org/coins/guide/
