"Buy the book before the coin," they said. Well, I bought the coin first (my avatar, a lovely Athenian tetradrachm). But then I bought a book, and then another, and then two more, and then several more. It was only after I bought these that I picked up a Menander drachm, and then a number of very affordable ancients, some in group lots, some just singles, in AMCC3. These are my "learning coins" at this point. But now for the books. First, though: be warned! This is a long post and is written from my personal viewpoint as a learner. My very first coin book is one that many will know, and to be honest, I actually recommend it despite its considerable limitations: Zander Klawans Handbook of Ancient Greek & Roman Coins. This book has glossy, high quality pages that are a joy to touch and turn; these pages have many beautiful, if small, black and white images of coins. The book also has a number of useful features, including an extremely helpful introduction to how coins were minted, a table of Greek letters and numbers, information on the relationships between denominations for both Greek and also Roman coins, and an alphabetical list of names of Emperors as they frequently appear on Roman coins. In all honesty, the main reason I chose this book as my entry point was simply because it was cheap and easy to find on Amazon! The next book I bought was Paul Rynearson's Collecting Ancient Greek Coins: A Guided Tour Featuring 25 Significant Types. From the perspective of someone who is new to ancient (Greek) coins, I can say that this book is outstanding, even if I have a few quibbles here and there about things that could have made the book a little easier to follow. The field of ancient (Greek) numismatics is so broad that it be very overwhelming. Rynearson breaks this problem down into manageable chunks, first with general essays on topics like historical background, artistic themes, how Greek coins are catalogued and graded; forgeries, building one's collection, and so on. He then proceeds to give a brief overview of 25 significant types, such as Aegina's Turtles and Athens' Owls (both international coinages), the "boy on a dolphin" design of Taras, the bee design on Ephesians' coins, and so on. There are numerous pictures in full colour, including a special section at the back that shows them in relative sizes. A small but very handy glossary rounds out this most worthy book. I cannot recommend it highly enough to the beginner or novice! The third book I read was Wayne Sayles' Ancient Coin Collecting (2nd ed.), the first book in a series by him on collecting ancients. Although some parts of this book have dated (e.g. any discussion of the internet), Sayles' book remains very useful in giving a very broad overview of ancient Greek, Roman, Byzantine, and even (very briefly) non-classical cultures' coins--and the collecting of those coins. There are very informative tables (e.g. a list of Roman emperors, and a wonderful section on abstract personfications on Roman coins). Topics include history, how to create a library and learn more; attributing and dating coins, both Greek and Roman; how to build a collection, and so on. The book is dense, but not too dry. Unlike the first two books, though, this book has a far higher ratio of text to images, and the images are of much lesser quality than those in the two books I've described above. Still: it's worth the read. All three of the above works have some overlap, which is good for a beginner collector: more reinforcement! While I will come to Sayles' second book in this series, a work on collecting Greek coins a bit later, right now, I am reading David Sear's new book An Introductory Guide to Ancient Greek & Roman Coins: Volume 1 Greek Civic Coins & Tribal Issues. It's worth noting that although this book is aimed at novices as well as collectors with some experience, it approaches pedagogy in a much different way from any of the titles described so far. It begins with a preface intended for the whole series, so if you're interested only in Greek coins, you will be surprised to find a lot of talk of Roman coins and Roman history as well as their Greek counterparts. Immediately following this is an alphabetically-organized glossary that goes on for forty pages! At first, I questioned the wisdom of this approach: wouldn't it be better to arrange the material thematically? Or if not, then to put the glossary in the back, as is more customary? I think the reason that Sear wants it put up front is because this book covers a much vaster set of data than, say, Rynearson's book with its more pedagogical approach. You simply need to read through it before you go on. And to be sure, it is interesting and informative. Following that, Sear then covers, in discrete chapters, the world of Greek coinage, starting with Celtic coinage (which for beginners is often lumped in with Greek coinage). In doing so, he is not making much concession to the beginner collector and reader, who may be wanting a more systematic introduction to topics in a way that allows one step to build off another. However, Sear is still doing the reader a favour because this is actually the standard order used in the industry, for example, by auction catalogues. One simply has to get used to it, so this is as good a time as any. The text is dryer than Rynearson's, but still readable, and not difficult, except in one way: one will often read about some coin in a western area that actually got there only after being introduced in an eastern area. This makes a "proper introduction" to each coin sometimes a bit difficulty. On a more positive note, the book is lavishly illustrated, with nearly every page in this section sporting multiple full colour, high quality images in the margins. The pages are also glossy and smooth, which is always nice! I've only just begun the chapters on discrete areas, and I'm still wondering how to approach it, due to the sheer amount of information provided. Should I take copious notes, as I have with each book I've read until now? Or should I just skim it and then read it, or even just look at the pictures, and then read it? So far, I've been going the copious notes route, but I don't know if I can or will continue that; I'm getting a bit impatient. Perhaps I will read Sayles' book on Greek coins first, and then come back to this one. One thing I do know, though: this book is essential if one wants to understand Greek coinage. My advice for the novice is to start with Rynearson's carefully-focused work, like a beginner should, and then move on to this more intermediate-level book at some point after. There's a lot of data to get acquainted with, a lot of coins to see and learn about. But that's why we're reading the book, isn't it? Insofar as this book introduces all these coins, it performs a valuable service. Some time ago, I saw two titles in a list of books ancient collectors are "supposed to" buy, so I bought them. One is Christopher Howgego's Ancient History from Coins; the other is a gorgeous coffee table book 100 Greatest Ancient Coins (2nd edition), by Harlan Berk. This is a lavishly illustrated book that is a joy to look at and to read. That said, I'm sure many will quibble with certain coins being excluded, or with the ranking order. That's fine. Just enjoy the book, because that's what it's for, and ranking can be subjective anyway. One thing I did appreciate is Berk's comment that even though some of the coins he includes in his list are four or even five figures in price (putting them forever out of the reach of most collectors, including me), collectors still need to know these coins! Indeed, the larger coins of Syracuse, in particular, are widely considered among the best and most beautiful coins ever minted. I think one could say that the engravers of the dies were more talented than most engravers, or even all, today. The next books I bought are all reference works, and some of them came in very handy when I tried to find out more about my first Greek bronzes, small, tiny, and often worn. The first I wish to discuss is David Sear's 1978 2-volume catalogue Greek Coins and their Values. The values, of course, are completely out of date, but it's the catalogue that matters. This is not the sort of book you'd read cover-to-cover (although I guess one could, and it would certainly be a very informative experience). The organization of this set follows the standard approach of looking at a geographical area, and then within that area, looking diachronically before moving on to the next area. What I've found hardest in using it is trying to find which cities are in which chapters; the table of contents helps with this, but not completely. Essentially, you need to know the region the city that minted your coin was in. (I also bought Sear's Greek Imperial Coins and their Values, because they were part of a special sale from Charles Davis's numismatic books shop on Vcoins.com. The sale and selection may be different, but I really do recommend this store and the service that Charles Davis provided me.) I do strongly urge those new to attributing ancient Greek coins to buy one book when they come to Sear, and that work is Greek Coin Types and their Identification, by Richard Plant. This is a wonderful resource for those who are looking to identify and attribute coins. It is divided into two parts: a list of coins and their designs, and a set of black and white drawings of those coins. The way the book works is that you look up the reverse design according to various categories, for example, two figures, one armed figure, horseman, horse alone, grapes, etc. Your eyes can quickly scan the diagrams on the pages in question, and then when you find the coin that matches yours, you just look up the corresponding number in the list. Using that information, it is then much easier to track down information in the Sear catalogue. I have found that Plant's book, while it can't possibly contain all or even most Greek coins, is definitely useful. I recommend it very highly. I only need to mention three more books, or maybe four. About two years ago, I went to my local university library and photocopied John Melville-Jones's entire Testimonia Numaria, Vol. 1. I had no ethical problems doing so because the book is out of print, and typically sells for a few hundred dollars or more. When I was looking, I couldn't even find one available at any price. Anyway, what this book is is a collection of excerpts of ancient Greek texts about money. The experience of reading all these primary source texts (which are often bite-sized, though not always) was extremely pleasurable for me, as well as eye-opening. If you can, buy the book. As for the publisher, Spink, I really hope they do get with the program and reprint it. They could even offer a digital download. This work is far too important and useful to be beyond the reach of 99% of ancient Greek coin collectors. I did manage to get my hands on Melville-Jones's Vol. 2, though, which is his commentary on the texts in Volume 1. I haven't read it yet, but I will at some point look at it. The penultimate book I will mention is another Melville-Jones work: A Dictionary of Ancient Greek Coins. This book has excellent reviews, and is supposed to be a must-have for anyone interested in learning about ancient Greek coins. I believe the reviews, but I haven't looked at it yet. That said, I wish that this book was available electronically, and thematically arranged for pedagogical purposes. Then, one could still use it as a reference simply by searching for the particular term one needs to understand. In any case, I'm glad to have it in my little library. The final book I need to mention is a more specialist work--because I am interested in Indo-Greek and Bactrian coinage. At present I have only one Indo-Greek coin type (a Menander drachm), so I am once again buying one coin, and then a book, before further purchases (which I can't afford right now anyway). This book is from the Classical Numismatic Group's "Handbook of Greek Coinage" series, and it is the Handbook of Coins of Baktria and Ancient India, by Oliver Hoover. There is a very positive forward to the book by the biggest name in the field, Osmund Bopearachchi. For those wondering what this is all about, when Alexander the Great conquered his empire, he left troops who settled down in places that we now know as countries like Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and even India. After Alexander died, his general Seleucus managed to acquire these lands for his great Hellenistic kingdom. Eventually, one of the local satraps (governors) rebelled against the Seleucids, and founded an independent kingdom of Bactria. Later, the Greeks expanded into Pakistan and eventually northern India, and Bactria itself was lost to invading tribes. The most famous king who ruled the Indo-Greek kingdom at its height was Menander, about whom I have already written here on CoinTalk. Menander, who conquered much more of India than Alexander the Great did, is notable for being attested in Greek and Latin sources, as well as for being the central character of an Indian work of Buddhist philosophy, The Questions of King Milinda. I haven't read the work yet, but know that it is extant in both a Pali and also a Chinese version; the work presents Menander as a convert to Buddhism, which is remarkable in itself. So that is my library at present. I no longer consider myself a beginner in Greek coinage. Maybe "lower intermediate" would describe where I am now. At this point, I think it's important just to get one's eyes on as many coins as possible. A good way to do this is just to browse the coins at Vcoins! I found it fun to organize them by price from low to high; that way, I learned what my hard-earned dollars can with the passage of time afford. Meanwhile, I continue to read, and to journal my reading. If anyone is interested in where I purchased these books, quite a few came from Charles Davis's Vcoins store. Quite a few others came from Amazon. In one case, I had to find a used copy from an independent bookseller. How about you? Please feel free to share your libraries and your learning techniques, because I and other new collectors here can use all the help we can get! Cheers.
Excellent start to your library. I recommend at some point you get Jenkin’s Ancient Greek Coins and Kraay’s Archaic and Classical Greek Coins.
I started September as a test to see if I could live without Coin Talk (I have been quite down on it lately!) but your post reminds me of what I consider the good old days. Thank you. I am a fan of the Melville-Jones dictionaries (I like Romans, too) but you might find it more of a reference than a cover to cover reader. The problem I see with books is that most of what is in the basic ones is available online for free and most of the older ones need to be read with care since they contain old theories that are no longer considered correct. Should we pay more money for stale bread? I trust you have read the book reviews on Valentinian's site. You certainly should digest everything you read in books but do not skip what is available online.
Great post Nathan ! i bought the last available copy from charles davis a few years ago My first purchase was the David Sear's 1978 2-volume catalogue Greek Coins and their Values. Part of my library on ancient greek numismatics (in before @Andrew McCabe )
This book has a misleading title. It is better than the title suggests because it discusses far more than 25 "types". By the usual use of the word "types" he discusses 180 types. For example, he calls coins of Alexander the Great one type, but discusses eight coins with significant differences within that one "type." Rynearson makes numerous observations about quality that most books don't mention. His comments are not just about the type of coin but about the particular coin he has illustrated (in color, with excellent larger than life size photos). His comments about style and surfaces should be of interest to anyone collecting very high quality coins. I think it is a little like having an experienced expert at your side telling you how to evaluate a high-quality artistic coin. At the back he has one side of each of the coins illustrated again, life size, so you can get a feeling for their sizes (each large photo has the size in mm, but collectors might appreciate seeing the actual sizes). It is a very good book if you can find it for a low price, but I just searched for it and found amazingly high prices. I got my copy for much less than the $35 I'm seeing as the lowest price on eBay or Amazon or AddAll.
My apologies to Wayne Sayles. I forgot to include him in the above as both his books came directly from him.
I just learned how to use the multi-quote(!), and so will respond to all of you here instead of creating many comments to reply to each of you. Thank you, Nicholas. I have heard of Jenkins' book, but not Kraay's. Can you comment a bit on why you recommend them in addition to the above? It sounds like I will have to buy them at some point! Thank you very much, Doug. Coming from you, that means very much! I partly agree with you regarding your points about books. But I think for me, and probably others like me, it helps to have the books because they curate the material nicely. Also, I like the experience of being mentored, if I can call it that, by the particular authors I read, for the length of the books in question. A book is a very handy thing, and might contain a lot of knowledge that may not be all in one place online, much less arranged in a pedagogically useful way. Andres2, nice! Thank you for your kind words, Kavax! I'm happy for you about your Testimonia Numaria Vol. 1 purchase! Also, I really like your under-the-stairs library shelving! I agree, Valentinian. I am definitely a very big fan of Rynearson's book. It's a great tool for learning!
In my estimation, Kraay’s book is the most comprehensive (and still largely accurate) coverage of the archaic and classical period in a one volume work.
This is a great post, thanks. Noticed it yesterday, couldnt read it then, and now already on page 2.... Anyway, i will go through it again, as I have been looking to add books to my personal library this year too and your descriptions are great. And about books on Greek coinage, I got some of my first books this year, i believe (And hope) could be a good starting point. The Sear books are good books to provide me insight in the overwhelming variety of greek coins. Not complete, and prices our outdated, but they serve the purpose. I havent read many of my new books however, my lack of time is the cause of that. But I will eventually. After that will i pursue additional Greek coins (although, like you, i also have a atthens tet...) Some pictures, also of my Roman coin books and various relevant books (And yes, a few auction catalogues, because why not?) Another book by price on Macadonian coins is on its way.
My library is pretty crowded and I've completely run out of space for new acquisitions but it's a pretty good representation of the printed works needed for researching various types that I collect. Most everything starts with Crawford but it is often useful to refer to Grueber(BMCRR), particularly for analysis of types and family backgrounds. Rutter(Historia Numorum Italy), on the left of the top picture, provides excellent information on various Italian types along with updated dating on some pre-denarius Roman issues. Sear Imperators is the go-to book for anything Imperatorial for me, and is such a well written and interesting book that I honestly recommend it for anyone interested in the period - not just the coinage of the period but even if you're only interested in the history of the period it's a wonderful resources. Finally you may notice a copy of Sydenham - it's not really useful for me at all but it's there for covering all the bases really. It's not really something I'd recommend unless you have all the actual useful references. Essays Hersh, Essays Russo and the RBW collection are important works published since Crawford that publish new types, updated dating, etc. As such they're really the next step once you have a copy of Crawford and ideally a copy of Grueber. Kestner-Hannover, Banti and the auction catalogs are all nice to have because they allow you to find pictures of numerous examples of the various types and get a feel for things like stylistic varieties now illustrated in the main references but I personally usually consult digital resources first for this sort of thing. Finally, a book I think any collector interested in things like provenances should have, is Spring's "Ancient Coin Auction Catalogues 1880-1980". It was fairly cheap when I bought it, but provides some really interesting history of the hobby of collecting ancient coins - the dealers, collectors, etc. Sure, you can buy a coin from the Signorelli collection sold by Santamaria in the 1950s, but who was Signorelli? Who ran P.P. Santamaria? There is some excellent biographical information that answers both questions in Spring and I find it adds an interesting human element to collecting and provenances. Spring also provides an excellent list of the best catalogs for each collecting area, so even if you're like me and don't have room for a full library of catalogs, you know where to go look when you're in a numismatic library.
I have a relatively small collection of ancient coin books compared to most of you, but finally got around to trying to fit them all on a couple of shelves by moving some non-ancient coin books elsewhere. Here are the photos; one ought to be able to read the titles by zooming in. As you can see, they're mostly about Roman coins, and, within that category, there are more about Roman Republican coinage than anything else, along with several about Roman Alexandrian coins. Which should be no surprise given the kind of coins I usually post and write about! The first two 3-ring binders to the right of the top shelf contain printed-out invoices, dealers' descriptions, and photos for most of my ancient coins. The first one has Ancient Greek, Roman Republican, and Roman Provincial; the second has Roman Imperial. The books to the far right of the second shelf are antiquarian books and journals primarily dealing with English coins, although the two editions of Pinkerton I have both devote space to Greek and Roman coins as well. (I forgot to put this last book on the top shelf before I took the first photo, so here it is leaning against another shelf.)
