My son, COLLECTOR IVN NOB C, kindly gave me these two books as Christmas gifts. The first one, Frank L. Holt's When Money Talks, A History of Coins and Numismatics, is refreshingly more about the history and purpose of numismatics than it is about the history of coinage. It's rather scholarly and the end notes comprise several dozen pages alone. It covers such areas as the first numismatists, the development of numismatics as a science, the role of pseudoscience in numismatic history, hoards, the ethics of collecting, and where the discipline of numismatics is heading in the future. You may read about the book here at the publisher's website. The second one, @Jasper Burns' The Roman Sestertius: A Collector's Guide, is a fun read. Jasper himself posted about it last month and I recommend reading his thread for a summary of its contents. It comes in a black and white edition and a color edition. I recommend the color edition -- you really want to see the patinas on the coins illustrated. Jasper covers the history of the sestertius and the sorts of factors to take into account when buying a sestertius for one's collection. He illustrates the book profusely with high-grade examples from high-end auctions and notes the prices realized. The book is helpful for those new to the hobby, to be sure, but even those collectors with decades of experience and hundreds of sestertii in their coin cabinets will enjoy the book. Have you read either of these books? I'd love to hear your thoughts about them!
@Roman Collector .....Nice books!..I've not read them either but like Ryro I'm certainly interested in the Jasper Burns as I'm starting to collect some of these big Bronzes....Would love to hear your feedback when you've read it...Does it go into tooling?....This is one of the areas I'm really concerned about as I can't seem to spot it unless it's really obvious! Mrs Spaniard/Santa gifted me 2 books too... Last year I read Barry Strauss' "Ten Caesars" and thoroughly enjoyed it..Looking forward to these light reads.
Both look good. I don't have much of a numismatic library yet, both those look like useful additions.
Hi there! Thanks so much for your kind remarks about my book. Would it be OK for me to use them in advertising? I would identify you as "Roman Collector on cointalk.com." Thanks for considering it! Jasper
The Sestertius one looks interesting. Probably butchering the Italian, but Le Preziose Patina is the book I want. Always wanted a copy after constantly reading it in the college library.
I have your book (color edition) too, Jasper! And as a collector of almost exclusively Sestertii I enjoy it a lot. The history of the Sestertius is well researched, the coins illustrated give a good overview, and I do like the artist‘s impressions of the various imperial ladies.
That answers my question. The book sounds very worthwhile. And btw, L.P.P. (the aforementioned Italian title) was an oversized book (enormous) with giant color pictures of Roman coinage (it might have had others, it's been 25 years) with all kinds of patina types.
I first encountered this book in a college library as well, soon after it was published. Bought a copy way back then but had to sell it about 15 years ago. Just got a new one on ebay, arrived last week. It's still beautiful.
Ok, thanks. I'll also have to go to Amazon to check out your book. The color paperback is the one I'd go for. And what is the correct spelling of L.P.P.? That would certainly help in my search.
Thanks for your interest! From my Bibliography in the book: Biaggi, Elio. Le Preziose Patine Dei Sesterzi Di Roma Imperiale, Ivrea, Priuli & Verlucca, 1992.
