New book: BYZANTINE COINAGE OF CONSTANTINOPLE

This new volume of more than 400 pages, the first devoted to the Constantinople mint, enriches a collection devoted to Byzantine coins which already includes seven published volumes, three for Italy and Sicily, three for the Eastern mints and one for the workshops of Africa and Spain. The book is bilingual in English and Italian, richly illustrated and each time accompanied by a booklet with prices in euros. This volume is reserved solely for the coinage of the Constantinople mint for the period between Anastasius (491-518) and Phocas (602-610) for this first part.




The catalog of Constantinople begins on page 84 with for each reign the introductions in English then in Italian, followed by the catalog, starting with the gold coins, then the silver coins and finally the bronze coinage. All the varieties are illustrated as well as the officinaes. For each type, descriptions of the obverse and reverse are provided with full with legends, followed by weight, diameter, an index of rarity, supplemented by all the bibliographical references, based mainly on English works ( DOC, MIBE or Sear) and Austrian (MIB) sometimes supplemented by unique references such as the catalog of the Cabinet of Medals of the BnF. For a price of 70€, a nice addition for the library of Byzantine coins’ lovers !

 

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Thank you for posting, just bought a copy.

 

Thanks for posting, just bought from Abebooks

 

Just received my book, the fun begins!

 

Boy that was fast ! Was it shipped by USPS ?

 

Yes USPS media mail
KOLBE & FANNING
141 W JOHNSTOWN RD
GAHANNA OH 43230

 

Sounds like a great addition to a numismatic library!

 

I don’t own this but I do own this author’s work on Byzantine coinage in Italy 1-3, Spain/Africa, and the Independent Lordships of Campania. For these topics, most references aren’t comprehensive so it was a welcome refresher to see wholly complete works. That being said, my copies probably have 5-10 grammatical mistakes per page. Some don’t affect readability but others make the information trying to be conveyed incomprehensible. Also, the weights/diameters given for some coins are incorrect as I have discovered. If you check museum listings with what the authors have compiled, there are discrepancies…I am not sure how this happens but it can be very confusing when a tremissis listed weighs 2.2 grams! Check the Hague and the correct weight of the specimen is 1.3 grams

All that to say, these guys have made the best catalogue on Byzantine coins in Italy. But is it just that, a catalogue. Even though they include much more information, it can’t be trusted without verification. I hope this new book has fixed these previous problems. All that said, I still use Byzantine Coinage of Italy 1-3 as my go to reference for the period, even above Dumbarton Oaks.

 

Here is an example. The listing for the type is helpful but the weight of the specimen is wrong. Check the Bank of the Netherlands and you will find it actually weighs 1.44g (mis attributed on the website but presumably the diameter and weight are correct)

https://nnc.dnb.nl/dnb-nnc-ontsluiting-frontend/#/collectie/object/RO-13694

And the book says the reason the last letter in the legend is Δ is unknown, which is also untrue. They explain it earlier in this very work, just a few pages before (lol). Its also ironic they would say that considering the source they cite (MIB) is the very book which explains how it is a left over indiction symbol of Anastasius II…