Ancient => Yah, I'm a David Sear Groupie (who isn't??)

I have an edition of Sear's Roman Coins and Their Values, I think from the 80's. It's fine as a general overview - sort of a Redbook of Roman coins, and I have studied it enthusiastically. But I find RIC far more valuable because of the analyses. A reference number simply isn't enough for me - I prefer books that dissect the socio-economic and numismatic context of particular coins.

 

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Yah JA => I'm also a fan of my ERIC II ... both books have their strengths

 

Very cool book Steve, i have been given a 1970 hard cover revised version.

 

I agree. However, for a single book, its still the best. I own the 1988 version, the last single volume on the subject. Starting in 1999 he started a 5 volume series on Roman coins, of which 4 have been printed. Those are like an in between stage between RIC and the single volumes. What is nice, though, is referential pricing. In RIC you have no idea that a coin may be fairly common but very popular, so the price will be higher. Even though you cannot count on pricing in Sear's books any more than the US redbook, its nice to see a relative price to see which ones are truly expensive versus afforable generally.