Good Day All! I’ve been meaning to explore the world of ancients, Roman Imperial in particular. Although I have had an interest in general numismatics for most of my life, my knowledge in ancients is very limited to say the least. I’m a firm believer in books before coins and am always looking to expand my library. What would be a recommended volume(s) on the topic? I’ve looked into the RIC series, but would definitely like to learn more before spending the money. Any insights welcome! VZ
A good place to start for about $20 is Wayne Sayles Ancient Coin Collecting. Vol III covers Roman Imperial with a good general overview.
If Roman Imperial is you primary interest, David Vagi's two book series is excellent. A more general overview and less expensive option would be to buy volumes I and III from Wayne Sayles "Ancient Coin Collecting" series. http://wgs.cc/shop/index.php?route=product/product&path=74_75&product_id=136 http://wgs.cc/shop/index.php?route=product/product&path=74_75&product_id=138 Edited: I didn't see the post above. I don't have volume III but can highly recommend Sayles' Volume I plus his volumes on Roman Provincials and Roman Republicans.
If you're interested in a specific period of Roman imperial history such as the adoptive emperors or Severan dynasty, getting the relevant volume in Sear's set is highly recommended. Each volume is stand-alone--that is to say they each have the same very informative introduction to Roman coinage.
I would go with a history (not coin) book or two to cover the time period that Romans issued coins (300 BC to 476 AD). The latter time period is covered well by Michael Grant's book: The Roman Emperors: A Biographical Guide to the Rulers of Imperial Rome, 31 B.C. - A.D. 476. Grant's book is available for less than $10, including shipping on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-lis...d_used_olp_sr?ie=UTF8&condition=used&qid=&sr= I do not have one book that covers the Republican period as well as Grant's book, but you could buy: A Primer History of Rome (Paperback) by M. Creighton for less than $10 on amazon. Next I would go for an early edition of Sear's Roman Coins and their Values. The 1964, 1971 and maybe the 1981 issues cover all coins issued by Rome. Later books cover only part of the time period. I found these books in the $10 to $30 range. https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/Bo...alues&sortby=17&cm_sp=snippet-_-srp1-_-title3 Skim the books, look for a time period or person you like and buy a coin or two. Happy Hunting.
I'll go against the grain a bit and recommend some online resources in lieu of physical books. In my opinion the internet has largely made beginner coin collecting books unnecessary, though more specialist works(i.e. RIC, Sear's Imperators or Crawford) are still worthwhile if you're actively collecting that area. As far as good beginner's resources on the coins themselves I highly recommend starting with the following two sites: Doug Smith's Ancient Coins Warren Esty's "Roman and Greek Coins: Educational Pages" If you're interested in Roman history in particular I can't recommend The History of Rome podcast enough. By the time you get to the end of it you'll have a pretty good picture of the basic structure of Roman history, the dynasties, the wars and the expansion and contraction of Rome's sphere of influence over that period. You won't necessarily recognize every no-name usurper whose three surviving coins fetch six figures(i.e. Saturninus), but you will have a good picture of the historically important ones.
I made some book recommendations part way down this page: http://augustuscoins.com/ed/numis/learnmore.html There are different types of book. Some are on collecting and what's valuable and what's not. Others are on the development of Roman coinage and its role in history and economics. Take a look at that page for comments on each type. Be sure to get down to the answer to this question: "Can you recommend ancient Roman coin books that are not price guides?"
I would avoid he 1964 edition but the last two are good. Of course, I agree with red_spork since he suggested two sites, both of which were written by regular posters to Coin Talk Ancients so you can ask questions if something you read is even slightly confusing. I'd start with the page below and the two that follow it but I am prejudiced: http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/voc3.html Warren's pages are organized in a completely different manner but I find them really excellent as well. When you have read all 200+ pages we have free online you will be better prepared to know which books to read before you buy those coins. Beginners do tend to rush in waving money at coins they will later regret. Any education (books, sites or Coin Talk posts) is a very good idea before you buy coins.
We've already had one Michael Grant recomendation and I would add that I have liked everything I have ever read that he has written, but specifically coin related I really liked Roman History From Coins : Some Uses of the Imperial Coinage to the Historian
I always preferred physical books to digital. Can’t put a webpage on a shelf. But the internet is a great source of information too. Will definitely look through the sites and post some feedback here. Thanks for sharing! VZ
Me, too, but lately books on subjects I find interesting enough to pay the increasing prices are getting harder to find. We get the 'book' question here quite often but most of our answers seem to be for books published before the Internet elbowed into information exchange. If books die, we will be the guilty parties. We give away information in various formats. A couple decades ago, books reviewing books were sold. Coin magazines covered newly available books. Now we hope we can find a friend who has bought the book and save us from mistakes. I classify over half of the books in my library as not worth the current prices TO ME. I wish there were good books that could play the role in the lives of new collectors that I had when I started. We seem to recommend the old books as if there is nothing new. More, I wish people would review the books they have bought (serious, in depth reviews - not those online 'I like it and may read it soon' jokes) so the rest of us would better be able to decide if we really want to spend another few hundred dollars on another book. My reviews page doesn't get updated anymore but may be of use to some. Frankly, I got tired of buying books I found disappointing. http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/book.html
I read the Sayles books when I first became interested in Ancients back in the 90's and thought they provided a nice overview of the topics. It's cheap, and may even be available in your local library. There are 6 or 7 volumes on diff subjects, and @Johnnie Black already pointed out that Vol 3 cover Imperials. They are quick reads and once you finish, IMO, you'll be able to get a better feel for what recommendations to get next.
The others have given you beginner references designed to help you develop your own rationale for collecting. That's great. But most beginners struggle with certain technical points that are not directly helped by those texts, although any of them will assist in a partial way. However, for Roman Imperial it is imperative that you develop some skill right away in learning how to READ the coins. With that in mind, if you are drawn to Roman imperial, then there are two how-to guides and references I will recommend, one is printed and the other is online: The textual approach: Reading and Dating Roman Imperial Coins By Zander H. Klawans Start with inscriptions in Late Roman Bronze, such as the coins of Constantine and sons from the 4th century. They are readily available, and will challenge your reading skills, but with far fewer abbreviations to stumble over than the coins of earlier emperors (Trajan being the most challenging in general). Klawans teaches you the logic of naming, and keys to titlature and gives you lists of inscriptions to try out. This is great for the verbal approach, but what if the coin is so poor that you can't make out the inscriptions? The graphic approach. The language of imaging was systematized, for the collector of Late Roman Bronze coins specifically, by Guido Bruuk, a German scholar who created a picture guide to imaging details in the designs of most of the known late bronze coinage especially of the 4th century. His original book is in German and has been translated into English, but it has also been revised and edited as an online website by Eduardo Dargent of Lima Peru, called Tesorillo. Follow this link to its home page. If broken, here is the url: https://www.tesorillo.com/aes/home.htm The point of this graphic guide is to help you become familiar with design details that are distinctive to the issues of a particular ruler or one of the mints that produced the coins. This approach will allow you to attribute a coin even if you can't read it, but THAT will help you in learning to read the coin as well. By working back and forth between these two guides, you will develop strong skills in attributing coins, which is one of the great satisfying tasks in collecting ancients. Not a bad way to start as you read about how to design a collection.
I see you are interested in Roman Imperial in particular ...... This is a great introductory book describing Greek coins: Collecting Greek Coins by John Anthony Paperback – April 1, 1984 This book is available really cheap & it is a fun read. It contributed to my getting hooked on Greek coins.
