Byzantine coins for I.D + Book recomendation

Discussion in 'Ancient Coins' started by caffers2, May 26, 2020.

  1. caffers2

    caffers2 Active Member

    Hello all,

    I am looking for a good book on Byzantine coins so I can start to I.D them myself. Has anyone read this book by Sears? Any other beginners books recommended? IMG_4026.jpg The Beginner's Guide to Identifying Byzantine Coins-500x500.jpg IMG_4027.jpg
    In the meantime if anyone has any info on these three coins that would be great.They're larger and heavier than ones I have had before.

    Many thanks
     
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  3. furryfrog02

    furryfrog02 Well-Known Member

    Those are some nice folles. I love big bronze Byzantine coinage.
     
  4. dougsmit

    dougsmit Member

    I am not aware of that book so can not comment on it. I use the old Byzantine Coins and their Values by David Sear.
    https://www.amazon.com/Byzantine-Co...ir+Values+by+David+Sear&qid=1590492974&sr=8-1
    There is an older edition with gray cover that should be cheaper if found. Don't pay for the latest and get the old one. This book is good for ID but is not a book for reading. Byzantine Coins by Whitting is a good read and has large photos but is not a numbered catalog.
    https://www.amazon.com/Byzantine-co...yzantine+Coins+whitting&qid=1590493260&sr=8-1
     
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  5. caffers2

    caffers2 Active Member

    I saw that book, was £45 , looks great though. I have bought the one I posted and will post some photos ect and review once arrived. The big Byzantines really are pleasing to hold yes especially with good detail. The figures can be quite haunting sometimes on them.
     
  6. caffers2

    caffers2 Active Member

    Middle one is (I think) Michael IV 1034-1041 AD Christ facing. ICXS (Jesus)reverse - NIXA (conqueror)
     
  7. furryfrog02

    furryfrog02 Well-Known Member

    The 2 on either side of it should be pretty easy to ID for you. The obverse legend is nice and clear.
     
  8. medoraman

    medoraman Supporter! Supporter

    Middle coin Anonymous Class C attributed to Michael IV 1034-1041. Here is an older article I wrote about them:

    https://6be88a1c-6568-4deb-8cbe-aa9...d/e7a338_d898ad37fc6444d6a6cde1b2c18beacc.pdf

    Btw, I disagree about buying the older Sear. Only buy the 1987 edition. Buying the older edition will get you greatly confused, as some numbering was changed. Use the standard, which is the 1987 edition. Buy this book before any other Byzantine coin book, it will be your "bible". Sure DOC is more complete, but it is a $1000 set.
     
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  9. Victor_Clark

    Victor_Clark all my best friends are dead Romans Dealer

    It is available for download--

    "The 12,000 coins in the Dumbarton Oaks Collection and the Whittemore Collection at the Fogg Art Museum form one of the greatest specialized collections of Byzantine coins in the world. The catalogue, edited by Alfred R. Bellinger and Philip Grierson, publishes the majority of these coins, dating between 491 and 1453, in five volumes."

    Volume 1 Anastasius I to Maurice, 491-602

    Volume 2 Phocas to Theodosius III, 602-717

    Volume 3 Leo III to Nicephorus III, 717-1081

    Volume 4 Alexius I to Michael VIII, 1081-261

    Volume 5 Michael VIII to Constantine XI, 1258-1453


    Dumbarton Oaks also has a search engine

    https://www.doaks.org/resources/coins/catalogue#b_start=0
     
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  10. Black Friar

    Black Friar Well-Known Member

    The author put her soul into that book designed specifically for those new to Byzantine coins. I have it in my library and would have loved to have something like it when I first started collecting Byz.

    If you are a member of the ANA you can borrow books from them and pay only the postage. The folks in the library are very helpful. I have haunted that library many times, they have a very good Byzantine section. If not a member, become one as the use of the library is an enormous benefit of membership.

    I do recommend Sear (Byzantine Coins and their Values) second edition, highly as it is the go to book for anyone collecting this material and used copies are quite easy to find. Check out Powell's book store on line as a art:ww.powellsbooks.com. Check out EBay as well. UPDATE, powells doesn't have a copy.

    Go to Vcoins.com. Bookseller Charles Davis has a copy of Sear for $45, he also carries the Prue Fitts books I mentioned above for $30. Charles is a one man show and loves books. As an independent he is my go to guy when I need a numismatic book.

    Another very excellent book is written by Harlan Berk. It covers the coinage from Anastasius I 493AD to Nicephorus III 1078-1081AD and is illustrated with beautiful line drawings as well as limited photos. Another excellent and inexpensive book that Charles carries is available new for $30 is Lianta: Late Byzantine Coins 1204-1453 in the Ashmolean Museum of Oxford which covers schyphates and late Byz coinage right up to the end, the fall of Constantinople in 1453. For these three books you would only spend $105 plus shipping. Charles uses book rate for posting. Get one or all of them. Taste and see.

    My first book 1983 or so, was a used of a compilation of excellent numismatic articles from The Numismatist published as a hard copy by the ANA decades ago. Happy hunting for that one, but there is an excellent article explaining the coins, dating regnal year coinage from the coinage reform of Anastasius I forward. If you find it you will be lucky, it is old, but so inexpensive no one carries it anymore.
    I just checked my library and the book is no longer there; I suspect I gave it away to a new/young collector.

    I hope this helps you and others. "This is my hobby, I do it for fun."
     
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