Coin show 11/05/11 - new ancients

A small local show here had only a couple dealers with ancients but I still managed to leave with a dozen new-old coins. As usual I got home and found I bought a couple of duplicates by accident but the overall result was not bad for a small show. Baltimore is in two weeks and this one will save me driving there since the dealers I most enjoy seeing do both.

My first offering here shows the two non-Romans I got. They are the most expensive and cheapest coins bought and the largest an the smallest as well. Some Romans will follow when I finish with the photos and cataloging.



First is a silver tetradrachm of the Indo-Scythian king Azes II (30 BC-5 AD). There are many varieties of these with the horseman obverse and dozens of monograms. The reverses vary more showing various gods. This one is Poseidon (see the trident over his shoulder?). As BC date silver tetradrachms go, these are cheap but it still costs more than I like to pay for coins.



On the other hand is the smallest, ugliest and cheapest silver I found interesting. I have been expanding into medieval a bit but still don't feel comfortable enough with my knowledge to spend as much as the nice looking ones draw. This is a denier issued by the Archbishop of Vienna in France (c.1250 AD) and shows a crude head of St. Maurice surrounded by the legend S.M. VIENNA. The reverse cross is surrounded by MAXIMA GALL with a bar across the two L's. That last feature was the tip that led me to be able to read the coin. Some of these things in less than nice condition are hard to read until you get a starting point and figure out which way is up.

The Romans are easier to read.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Cool additions, I kinda like the ugly one lol.

 

Both are excellent addtion & types I would gladly add to mine. I am with Randy in the respect I like the "ugly" one more.

 

I like the Azes myself, though I know its a more common type. My recent research into Hepthalites and similar, like Kidarites, Kushans, etc have got me more into these types of issues.

You are right the medievals are harder to read. I have some late Byzantine I cannot read really, (late 14th-15th century), and are similar nature. One of these years I will get more interested in Medieval I assume.

 

One of the reasons it takes me so long to catalog my new acquisitions is that I keep getting distracted studying the coins or the history associated with them. For example, I did not previously know who St. Maurice was (an Egyptian military officer executed by Maximianus for being Christian). I wondered why the reverse legend was selected (when this coin was issued the the Archbishop of the town -now called Vienne but not to be confused with Wein in Austria - was in competition with the one in Lyon for primacy). I still wonder what is shown behind the head. It could be two spurs as a symbol of Maurice as a cavalry officer. Yes, it would be simpler to collect modern proof sets in original mint packaging but ugly coins need love, too.

 

You collect like I collect. I buy coins to force myself to learn about the history surrounding it. I like history, but I simply know I would have not read about Hepthalites, Yueh-zi, Kidara, Julian II, Elagabalus, or Constantine VII if is had not been because of coins. Its weird how history becomes SO MUCH more interesting when you have a physical tie to it.

Chris

 

buy the coin before the book

 

Indeed, I do that with U.S. too, lol.

 

yeah, I only have a couple books (cheap ones). I can buy a good book, or a coupe coins. metal>paper

 

I buy both, and feel my paper adds tremendous value to my metal purchases, and enables me to attribute them. I have bought many coins because I had seen them in my books, so recognized what they were and their rarity.

 

I just wish there were a way to know what book I should buy. Of the hundred or so I have, half are less valuable to me than several of my auction catalogs and online resources like acsearch.com make my catalogs less used than they once were simply because things are easier to find. Does anyone have Boudeau that cataloged my Vienna coin? I'd love to know what it says about the coin but the book is unknown to me.

 

Very fair point sir. One would wish coin books were found in Barnes and Noble and a person could peruse them before buying to see if its worth it. I have many you describe as well. However, even lists like Krol are not foolproof as I have some he didn't rank highly but I find very useful, or at least interesting reads, while some he listed as exceptional I simply cannot get the hang how to use.

These points about coin books are very fair, guess all I could suggest is to ask opinions of a volume before you buy it. I know it can be a considerable amount of money, and like you half of my coin books I could probably live without, but I wouldn't know which half I needed without buying them.

Chris

P.S. I haven't heard personally of Boudeau, sorry.

 

Dont get me wrong. With out the book the coin wouldnt mean much. But when it comes down to a book or coin, I have to go with the coin.

 

Same, especially if the book is over $50 or something. I dont mind buying books like Red Book or the upcoming ERIC II paperback.

I have all the RICs downloaded but have only used them a few times :/ The Krause world books are also digital & have been useful from time to time.

 

Matt, I would just suggest there is immense pleasure at going over and grabbing something like Roman Coins, (World of Numismatics), and reading the documentation of coinage in Rome, looking at all of the beautifully photographed coins. Or grabbing Sears Byzantine coins and their values and rereading coin types produced, and flipping through and finding a type you have never seen. My Antinous I bought from a junk box was because I recognized it from a book, my Ostrogoth same story. I am eyeing a couple of coins on Ebay right now I am not sure how many people appreciate how rare they are, all because of my books.

Books used just for attribution are kind of boring, (yet necessary at times). Even RIC has some really great information in them, besides their use as an attribution tool.

 

Any idea on the price? I havent heard anything yet

 

$40 http://www.dirtyoldbooks.com/aorta-roman-coin-book.html

@Chris, I understand what your saying. Remember I have no interest in Byzantine at this time. Remember I also have Roman Coins and Their Values 1-2-3 that was $30 each . Im primarily interested in Greek & Romans. If some easterns pop up that I like & the price is fair I will bite.

I plan on subscribing to celetor by the end of the month. But specialty books on things I have never heard of, like Ostrogoth, why spend the money if it can get me a coin I want to scratch off my list?

 

Thanks!

 

I always thought that RIC would make a nice book if they left out the catalog and just included the chapter headings. I just am not the kind of person that appreciates knowing catalog numbers so ERIC and the majority of coin books leave me cold. I do like informative, non-catalog coin books like Elvira Clain-Stefanelli's Life in Republican Rome on its Coinage but it only has a few coins and not the Cassia. Worse she only told the stories behind some coins that were shown and the index system is hard to use. Were we to turn the book into what I would like, it would be four times as big and very few people would pay the price.

I was unaware RIC was online. That would seem a copyright violation.

The British Museum Republican collection is online and shows excellent photos of their 49 Cassia 4 coins (far from a complete set). I see that there are control marks with dots above, below and beside each letter so there were a lot of these. They are listed as common coins but I just had not seen many. The problem to me is the BM collection is very hard to use unless you already know the catalog information (Crawford number) or just like browsing through thousands of pretty coins.
http://www.britishmuseum.org/resear...epublican_coins/roman_republican_coinage.aspx

 

I am with you Doug, I prefer highly readable volumes. I was just pointing out since many do not seem to pay attention that RIC actually has some great reading in them. Not always the most fun reading, but certainly informative.

My favorite though dated volume may be Historia Numorum by Head. Yes its dated, but the wealth of historical information regarding ancient cities, whom they were aligned with, a little history of each, makes owning a coin from that place much more special. Just little Siciliy had tons of small towns beside Syracuse, each with their own history, who they sided with in different wars, etc.

I own an original volume from 1911, but like it so much bought a 1963 reprint cheap just so I would not risk damaging the original. You know you like a book when you buy a reading copy to protect the first one. I believe this volume is now online, (legally).