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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;FitzNigel, post: 2833914, member: 74712&quot;]Stahl, Alan M. Zecca: The Mint of Venice in the Middle Ages.&nbsp; Baltimore: The John Hopkins University Press, 2000. </p><p>ISBN: 080186383X</p><p>Cost: $80 (can easily be found for less)</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]668667[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>Grade: B+</p><p><br /></p><p>Stahl’s <i>Zecca</i> really seems to be everything one might want to know about the medieval Mint of Venice - at least what can actually be known.&nbsp; The book clearly has been thoroughly researched, utilizing sources which have not been used before (at least not to an English speaking readership).&nbsp; The book is by no means a catalogue of coins, but an attempt to break down every aspect of the Venetian mint into different defining chunks in addition to providing a chronology of the mint’s history to the year 1423.&nbsp; While there were some design elements of Venetian I wish could have been revealed (such as what mintners marks corresponded to recorded Mint officials), it seems clear that Stahl included everything there was evidence for.</p><p><br /></p><p>Despite the obvious scholarship that was involved in reconstructing the Venetian mint, the book suffers from two flaws.&nbsp; Firstly, it is rather repetitive.&nbsp; This is a critique I&#039;m not sure how I would resolve myself, but each section often repeated some information which was given in the initial chronological description of the mint’s activities, and certain concepts and events were explained several times.&nbsp; When reading through, the repetitive nature reveals the second flaw: it’s a bit boring.&nbsp; Perhaps if much of the other information about the Mint could have been revealed during the process of writing its chronology, this might have been a better read.&nbsp; As it was, it felt like a slog which I was obligated to complete, despite my interest in the coins from Venice.</p><p><br /></p><p>(You&#039;ll note that March 22 was the last time I wrote a review.&nbsp; This is how long it took me to get through this book, which is only 464 pages)[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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