I have decided to visit an old friend whom I have been neglecting of late. I started collecting coins back in the 1950's and at that time one could pull out of circulation some really nice coins. I did that all through High School, had to tone it down at the University in the 1960's, but went back to collecting after graduation and starting my teaching career. I like to use artifacts to illustrate events and since I was teaching Ancient and Medieval history decided to branch out and add Ancient and Medieval coins to my collection for classroom use. From the late 1960's to the mid 1970's I concentrated on that aspect of my collecting which, also included Byzantine coins. I could never really warm up the Byzantine coinage. I certainly like Byzantine history and my students got a lot more of it than the curriculum called for and I even visited Constantinople one summer, but the coins just did not move me. Greek coins were beautiful and Roman coins impressive whereas Byzantine coins seemed, well, Byzantine, dark, obscure, inscrutable. I did study them and obtained enough for my teaching, but by the late 1970's I had pretty much had my fill of nose slitting and eye gouging and concentrated on my beautiful Greeks and impressive Romans. From reading here on Coin Talk of the occasional postings on Byzantine coinage i have had my curiosity reawakened and, perhaps, from a sense of guilt, have decided to go back and revisit the genre. So, this Christmas I decided to order some more recent publications on Constantinople's coinage, spiff up the Byzantine tray and add some additions to it. Too bad I cannot find some trays with purple lining for them. On the images below you will see the older books I used back in the day. Not bad and the Sear book was well used. The Greek language textbook was the one I used at the University (originally printed in the 1920's), the other two were coin show purchases. The slim Rynearson book was great for identifying coins and the Whitting book, from The World Of Numismatics, wasquite informative. The more recent books are better illustrated (and the newer Sear book a must have addition) and that is important, at least for me in properly identifying them. The Beginner's Guide is beautifully done and the Fighting Emperors of Byzantium is making exciting reading (not always the case for Byzantine history books). I have purchased a few more on Byzantine history but have not yet had a chance to peruse them yet. Also, i have posted some Byzantine coins from my original collection and a few purchased recently. The top three are from my earlier and original collection. From left to right: a gold semis from the mint of Syracuse and the emperor Theophilus, issued about 835. As was common for these coins, it is somewhat debased and light at 1.74 grams and is Sear 1673. The large bronze, dwarfing the semis, is a large follis of Justinian I , probably the coin I most think of when somebody mentions a Byzantine coin. From the Constantinople mint, circa 540, it comes in at a hefty 20.7 grams. Possibly Sear 163. Next to that one is one of the "Anonymous" folles with Jesus Christ (not sure of the class). I think it is Sear 1836 and may be Michael IV. On the second row, the small silver coin is a later Byzantine coin from about 1310, when things were not going well for the Empire. It is a Byzantine Basilikon of Andronicus II and is a copy of the Venetian grosso weighing the same as the Italian original and of the same fineness, 2.2 grams. (By the way, this coin was just given to me by my daughter as a X-mas present. She gets me an ancient coin each year for me). It is Sear 2402. In the middle is another anonymous follis. Again, I am not sure of its class but may have been one of the folles issued by Basil II circa 1,000 and may be Sear 1812. The last bronze on the right is a follis of Anastasios I who was much responsible for the appearance of Byzantine coins. This one is from the Constantinople mint, weighs 18.1 grams and is Sear 19. In the coming months I hope to write something here on the history of the Empire and its rulers. By the way, have any members or readers ever left a period or type of coinage and then gone back to it after a lapse of some years? If so,tell us of your experience.
Rather some decades than some years... Having found very few interesting Parthian coins in 2021, this year I was again sensitive to coins that had held my attention in the past, including Byzantine coins. I had bought the Whitting maybe 40 years ago, and as is often the case with books like this, I had only read a few passages. These days I have started to read it in its entirety, and I am waiting for the arrival of two Byzantine coins.
I branched out into Byzantine coins a couple of years ago and I have purchased maybe 40 of them in that time. I realized that my initial goal of collecting each Roman emperor (and usurpers) was not going to be achieved, mainly because coins of the usurpers in many cases are either unavailable or out of range. So now my goal is to get a coin of each Byzantine ruler down to 1453, when available or practicable.
Delighted to see that someone else is thinking along these lines. Did you ever acquire an interest in the Sassanian Persian coins, as they are tangential to the early Byzantine coinage, especially at the time of Heraclius?
I think you may have your hands full getting coins of the Byzantine usurpers as there must have been at least one for almost all of them, too.
Thanks. I always tried to obtain coins that were large, and in the case of the copper coinage, well struck and light in toning, something admittedly not easy in the realm of Byzantine coinage. I quickly discovered that when I passed these coins around the room that the students would not take a good look at dark, badly struck and indecipherable coins.
My first book on Byzantine was the 1986 Eastern Roman Successors of the Sestertius by Harlan J. Berk. Shortly after that I got Whitting which outweighed it in every way except it did not give values. In those days, you could get the common AE coins in decent shape for low prices. One book I have not seen is a coin focused history that points out the interfacings of the various civilizations. We tend to collect coins by category like Roman, Greek, Byzantine, Sasanian etc. Those guys knew each other. Sometimes that went better than others but we should know these connections. Who can ID Abul Abaz? Who has read the children's book about him? https://www.amazon.com/Elephant-Baghdad-Mary-Tavener-Holmes/dp/0761461116
I have indeed collected some Sassanid coins, but since despite my efforts I cannot really read these coins, I have not developed this collection.
I think the actual Caliph was Harun al Rashid and I think he also gave to Charlemagne some kind of mechanical clock. I may be wrong about this but for some reason I also associate him with the Rubaiyat of Omar Khyam.
