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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;kevin McGonigal, post: 8132105, member: 72790&quot;]I have decided to visit an old friend whom I have been neglecting of late. I started collecting coins back in the 1950&#039;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&#039;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&nbsp; history decided to branch out and add Ancient and Medieval coins to my collection for classroom use. </p><p><br /></p><p>From the late 1960&#039;s to the mid 1970&#039;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&#039;s I had pretty much had my fill of nose slitting and eye gouging and concentrated on my beautiful Greeks and impressive Romans.</p><p><br /></p><p>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&#039;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&#039;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&#039;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. </p><p><br /></p><p>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 &quot;Anonymous&quot; 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&nbsp; 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.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1416489[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1416490[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1416491[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1416492[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1416492[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>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.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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