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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 2042535, member: 19463&quot;]Mitchiner ACW 1585 - 1588 is the correct listing for Samanta Deva.&nbsp; It seems fashionable to put down the value of Mitchiner&#039;s massive volumes (Ancient, Non-Islamic and Islamic) but I believe their errors and shortcomings are offset by the huge resource of photos of actual coins that you will be hard pressed to find elsewhere and ID&#039;s that will at least get you close.&nbsp; The Shahi page has four rows of coins with little separation beyond the most basic.&nbsp; 1585-1588 shows four examples of Samanta Deva while earlier rows cover Spalapati Dave and Khudarayaka with a little mention on the theories of these issues.&nbsp; IMHO, people who think they have the complete and irrefutable details on these coins have more self confidence than they do scholarship.&nbsp; Showing a set of four variants of these imperfect coins (and Mitchiner&#039;s examples are more typical than selective) does about as much as the space allows.&nbsp; Lets remember that Mitchiner is more like Sear&#039;s one/two volume books which also try to cover way more than can be fit into a reasonable sized volume.&nbsp; Do you have any idea how many coins were produced in Asia and how difficult it would be to decipher their huge variety?&nbsp; Like all books, Mitchiner needs to be read critically but I am glad to have the two I have.&nbsp; I do not have the Islamic volume and long ago decided that I&#039;ll leave reading them to people who find them attractive.&nbsp; I don&#039;t.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>Having defended him let me add that the real title of Mitchiner&#039;s books is <b>Oriental Coins and their Values</b>.&nbsp; Sear included, I believe anyone who tries to write a book with &quot;and their values&quot; in the title deserves to be beaten up by critics.&nbsp; Mitchiner, at least, put his prices in a separate appendix at the back so they are easy to ignore.&nbsp; The main value I see in the books is the possibility of my quoting you a number and you being able to see a few coins that are at least remotely similar to what I was quoting.&nbsp; Tye has very, very nice line drawings of idealized coins that are composites of all the specimens he has seen.&nbsp; They are better than Mitchiner&#039;s photos in so many ways except, of course, that they are not photos and do not exist in the real world.&nbsp; There is a place for both.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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