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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;The Meat man, post: 24720326, member: 135271&quot;]There&#039;s no exact ancient counterpart to the US coins red book; the field is far too vast and varied. But there are some good reference guides to get you started.</p><p><br /></p><p>For Roman coins there are some free online resources - <a href="http://numismatics.org/ocre/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://numismatics.org/ocre/" rel="nofollow">OCRE (Online Coins of the Roman Empire)</a> is a great help for researching Roman Imperial coinage. It&#039;s based on the RIC references (the gold standard reference guides for the category) but isn&#039;t an &quot;official&quot; online version; there are a few discrepancies. But for the most part it&#039;s a very useful and valuable tool.</p><p><br /></p><p>For Roman Provincial coinage, check out <a href="https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/" rel="nofollow">RPC Online</a>. This website <i>is</i> the official online version of the RPC (Roman Provincial Coinage) references. This site is still a work in progress though; I think they just recently added Vol. 10 which extends into the late 3rd century if I&#039;m not mistaken.</p><p><br /></p><p>Auction archives can also be helpful in identifying ancient coins. I use <a href="https://www.acsearch.info/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.acsearch.info/" rel="nofollow">ACSearch.info</a> all the time. <a href="https://cngcoins.com/Coins_sold.aspx" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://cngcoins.com/Coins_sold.aspx" rel="nofollow">CNG</a> also has extensive archives, with some overlap with ACSearch.</p><p><br /></p><p>If you want a physical book - which is always a great idea - the best set of reference books you can get without a mortgage are David R Sear&#039;s books. <i>Roman Coins and their Values</i> covers Roman coinage from the very beginning of the Republic up to the Emperor Zeno (AD 491), in five volumes. Each volume costs about $50 so you are looking at $250-300 for the set. Well worth it, in my opinion. The books are not as comprehensive as the RIC reference books, but they cost pennies on the dollar in comparison and are more than adequate for most needs.</p><p><br /></p><p>You can find the latest edition full set of Sear&#039;s Roman reference books here on Charles Davis&#039; VCoins store: <a href="https://www.vcoins.com/en/stores/charles_davis/44/product/sear_roman_coins__their_values_5_volumes_complete/1228086/Default.aspx" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.vcoins.com/en/stores/charles_davis/44/product/sear_roman_coins__their_values_5_volumes_complete/1228086/Default.aspx" rel="nofollow">Sear: Roman Coins &amp; Their Values. 5 volumes complete | Roman Imperial Coins (vcoins.com)</a></p><p><br /></p><p>As an aside, Sear also wrote two reference books for ancient Greek coinage, and I believe one for Byzantine as well. I don&#039;t own any of these works but I&#039;d like to someday.</p><p><br /></p><p>I hope this helps you out! Also, don&#039;t forget that this forum here is a great resource for helpful information too. <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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