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Comprehensive Catalogues

Auction and Museum Catalogues

Introductory Handbooks

History

Coins and History

Hoards and Archaeology

Minting and Money

Period-specific studies

Provincial and Imitative

Books and Websites about Books

RR_Bronze_Rarities

Introductory Handbooks & Priced Catalogues

Essential

Roman Silver Coins, Volume 1 - Republic to Augustus. Seaby, London 1988

Essential – see the review in the Comprehensive Catalogues section.

Die Munzen der Römischen Republik. R. Albert, 2003

This is one of my favourite coin books (save for one unfortunate defect), possibly the easiest to browse on this web-site. German. It’s a priced catalogue exactly as I would design it – the coins are presented in strict chronological order; silver, bronze, aes grave and gold together, almost all major silver types including important rarities are illustrated as well as a large and representative cross-section of the other metals, the photographs and printing are very high quality, as is the quality of the illustrated coins, all taken from recent high-end auctions, and there are brief historical notes throughout. The early denarius coinages and early bronzes, as well as gold, often neglected in introductory handbooks, are particularly well presented. These considerable merits should be weighed against its defect – several illustrations are misattributed, mostly from the early Republic and in some cases due to mistakes in the original auction listings. Nevertheless it is still better than any other priced catalogue. In print and inexpensive.

Useful

Principal Coins of the Romans. Vol. 1: The Republic, c.290-31 B.C, RAG Carson, 1978

Illustrates a representative selection of high quality coins in all metals from the British Museum collection. Attractive.

From the Coins Point of View, Bob Levy, 1993

Fabulous quality coins from Bob Levy’s collection, mostly Imperatorial, each with a short fictional story illustrating the coin’s life. Inspiration for the collector considering writing a book about their collection.

Roman Coins and their Values, 4^th edition, David Sear, 1988

The last single-volume edition of RCTV, recently reprinted, covering the entire Roman era including a representative selection from the Republic. Well balanced, a good book for the collector who has not yet decided to specialise in the Republican era.

Roman Coins and their Values, 5^th edition Volume 1, David Sear, 2000

The current standard collectors reference, nevertheless it does not measure up well against its eminent predecessors. Despite much increased coverage, with 230 pages on the Republic, the story of the coinage is quite unclear due to the separation of silver from bronze, as if they had nothing to do with each other and were struck in different times and places, the sorting of bronze coins by denomination rather than issuer, and the lack of coverage of the early denarius issues. In its favour, the comprehensive struck bronzes listings as well as listings of silver after 150BC should be useful for collectors who do not yet own Crawford. The price indications are well-judged and the book is accurate. Nevertheless a disappointment when compared with what Albert was able to achieve in exactly the same number of pages.

Introductory Handbooks on Roman Coins - Wayne Sayles and Andrew Burnett

The Wayne Sayles series and the Seaby series of introductory handbooks are aimed at the same market so its best to discuss them together. Sayles: "The Roman World Politics and Propoganda" is of limited value to a Republican collector: it describes the denominations, the muse coins, and the civil war figures but the rest of the book is devoted to obscure emperors with hardly a mention of Sulla, Marius, the Scipios, the Hannabalic war, interesting reverse types etc. In common with all the books in the series Sayles' photos and bibliographical notes are good. Burnett's "Coinage in the Roman World" (Seaby) concentrates heavily on either Republican coins or on topics that are relevant to the era such as circulation patterns, and also has good plates. There's a lot to learn in a short book, recommended.

Introductory Handbooks on Provincial Coins - Wayne Sayles and Kevin Butcher

Wayne Sayles "Roman Provincial Coins" wins over Kevin Butchers book of the same name (Seaby). The Sayles book takes a geographic tour around the empire, giving an excellent perspective on issues of trade and conquest. A Republican collector will learn quite a lot by reading each section until it turns imperial - its a good prelude for a dip into RPC. Good photos. Butcher's book has a briefer geographical tour mainly illustrated by line drawings, as well as sections on coin use and interpretation for which RPC now provides a better overview

Introductory Handbooks on Collecting - Wayne Sayles and J.P. Andrew

Wayne Sayles "Ancient Coin Collecting" contans lots of tips on how to buy and sell coins, how to care for coins, how to build a collection, coins and the internet, interspersed with short sections on specific series to whet the appetite. A very interesting book, even for an experienced collector. Seaby published "Coins and Investment, a Consumers Guide" by J.P. Andrew in 1986. It discusses a market centred solely around major dealers that is barely relevent today. Not recommended.

Classical Deception: Counterfeits, Forgeries and Reproductions of Ancient Coins, Wayne Sayles

Publications on forgeries are usually aimed at the numismatic profession (such as the International Bureau for Supression of Counterfeit Coins IBSCC bulletins) but this is aimed squarely at the collector who wishes to protect themselves from buying forgeries. A very useful compendium of photos and review of the work of different forgers, but would have been even better if it included some generic tips on detecting forgeries illustrated with close-up photos - such a book is still called for.

Life in Republican Rome on its Coinage, Elvira Clain Stefanelli, Washington 1999

A diversion from the great bibliographical works more usually associated with Clain-Stefanelli, this is a brief introductory handbook ideal for enticing a collector into the Republican series. Lots of enlarged photos with comments how they relate to life in Rome. A book to browse rather than read, not at all academic.

Not Useful

Monnaies de la Republique Romaine, R. Rolland, Paris 1929, and Le Monete D'Oro E D'Argento Della Repubblica Romana. C. Varesi, A. Castellotti

Both these are poor quality priced handbooks with line drawings, there are much better alternatives available.

A Guide to the Denarii of the Roman Republic to Augustus, Molina, José Fernández; Manuel Fernández Carrera and Xavier Calico Estivill, 2002

Supposedly illustrates 1235 denarii of the Republic including many varieties, 238 denarii of Imperatorial times and 342 denarii associated with Octavian/Augustus. In reality many of the variety photographs are fabricated using imaging software when the authors could not find a real specimen, and many of the fabricated images, which are not identified in the book, are quite wrong – concoctions of non-existent coins. Dangerous.