American Numismatic Association

Numismatist X

67 Posts

Happy Collecting! Send me a message if you have any questions along the way.

8 years ago

I've been collecting Byzantine coins for over 30 years. David Sear's book is still the standard as a beginning book. It is unlikely to be updated as David is in his 90's and is trying to finish volume four of the Roman Coins series.

Another book is Byzantine Coins by Philip Grierson the author of Byzantine Coins in the Dunbarton Oaks Collection. Byzantine Coins is a single book with much information and excellent plates. It is out of print as well. You can google it and see what you come up with. I just checked on Amazon.com; they have four starting at $81. It is well worth it as it gives historical import, not just a list of coins.

Sear's book is a guidebook but not much on historical background. Prices listed are very out of date. If you can find a copy of it, you will be spending $85 or so.

My first book was the Sear book, my second was Grierson's. Both are a great start to your library.

Harlan J. Berk published a small but powerful book years ago. I believe it is still available new for around $25 or so titled, Eastern Roman Successors of The Sestertius. He also has another great book, Byzantine Coins. Again small but very informative as it is a hard bound edition of a public auction from December 7, 1989. Some rare stuff as well as choice common material. I believe it's still in the $25. range.

Philip Grierson's monumental work is a NINE volume work, Catalogue of the Byzantine Coins in the Dumbarton Oaks Collection and in the Whittemore Collection. Originally published in 1966 the current edition is the 1992 Second Impression. You can google it, the last time I saw one for sale, all 9 volumes was around $1000. Sometimes you can find sigles for sale. If you can find a singleton, I'd recommend volume I to start off with and build from there. If you have deep pockets you can bite the bullet and get all of them.

Book seller Charles Davis on VCoins.com sometimes has them available as well as other books on Byzantine Coinage. Don't let the price of books hold you back; most books on ancients are a limited run unlike US coinage books for the masses. Also, Check out coins dealers such as the Vcoins guys, CNG.com, for sales, these are valuable sources for information.

Google is a wonderful source of infomation. Just putting a request for "Coinage of Justinian I" will send you on quite a trip.

I hope this helps

8 years ago

PDS_Coins

12 Posts

Aorta is a great reference/price guide and can be found here:

http://www.amazon.com/AORTA-Roman-Coins-Guide-Collector/dp/0976466430

8 years ago

user_3676

3 Posts

Thanks so much for the comprehensive answers. I have picked up the Sear and the Grierson. Grierson is a fun read. The books are dated and a bit pricey but I guess they look brand new compared to the coins they describe. Thanks again.

8 years ago

user_5603

6 Posts

Great you are off to a good start. The Berk books are also super, consider the "Sestertius" book.

Aorta is excellent but is Roman coinage only. Raz Suarez's other book, ERIC II includes both Roman and Byzantine coinage. It is a large volume and hard to carry around to shows without a cast of thousands to help you.

Here is a link on Amazon for ERIC II: http://www.amazon.com/Eric-Encyclopedia-Roman-Imperial-Coins/dp/0976466414. I hope doing this is against the rules. I have no financial interest in the book or Amazon, it's an excellent tool.

Cheers

8 years ago