Customer Reviews

Greek Coins and Their Values (Volume II Asia and Africa)

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The first nearly 50 pages are necessary introductory material such as coin types, deities, denominations & weights, coin dating, a list of other detailed references upon which this work is based, ancient alphabets, a glossary of terms and a couple of conversion tables.

Following that are the actual sections which break down as such: Asia Minor - archaic; Asia Minor - Classical & Hellenistic; The East - Syria, Phoenicia, Palestine, etc; Egypt and N. Africa - Egypt, Kyrenaica, Carthage, etc; Hellenistic Monarchies - Seleukid, Ptolemaic, Macedonian, Baktrian, etc.

Not every single coin minted is pictured or listed but boy - if it's not in this book or it's companion Volume 1, buy it! This is a pretty thorough reference work and for what you will come across in the everyday market, this will certainly get you through most of what you will see. Anything more complete will be in a large multivolume set costing 100s, possibly 1000s of dollars so I would not pass on this waiting for something better. The one strike against this book is you must not take these prices as set in stone. They do not reflect the new reality of today's rapid exchange of sales taking place on the internet. In addition to that, the prices are in British pounds as the author is from the UK and this will throw some American users. Once you get over that, take the prices as a guide as to the commoness and/or availability of a given issue. If it lists for £15 - £50, it may be a pretty affordable piece to add to your collection. If it lists in excess of £1000, I would not count it out, but you may have to wait til you are rich and famous to buy it!

Overall, without spending 100s of dollars, this is the best guide you can get to attribute ancient Greek coins from Asia & N.Africa for your greek coin collection. It's numbering system is the most commonly used by collectors and dealers alike. It has an easy to follow and consistent format and is copiously illustrated and documented. If you collect ancient Greek coins, it belongs on your shelf.