Reference guides for world and ancient coins

Keyrock · February 17, 2006 5:02AM

Being a lightsider I'm loaded up on US coinage information however I would like some recomendations for some additional books on the darkside.

The first one, what reference book would cover most of the world coinage? Being a coin collector I have numerous friends who bring me a piece and give me the line "What can you tell me about this coin?".

The second book I would like is a general reference book for ancients?

Third, I recently saw the advertisment for a book on biblical coins (Don't have the title in front of me) has anyone read/have this book or similiar?

Thanks for you help, Rich

hyperizer · February 17, 2006 6:15AM

For world coins, the Krause Standard Catalog of World Coins is standard. There's one volume for each century. Prices usually don't change dramatically from year to year, so an old copy should be okay. For ancients, David Sear's books are a good start. There's two Greek volumes and three Roman volumes with a fourth on the way. Wayne G. Sayles has a series of books for beginners, but they are overviews that don't attempt to list a ton of types. For ancients, it would be best to specialize, since there are literally thousands of types spanning multiple cultures over hundreds of years.

Kurt4 · February 17, 2006 9:04AM

As a novice (me), I bought "Ancient Greek and Roman Coins" by Zander Klawans. Great introduction. I've moved on to Wayne Sayles series of books now. A little more in depth and very interesting. For me these are probably enough. I'm a casual ancient collector for now and these serve me well. If I ever get more in depth I will get the Sear's series. It's probably a matter of time, because once you learn a little you want more. Hope you find what you're looking for.

Edited for spelling.

Keyrock · February 17, 2006 10:35AM

Thanks for the replies. Always looking to expand the library, looks like more than three books are in the que.

Reference guides for world and ancient coins

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