a review by Doug Smith
Those of you who collect ancient coins for the purpose of making money may want to reconsider buying one of these books. You may want to buy two so you can put one away for resale later. Mint condition books will resell for more than the ones used to death and drooled upon. Many of the photos (in color!)in this 618(!) page hardback are simply magnificent. A number of the coins are the grade that few of us actually get to handle on a regular basis (that explains the possibility of drool marks on books that actually have been read). Images were collected from major sellers (you know: CNG and the guys that have catalogs even better looking than theirs).
So much for the 'honeymoon' phase of this review.
OK, not every coin is a heart stopper and not every photo is better than I could do. Some relatively common coins could have been found a little better with a little effort. These common coins are not the types that are regularly found in the files of the really big dealers. This situation resulted in some extreme rarities shown in better condition than other coins more easily available to most of us. Examples of common coins are usually decent but not always exceptional. Photo quality is universally high even when the example was mid-grade. Other coins are a bit less than perfect with good reason. For example, page 461 has a two and a half inch diameter (excessive) enlargement of an AE3 that is a bit too worn to be graded VF. It is fuzzy but readable. I can understand Ras' decision to enlarge the photo and to be proud to have an illustration of a coin of any grade of Constantia. If you don't know who she was, buy the book and read page 461. Other rulers usually have smaller images but more of them. Septimius Severus is represented by 121 reverse photos of the 200 types listed in the text. Each is slightly over an inch in diameter. This will bring us to a possible criticism of the book.
Coin images in this book are not shown in actual size or to any scale that can be used to tell the size of the actual coin. A page of photos can contain denarii and sestertii of the same ruler all shown in the same diameter (usually about 1 1/8"). Denarii are slightly enlarged, later sestertii are more or less actual size while medallions and early sestertii are a bit reduced. My web pages have been criticized for their failure to transmit actual size information for many of my images. The same people who were bothered by my images will be disturbed here also. Personally, I like the idea of enlarged images and wish these were even a bit larger. Of course, if Ras had made all the images as large as the earlier mentioned Constantia, guys like me would have complained that the book cost twice as much and that some of the coins were not sharp enough to support such enlargement. We all know you can't please them all. Overall, I am pleased by the photos; very pleased!
While the color photos are the strongest feature of the book, the price of these pages also includes a massive effort to catalog the known types of Roman Imperial coins. This is done through the creation of four separate lists. First, we see a text listing of the portrait types recorded for the Emperor. For some, this is a single entry while Constantine I offers seventy versions. Is the list complete? Probably not - he did not list the somewhat controversial "hat" recently subject of much discussion on-line. Is it an impressive effort? Yes!
The second list gives obverse legends which generally outnumber the bust types. Reverse legends follow in the third list which can be over 200 legends for the longer reigning Emperors. Finally there is a list of 'types' which give descriptions of the reverse scenes and figures. This fourth list is at once the most impressive and the most disturbing. While no list can hope to be absolutely all inclusive, this list is somewhat uneven in deciding how big a difference is required to generate a separate number. In some cases an additional device to the scene is recognized while other cases ignore what strike me as more major differences. While great care was taken, for example, to record what seem to be errors in spelling on some Eastern mint legends of Septimius Severus, the Eastern mint type showing Roma seated on a cuirass (RIC 414) is omitted both in text and selected images. This forces the user to select from the half dozen other Roma seated types that did make the list. Sources consulted for these lists and the photos were not strong in Eastern mint denarii of my favorite ruler but seem adequate in the areas in which I am not quite so specialized. Perhaps this is what Ras meant when he said in his Introduction, "The scholar will lament the omission of obscure issues." The listings do include plenty of obscure issues but others, often less 'obscure', got lost along the way. In all, the four lists were good efforts and should be useful to the target market for the book (those looking for a good single volume catalog of what is available).
The next list includes the names of the mints known to have struck for the ruler. There is absolutely no information offered beyond the city name. There are no images illustrating the appearance of a sample coin from that mint. There is no explanation of any factor that might assist the user to assign a coin to one of the listed mints. I was disappointed in this section of the book.
Another section that I felt to be below the standards set by the first four lists was that listing combinations of listed busts, obverses, reverses and types ordered by denomination. A sample listing would be Julia Domna "55) B5, O5, R82, T100" telling us that the 55th listed coin (out of 76) falling in the denarius section (numbers 12 to 66) uses the fifth bust type (Draped bust right), the fifth obverse legend (IVLIA DOMNA AVG), the 82nd reverse legend (VENERI VICTR) and the 100th reverse type (Venus standing right, leaning on column and with legs crossed, holding apple and palm). Image 100 confirms that this is the common Domna coin showing Venus from the rear. We are also given a column of references listing the coin by RIC, Sear and Cohen numbers. From the RIC reference we can deduce the coin listed was the Rome mint version but the fact that it also can be found from one of the Eastern mints was not noted.
If the above explanation is less than fully clear, rest assured that the author included (starting on page xiv) a very helpful section on "How To Use This Book". Be sure not to miss the last line on page xvi where the use of the officina space holder is described.
While I realize that it is much too much to ask that the combined listing actually cover all of the known combinations, I did find it interesting that the extensive listing of obverse and reverse legends include many versions not used by any of the combinations. Domna type 100 was also used with four other listed reverse legends but none made the cut. I consider the listings of legends presented by this book to be an exceptional effort but the catalog of combinations is considerably abridged and will be of little use to those who own another reference (Millennium Sear, Failmezger, RIC etc.) that covers their period of interest. The big value of this list is its status as a one volume work that covers the whole of the Imperial period. As such it is without doubt the best of its class and well worth the purchase by those in its target market. For me, a bit more advanced in my areas of speciality, the value of the book is more limited to areas outside my specialties. I won't use it much for Septimius Severus but it could come in very handy for Gallienus or one of the hundred other people about which I know so little.
While the chronological listing stops with Anastasius on page 599, don't miss the useful information that starts on page 600. First we are treated to a listing of anonymous coins ranging from 1st Century Civil War coins to the late Roman commemoratives and Festival of Isis issues. The most common coins here are the Urbs Roma and Constantinopolis issues which get further cataloging at the end of section. The listing is by no means complete but the three most common Anonymous Pagans are joined by a coin of the mines, an erotic tessera (PG as they go) and several quadrantes to make a total of 28 interesting types that did not fall into place elsewhere in the book.
The next three pages show a great idea that needed to be developed more fully. Entitled "Coin Terms Used" we see definitions of common terms that every collector needs to know. Several (but not all) have enlarged photos showing the definitions of, for example, fourree and patina. Another page is called "Glossary" and is hard to separate from the "Terms" except that none are illustrated. I would love to see these two sections combined and enlarged. Under "Style", a start is made to discuss appearance differences between coins of two different mints but it is just a start to a subject that could have been treated in depth.
Finally, we are treated to a listing of rarity by ruler and denominations including a ranked list of 202 names from the most common (Constantine I) to the most rare (Saturninus). I'm not sure I always agree with the exact placement of every name but it is an interesting concept.
As supplement to the catalog and images the book offers rather little text. What is given is interesting but readers will want another source for more in depth biographies. This book would be a good numismatic supplement for those who already own a book on Roman history. Each reign has a few sentences in the way of introduction but little toward a comprehensive biography or to discuss the significant features of the coinage. At least I would have liked discussion of particularly interesting types of the reign (beyond a simple listing).
A feature not generally seen in coin books appears in a boxed area at the start of each reign. In the box is a discussion of the expense and difficulty to be expected in the search for a coin of that particular ruler. While there is nothing pretentious about the language in the entire book, this section is particularly 'down home' in terms of language. Where numismatists of the last century might have commented on the rarity of coins of Caligula, Ras says, "Caligula is a tough emperor to score." Regarding Jotapian, we are told, "Unless you can swing, say, $10,000 on a coin you're not even in the running for one of these 'beauties'." My favorite is the comment that the going rate for an Aureus of Tiberius is "beaucoup bucks". While the section might require translation for some older readers, the effect is more like talking to a friend than reading a scholarly tome.
While language choice may turn off those who judge a book by grammar, more will be offended by what can only be termed as a failure to proofread to the degree necessary for a professional result. There are a few errors that would have been found by spell check ('strady', 'Gllienus'). The worst error I found in the first reading is that the photos for Gordian I were duplicated and shown also for Gordian II. Gordian I is also credited with being the bald one of the pair - the opposite of the generally accepted situation. Errors can be reported to Ras on his website errata page http://www.dirtyoldbooks.com/errata.html which, as of this moment when only 5 books are in country, has four entries (including Gordian's hair). We all make mistakes. It is refreshing to see an author be so 'up front' about errors that he set in place a means to ameliorate the problem. Buyers of the book (that's you, I hope) should print out the corrections and slip them in place in the book for future reference. As author of many web pages I have often commented on how much I like the fact that I can correct my errors (some misspellings have stood for over 5 years before I found them) and how much I would hate having to get my pages ready for hard copy (book) format. I hope we will all cut Ras some slack on errors and work together so the second edition will be clean and clear.
Who should buy this book? The target market is obviously the collector who does not own a large library of coin books but who is seeking a single volume introduction to the subject of Roman Imperial coins. Owners of RIC will benefit from seeing the collection of photos but will gain little in the way of scholarly understanding of the subject. The book is not, and does not pretend to be a professional production that will cause people to burn their RIC volumes. It should make you question the need to replace your copy of Van Meter (which is falling apart unless you have never read it or are a great deal more gentle than most). Collectors of late Roman will still need to buy Failmezger. Specialists in any period still will want the appropriate volumes of RIC or BMC. Eventually, most buyers of this book will want to add other books to their libraries but general collectors and those of us who are short of expert status across the whole 500 year span it covers might be well advised to consider its purchase. Anyone who has spent $75 on coins so far this year but has not yet bought a book in 2005 should correct this imbalance as soon as humanly possible.
Further information on the book can be found at http://www.dirtyoldbooks.com/
Disclaimer: Doug Smith is in no way connected with the production or content of this book. He is, however, a friend (by email) with the author and wishes him well in his endeavor. He was the first person (by dumb luck) to actually order and pay for a copy of the book so he was sent one of the very limited number of 'advance' copies as a reward for being first. This review was written within 48 hours of the arrival of that copy. It does not claim to cover all strengths or errors in the book but it is hoped that all will consider these word to be fair and present an accurate overview of the book. Those who believe this is not the case are invited to contact dougsmit (at) comcast (dot) net with comments about this review. Unlike the book itself, this review is in a format that can be fixed easily if found to be defective.