General discussion > General Discussion

New collector

(1/3) > >>

Adriaan78:
Dear fellow collectors,

As I am relatively new to the hobby of collecting late roman bronze coins (coins of constantine the great and his family, especially linking Constantius I) I am happy to find a forum like this one. I have a developing collection of about 20 coins at the moment. As this collection is steadily growing I am in need of some more information resources. I have done some reading on the internet (including the beautiful constantinethegreatcoins.com). Furthermore, I have bought and read the book "Roman Bronze Coins from Paganism to Christianity" by Failmezger. This has taught me some things  but when I read this forum I see such a display of knowledge of coins of the area that makes think that I need to study a lot more before becoming a serious collector. I was planning to buy RIC part VI to VIII but it is relatively expensive with enormous shipping costs (I live in the Netherlands). Could you experienced collector give me some advice?

Kind regards,
Adriaan van Es

Victor:
Hello and welcome. For this period the RIC volumes are indispensable if you want to be a more advanced collector, but as you said, they are not cheap.

After the Failmezger book, I can't think of any that cover this period in a general fashion, just more specialized books, that are mint specific, like Bastien's Lyons mint books, Ferrando's book on the Arles mint, Drost's book on the Ostia mint and Cloke and Toon's London mint book.

I have a page with articles, mostly on 4th century numismatics and related topics that might be of interest--
http://www.constantinethegreatcoins.com/articles/

Adriaan78:
Thank you for your advice! I am convinced that the RIC volumes are of great importance, and I will buy them. Can you give me an advice on which edition? Is the original print of 1966 advised or do you prefer later reprints? After browsing the forum and reading your website (including your thesis)I think you might be an excellent candidate to write a nice book on coinage of Constantine the Great...

Thanks again!

Adriaan


 

Victor:
Sometimes the original edition of a book might have better images, but in the case of RIC VII the quality of the reprinted edition is very nice (I have the 1997 ed.), plus I prefer new books over used books. I don't know about writing a book on Constantine and his coinage (but thanks for the compliment), but of course, my thesis could be considered a book.

livingwater:
Welcome Adriaan78,

This is THE PLACE to be for LRBs.  Victor is very knowledgeable, helpful and an honest seller to buy from.  Another book that might be good for beginners is Late Roman Bronze Coinage by Carson, Hill, Kent reprinted 1989 but I don't think it's cited much anymore.  You may find a copy from a European dealer.  There's one on Vcoins for $40 + shipping.  If you live close to a large city library they may have some LRBs books there.  One can learn a lot online by looking at Vcoins, Sixbid, biddr.com, Wildwinds, Ebay, etc.  As you know with any area of collecting it's good to learn about average prices in relation to type, condition, rarity before buying so you don't pay far too much for something.  A good and interesting collection of LRBs can be made with modest amounts of money, have fun!   

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page