[.ca] Handbook Of Ancient Greek & Roman Coins: An Official ... (ISBN 030709362X)

A excellent book for beginners:
If you are thinking to collect classic Greek and Roman coins and you have no idea of how to start, this is a good book to introduce in a cheaper way. There is a interesting introducing chapter and after the boor is organized in two main chapter, the old greek coins ant the imperial roman coins. There are many illustrations exemplifying coins kinds and a little bit explanation in each one. I can only put it an inconvenience, forgets the Republican and the Provincial periods of Rome coinage, but you can understand because the book would should at least 100 pages more.

Handbook of Ancient Greek and Roman Coins:
This is a great book! If you are going to start collecting Greek and Roman coins, you should buy this book. It tells you all about how to read the coins and what type and variety of coins were made. No instruction on grading or coin values are given, but still a must book for the beginner.

Great book for the beginner:
I was very pleased with this book. It is basically a beginners guide to Greek and Roman coin collecting. It tells the step by step history of coins, which is extremely useful to the beginner. I was able to identify many of my coins just by the history lesson of coin casting. It even helps you read the writing on the coins. Many, many photoes and drawings. I think a more seasoned coin collector may not find to useful, but for the beginner it is gold. You can get it for $10 or so used. Why wouldn't you buy it?

Excellent Starting Point for Greek & Roman Coins:
If you have just recently begun to collect Greek and/or Roman coins, you'll want to have this book. For one thing, it's very cheap. More importantly, it's a great bargain. There is so much information crammed into this 280-page book. For $12.00, this book will tell you about how ancient coins were minted, how to read Greek characters, how to translate basic Latin inscriptions, and how to tell the difference between an AS, Dupondius, and Sestertius. These are but a few examples of the helpful information contained in this book. Profusely illustrated, this book gives an example of a coin from every major ruler (especially the Roman emperors). Unfortunately, this book is not designed to help you attribute every ancient coin that you might run into. Again, usually only one example of each emperor is given. Also some of the more obscure rulers are not represented here. Still, that shouldn't stop you from getting this book if you have any sort of interest in ancient Greek and Roman coins. You can't go wrong with the price. There is a wealth of information here. It will answer many of your questions.

A Tale of Two Books:
Klawans has written what really is a tale of two books and *both* of them are great. An Outline of Greek Coins begins with the telling of how coins were made. Klawans includes more than Greek coins. Lydian and Judean coins are also mentioned. Can't find Persian coins? Have a look for Darius and Daric. Reading and Dating Roman Imperial coins begins with coinage before the empire. Most helpful in this part of the book are the explanations for abbreviations found on Roman coins. Take as an example IMP CAES DOMIT AUG GERM COSXIII CENSPER PP. This means: Imperator, Caesar, his name Domitian, Augustus, Germanicus, the 13th year of his consulship, the chief magistrate of the Roman State or Censor Perpetus, and father of his country Pater Patriae. Klawans is an indispensable handbook, and the first book I reach for when I want to know something about ancient coinage.