Author Description

More than three decades have passed since David Sear published 'Greek Coins & Their Values', his revision of Gilbert Askew's "A Catalogue of Greek Coins" published in 1951. Since then, the field of ancient numismatics and the hobby of collecting ancient coins have changed so much that now "Greek Coins & Their Values" would require a complete revision to include all of the most current numismatic information available, list the many new types and varieties unknown to Sear, and determine an approximate sense of rarity for all of these issues. In order to encompass this new material and create a viable reference for the collector, such a handbook would have to be more than the two volumes. As a result, Classical Numismatic Group is publishing "The Handbook of Greek Coinage Series" of 13 volumes, each covering a specified area of Greek coinage with the first being "The Handbook of Syrian Coins: Royal and Civic Issues, Fourth to First Centuries BC" (Volume 9 in the series). This series is designed to aid the user in the quick and accurate identification of Greek coins, while providing a cross-reference for each entry to a major work.The latest published volume in the series is "Handbook of Coins of Italy and Magna Graecia, Sixth to First Centuries BC" (Volume 1 in the series). Beginning with Ancona in Picenum, the catalog covers Italy and Magna Graecia from north to south, with each region in alphabetical order. The coinage within each city is arranged chronologically, beginning with the Archaic issues and continuing through the later civic issues. Issues in this catalog are arranged with silver first, followed by bronze; each metal is arranged by denomination, largest to smallest--> Preface to The Handbook of Greek Coinage Series.