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Books > Arts & Architecture > Antiques & collectables > Coins, banknotes, medals, seals, numismatics
Originally released as Fell's United States Coin Book, this
edition, revised in the Fell's Official Know-It-All Series, is
required reading for both serious and beginning coin collectors.
With hundreds of updated coin photos and thousands of prices, this
book has been a perennial favorite since 1943.
The narrative of Roman history has been largely shaped by the
surviving literary sources, augmented in places by material
culture. The numerous surviving coins can, however, provide new
information on the distant past. This accessible but authoritative
guide introduces the student of ancient history to the various ways
in which they can help us understand the history of the Roman
republic, with fresh insights on early Roman-Italian relations,
Roman imperialism, urban politics, constitutional history, the rise
of powerful generals and much more. The text is accompanied by over
200 illustrations of coins, with detailed captions, as well as maps
and diagrams so that it also functions as a sourcebook of the key
coins every student of the period should know. Throughout, it
demystifies the more technical aspects of the field of numismatics
and ends with a how-to guide for further research for
non-specialists.
Coinage played a central role in the history of the Athenian naval
empire of the fifth century BC. It made possible the rise of the
empire itself, which was financed through tribute in coinage
collected annually from the empire's approximately 200 cities. The
empire's downfall was brought about by the wealth in Persian
coinage that financed its enemies. This book surveys and
illustrates, with nearly 200 examples, the extraordinary variety of
silver and gold coinages that were employed in the history of the
period, minted by cities within the empire and by those cities and
rulers that came into contact with it. It also examines how coins
supplement the literary sources and even attest to developments in
the monetary history of the period that would otherwise be unknown.
This is an accessible introduction to both the history of the
Athenian empire and to the use of coins as evidence.
That there was an influx of silver dirhams from the Muslim world
into eastern and northern Europe in the ninth and tenth centuries
is well known, as is the fact that the largest concentration of
hoards is on the Baltic island of Gotland. Recent discoveries have
shown that dirhams were reaching the British Isles, too. What
brought the dirhams to northern Europe in such large numbers? The
fur trade has been proposed as one driver for transactions, but the
slave trade offers another - complementary - explanation. This
volume does not offer a comprehensive delineation of the hoard
finds, or a full answer to the question of what brought the silver
north. But it highlights the trade in slaves as driving exchanges
on a trans-continental scale. By their very nature, the nexuses
were complex, mutable and unclear even to contemporaries, and they
have eluded modern scholarship. Contributions to this volume shed
light on processes and key places: the mints of Central Asia; the
chronology of the inflows of dirhams to Rus and northern Europe;
the reasons why silver was deposited in the ground and why so much
ended up on Gotland; the functioning of networks - perhaps
comparable to the twenty-first-century drug trade; slave-trading in
the British Isles; and the stimulus and additional networks that
the Vikings brought into play. This combination of general surveys,
presentations of fresh evidence and regional case studies sets
Gotland and the early medieval slave trade in a firmer framework
than has been available before.
Newly updated in 2020, this is the definitive illustrated reference
to the world's greatest coins and a professional guide to building
a spectacular collection, featuring over 3000 colour images. The
ultimate expert guide to coins and coin collecting, this is an
in-depth introduction to the origins, anatomy and usage of coins
looks at the birth of the world's first currencies. Practical
advice on evaluating grade and condition that will enable the
amateur to gauge the value of their latest acquisitions, and
step-by-step techniques show how to restore and preserve coins of
all ages. The fully-illustrated country-by-country directory
contains concise and lively histories of modern-day territories and
ancient regimes, plus engrossing stories of some of the most
remarkable coins in existence. This is a full-colour global guide
to world coinage, from its origins in the 7th century BC to the
present day, featuring coins and collectables for 200 countries. It
provides an expert guide to understanding the value and identity of
coins, with insights into dates, metals, denominations, shapes,
mintmarks, and portraits. A thorough introduction details the
history of coin production around the world, from the origins of
coinage in the seventh century BC, to its subsequent development by
Alexander the Great, Cleopatra and Napoleon, through to its role in
today's society. It includes over 3000 life-size colour images of
wonderful coins, including the boat-shaped issues of ancient
Byzantium, the bronze tokens of the Chinese dynasties, the
emergency World War One issues, the Vatican coins, and many more.
Originally written in 1905, this volume examines the coins of
Japan, especially appealing because of a subtle and impersonal
charm which pervades their inscriptions and the sentiments which
they set forth. They are written in characters which are a manifest
surviva of the picture writing of early man. He wrote, that is to
say, scored or scratched, various outline sketches of his doings
and the more intimate facts of his surroundings, on bone, clay or
other material.
Organized as a catalog of ship coins, according to the popular
KM-numbering system, these volumes list coins that have a common
design are grouped under separate headings. Circulating coins and
collector-oriented commemoratives are included and the coin images
represent the many different ways in which the ships are depicted.
Volume I"Fram," "Golden Hind," "Santa Maria," "Vasa," and "H.M.S.
Victory" are names of famous ships that have played a part in
Europe's maritime history and the stories associated with these and
many other ships are told in this book of ship coins. Each
narrative provides the historical background and watercraft
experience and circumstance of the soldiers, sailors, admirals and
generals, explorers, naval commanders, and fishermen who sometimes
through bravery and sometimes through human error have merited a
place in the historical record, and are associated with particular
vessels that have merited the striking of a coin in record and
remembrance. Each entry contains information on the ships, wherever
available (length, beam, depth, and tonnage). The book constitutes
a catalogue of ship coins organized according to the popular KM
numbering system, with groupings under separate headings where
ships have a common design. The coin images represent the many
different ways in which the ships are depicted. Each volume
contains a select bibliography and an index listing the ships,
persons and other major topics covered in the narratives. Volume
IIIncluding more than 600 narratives, the next in the series
follows the publication of Volume I to describe coins from America
and Asia.
Julia Augusta examines the socio-political impact of coin images of
Augustus's wife, Livia, within the broader context of her image in
other visual media and reveals the detailed visual language that
was developed for the promotion of Livia as the predominant female
in the Roman imperial family. The book provides the most
comprehensive examination of all extant coins of Livia to date, and
provides one of the first studies on the images on Roman coins as
gender-infused designs, which created a visual dialogue regarding
Livia's power and gender-roles in relation to those of male members
of the imperial family. While the appearance of Roman women on
coins was not entirely revolutionary, having roughly coincided with
the introduction of images of powerful Roman statesmen to coins in
the late 40s BCE, the degree to which Livia came to be commemorated
on coins in the provinces and in Rome was unprecedented. This
volume provides unique insights into the impact of these
representations of Livia, both on coins and in other visual media.
Julia Augusta: Images of Rome's First Empress on the Coins of the
Roman Empire will be of great interest to students of women and
imperial imagery in the Roman Empire, as well as the importance of
visual representation and Roman imperial ideology.
This book focuses on the formative period of Church reform in the
Middle Ages in Northern Europe, when the Church paved the way for
the development of money economy on its own doorstep. Church
archaeology provides evidence for patterns of monetary use related
to liturgy, church architecture and devotional culture through the
centuries. This volume encompasses Alpine European evidence, with
emphasis on Gotland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland and
Switzerland, which opens up a new field of research on religion and
money for an international audience. Based on 100,000 single finds
of coins from the 11th to 18th centuries from 650 Scandinavian
churches, the volume offers an in-depth discussion of the concepts
of ritual, liturgy and devotional uses of money, monetary space and
spiritual economy within the framework of Christendom, the medieval
church and church architecture. Written by international scholars,
Coins in Churches will be a valuable resource for readers
interested in the history of religion, money, the economy, and
church architecture in Northern Europe in the Middle Ages.
Little bigger than a fingernail, Celtic Coins are one of the
richest sources of Celtic art in the world, and yet few people are
even aware that they exist. With their strange otherworldly designs
they evoke a forgotten time of magical beasts, amulets, druids and
spirit helpers. In this extraordinary pocket volume, incredibly the
first of its kind, Celtic coin artist and researcher Simon Lilly
unveils the amazing lost world of early European art hidden in
museums and private collections across the planet. With hundreds of
original drawings by the author. WOODEN BOOKS are small but packed
with information. "Fascinating" FINANCIAL TIMES. "Beautiful" LONDON
REVIEW OF BOOKS. "Rich and Artful" THE LANCET. "Genuinely
mind-expanding" FORTEAN TIMES. "Excellent" NEW SCIENTIST.
"Stunning" NEW YORK TIMES. Small books, big ideas.
The volume gathers together seventeen articles dedicated to the
monetary history of medieval Italy, most of them newly translated
into English. The articles in the first section of the volume trace
the development of monetisation in Italy from the Lombard period
until the rise of the communes, taking Rome, Lazio, Tuscany, and
several cities and regions in north-central Italy as case studies.
The articles in the second section analyse different aspects of
monetary production and circulation in Byzantine Italy, while the
third gathers together studies on various aspects of Carolingian
coinage: the transition from the Lombard system and the problem of
furnishing an adequate supply of silver; mints and royal
administration; and the activity and inactivity of mints operating
at the edges of the Regnum Italiae. All of the articles share the
author's characteristic concern with setting the evidence from
written sources against the wealth of new data emerging from recent
archaeological research.
Like other volumes in this series, Ancient History from Coins
demystifies a specialism, introducing students (from first year
upwards) to the techniques, methods, problems and advantages of
using coins to do ancient history. Coins are a fertile source of
information for the ancient historian; yet too often historians are
uneasy about using them as evidence because of the special problems
attaching to their interpretation. The world of numismatics is not
always easy for the non-specialist to penetrate or understand with
confidence. Dr Howgego describes and anlyses the main contributions
the study of coins can make to ancient history, showing shows
through numerous examples how the character, patterns and behaviour
of coinage bear on major historical themes. Topics range from state
finance and economic policy to imperial domination and political
propaganda through coins types. The period covered by the book is
from the invention of coinage (ca 600BC) to AD 400.
Coins from the 18th and early 19th centuries are physically and
visually intriguing. In addition to their monetary uses, they were
repurposed to communicate private and public messages - from ad hoc
scratchings and punch marks to full-scale re-engraving of surfaces.
This book aims to give 21st-century readers insight into that
experience and to the many uno face="Cambria Math">fficial
purposes these objects served. Drawing on the largest extant
collection of defaced coins and tokens, this publication brings
together for the first time the full-range of expertise required to
understand the phenomenon, with contributions from 11 scholars and
collectors. It focuses on a significant period in British history,
when modification expressed political commentary, commercial
activity, familial and emotional commitment, personal identity and
life history. It will examine the coins and tokens themselves and
look at who modified them, where, why and how. The circumstances of
the coins' subsequent survival is explained, and each aspect will
be set in its specific historical contexts. Defaced coins and
tokens are often enigmatic objects, and this book will o
face="Cambria Math">ffer a means of decoding and assessing them,
while also drawing attention to their value as a distinctive source
of historical evidence. The contributors will also consider what
these surviving coins reveal about the society in which they were
produced and the light they shed on major historical developments
of the period. Tim Hitchcock, for example, discusses the new prison
culture that emerged following the outbreak of the American
Revolution in 1776, evidenced in a growing number of convict tokens
made in Newgate. Hamish Maxwell Stewart examines love tokens
illustrated with the 'Sailor's Farewell' within the context of the
market for sailor's gifts and tattoos to ward against the dangers
of oceanic travel. Steve Poole looks at tokens as souvenirs of
public hangings, not only in terms of the influence they exerted on
contemporary public opinion but as exemplars of the wider material
culture of public punishment. And Sally Holloway examines the
design and iconography of love tokens exchanged as romantic gifts.
As well as 12 essays, there is an annotated catalogue of 100 coins,
selected for their individual interest or representativeness of a
distinctive type of modification or motif.
Originally written in 1905, this volume examines the coins of
Japan, especially appealing because of a subtle and impersonal
charm which pervades their inscriptions and the sentiments which
they set forth. They are written in characters which are a manifest
surviva of the picture writing of early man. He wrote, that is to
say, scored or scratched, various outline sketches of his doings
and the more intimate facts of his surroundings, on bone, clay or
other material.
60 years of the UK's National Health Service and the NHS is
treating more people than ever and the population is living longer,
healthier lives. That's the good news. But what about the bad news?
Most histories of medicine concentrate on 'who invented what' or on
the lives of great medical figures. This history looks at the
effect on medical science of politics, religion, money supply and
social mores. Illustrated throughout by the very coins with which
the the medical staff may have been paid this book is a reminder
that medicine has never been free. Someone has to pay for it and in
most developed countries that someone is, at least in part, the
taxpayer. Are we getting value for money and would another system
provide a better service? Having examined the history of State
Medicine the book looks in depth at the problems facing the NHS and
compares them with healthcare delivery in other developed nations
from around the world. State medicine with all its warts!
Celebrating the 60th anniversary of the NHS in a critical but
balanced manner!
"All women, because of their innate weakness, should be under the
control of guardians" writes Cicero, curtly summarizing the status
of women in Ancient Rome. Yet Roman women had more control than
many believe. Stories of female artists, teachers, doctors, and
even gladiators are scattered through the history of Imperial Rome;
a Roman woman did not change her name when she married, her husband
could not control her property or dowry, and she was free to
divorce.
Royal women in particular - the wives, daughters, sisters and
mothers of emperors - have made a profound impression on Roman
history, long overlooked. This lively and attractive book vividly
characterizes eleven such women, spanning the period from the death
of Julius Caesar in 44BC to the third century AD and with an
epilogue surveying empresses of later eras. The author's compelling
biographies reveal their remarkable contributions towards the
legacy of Imperial Rome, often tinged with tragedy, courage, and
injustice.
- a pregnant Roman princess saves a Roman army through an act of
personal heroism
- three 3rd century empresses rule the most powerful state on
Earth, presiding over unprecedented social and political reform
- though revered by her husband, an empress is immortalized in
history for infidelity and corruption by students of her greatest
enemy.
Drawing from a broad range of documentation, Jasper Burns has
painted portraits of these exceptional women that are colorful,
sympathetic, and above all profoundly human. The women and their
worlds are brought visually to life through photographs of over 300
ancient coins and through the author's own illustrations.
This book will be highly valuable tonumismatists, students and
scholars of Roman history or women's studies, and enjoyable to any
reader.
"All women, because of their innate weakness, should be under the
control of guardians" writes Cicero, curtly summarizing the status
of women in Ancient Rome. Yet Roman women had more control than
many believe. Stories of female artists, teachers, doctors, and
even gladiators are scattered through the history of Imperial Rome;
a Roman woman did not change her name when she married, her husband
could not control her property or dowry, and she was free to
divorce.
Royal women in particular - the wives, daughters, sisters and
mothers of emperors - have made a profound impression on Roman
history, long overlooked. This lively and attractive book vividly
characterizes eleven such women, spanning the period from the death
of Julius Caesar in 44BC to the third century AD and with an
epilogue surveying empresses of later eras. The author's compelling
biographies reveal their remarkable contributions towards the
legacy of Imperial Rome, often tinged with tragedy, courage, and
injustice.
- a pregnant Roman princess saves a Roman army through an act of
personal heroism
- three 3rd century empresses rule the most powerful state on
Earth, presiding over unprecedented social and political reform
- though revered by her husband, an empress is immortalized in
history for infidelity and corruption by students of her greatest
enemy.
Drawing from a broad range of documentation, Jasper Burns has
painted portraits of these exceptional women that are colorful,
sympathetic, and above all profoundly human. The women and their
worlds are brought visually to life through photographs of over 300
ancient coins and through the author's own illustrations.
This book will behighly valuable to numismatists, students and
scholars of Roman history or women's studies, and enjoyable to any
reader.
"The Legend of Alexander the Great on Greek and Roman Coins" will
for the first time collect, present and examine the portraits and
representations of Alexander the Great on ancient coins of the
Greek and Roman periods (c.320 BC to AD 400). It offers a firsthand
insight into the posthumous appreciation of his legend by
Hellenistic kings, Greek cities, and Roman Emperors. Dahmen
combines an introduction to the historical background and basic
information on the coins with a comprehensive study of Alexander's
numismatic iconography. He also discusses in detail examples of
coins with Alexander's portrait. Which are part of a selective
presentation of representative coin types in the second part of the
study (in which an image and discussion is combined with a
characteristic quotation of a source from ancient historiography
and a short bibliographical reference).
The numismatic material presented, although representative, will
exceed any previously published work on the subject. This book will
be useful for classicists, archaeologists, historians and art
historians and students.
Over the centuries Britain's soil has yielded countless spectacular
hoards of ancient coins and other artefacts, affording us priceless
insights into our ancestors' lives - and it is not only such large
finds that await discovery but also many thousands of individual
pieces. Wonderfully, discoveries both minor and momentous are
frequently made not by teams of professionals but by amateur
archaeologists and metal-detector enthusiasts, for whom this book
is intended as a helpful companion. It provides a catalogue of
commonly encountered coins, dating from ancient times until the
modern day, explaining their historical context, how they might
have come to be lost and where they may be found today.
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