FORVM`s Classical Numismatics Discussion Board
Numismatic and History Discussion Forums => Classical Numismatics Books and References Discussion Forum => Topic started by: ecoli on December 16, 2004, 01:04:53 pm
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Kind of a stupid question:
What is the BCD collection and is there any reference works that feature that collection?
Thanks
ecoli
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I think it's a major collection of coins from Olympia, many of which feature Olympic themes. Here's a note from the website of Walter C. Holt: "In May this year [2004, I think], the greatest collection of Olympic coins ever sold, the BCD collection, was auctioned in Switzerland. Similar coins sold there for as much as A$500 each. A very interesting item in this year of the Athens Olympics."
I hope someone else chimes in with more info. What does BCD stand for?
Rhetor
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Mr. BCD is a person with a very large collection of ancients. Numismatik Lanz has held two auctions of his material. The coins of these auctions are archived at coinarchives.com and paper catalogs may be ordered from Lanz.
http://www.lanz.at/katalogbestellung.php3?k=105
Nearly 1000 coins of Corinth
http://www.lanz.at/katalogbestellung.php3?k=111
http://www.numislanz.de/auktion111/a111.htm
Over 600 lots of Euboea
I was lucky enough to purchase a gorgon fraction in the Corinth auction.
His full name is B. C. Demetriadi and he has written for The Celator. I heard a rumor that he is the same as Vassili Demetriadi (who writes for Numismatic Chronicle) -- but I am not sure.
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His first name is Basil, which I do not doubt is the same as Vassili.
He is a Greek citizen who collects ancient coins struck in Greece itself.
Having reached the point where he had almost everything, he has decided to sell portions of his collection. The two Lanz and the Leu catalogue mentioned have become reference works for the coinages in question, of Corinth, Euboea, and Olympia.
He also possesses one of the most complete numismatic libraries in private hands relative to the Greek coins he specializes in.
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Thank you all for the info. :)
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When reviewing the references for my mainland Greek coin collection, I became starkly aware of the importance of the BCD collection. Most of my Greek coins were purchased prior to the publication of the BCD collection, so there were obviously no references to be made there. Now, though, it's quite hard to provide an up-to-date reference without consulting BCD. Actually, since there's no single corpus, but rather a number of catalogs from a handful of auction houses, I suppose we should talk about the BCD Collections (in plural).
The Numiswiki topic BCD (https://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?key=BCD) is helpful and succinct, but there's little there to help guide us to those resources, which are often characterized as the new standard references.
I found a couple of helpful threads in this Discussion Board, such as the one from Andrew McCabe discussing BCD, the man and his library. His comments here (https://www.forumancientcoins.com/board/index.php?topic=83169.0). Molinari provided me a vital link by pointing to acsearch.info for BCD Akarnania. I thought I knew that search engine, but I wasn't familiar with their Auctions link or their Publications link. So I'll elaborate here what I learned:
|acsearch.info| (http://acsearch.info) has a list of catalogs (such as M&M Gmbh #23 for BCD Akarnania) whose link for each pulls up a list of related lots in html, and not as a PDF. See the graphic at the end of this post. The site has a number of BCD catalogs available without charge:
Numismatik Lanz Auction 105 (Corinth) https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?term=&category=1-2&company=86&auction=110 (https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?term=&category=1-2&company=86&auction=110)
Numismatik Lanz Auction 111 (Euboia) https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?term=&category=1-2&company=86&auction=164 (https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?term=&category=1-2&company=86&auction=164)
Leu Auction 90 (Olympia) link (https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?term=&company=62&auction=292)
LHS Auction 96 (Peloponnesos) link (https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?term=&company=63&auction=493)
Munzen & Medaillen Auction 23 (Akarnania-Aetolia) link (https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?term=&company=74&auction=646)
nomos Auction 4 (Thessaly I) link (https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?term=&company=79&auction=1218)
NAC Auction 55 (Lokris-Phokis) link (https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?term=&company=83&auction=1093)
CNG Triton IX (Boiotia) link (https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?term=&company=30&auction=460)
CNG Mail Bid Sale 81 Part 2 (Peloponnesos II) link (https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?term=&company=30&auction=873)
CNG Triton XV (Thessaly II) link (https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?term=&company=30&auction=1364)
There are other, smaller sales (such as the 'further offering of BCD Peleponnesos' in CNG MBS 82, and in their Electronic Auctions, such as the Achaian League coinage in EA 221).
However, sales with more than 1000 lots are not fully available on acsearch without a PRO subscription. This impacts BCD Peloponnesos I, II, and possibly others. You can still search for a specific lot, but cannot have a nice, sequentially-numbered list of lots above lot #1000.
UPDATE to UPDATE: BCD Euboia (Lanz Auction 111) is NO LONGER available at http://www.lanzauctions.com/catalogs/111/a111.htm. Also: There are 'further offerings of BCD Boiotia' in CNG 72, 73, Triton X, and 75. These lots are not in catalogs dedicated exclusively to BCD, but have lots from other collections mixed in.
issuu.com (http://issuu.com) has an online pdf version of the nomos 4 (https://issuu.com/cngcoins/docs/nomos_04_proof) and |Triton XV| (https://issuu.com/cngcoins/docs/bcd_triton_xv_virtual_catalog) catalogs. You may be able to find some catalogs online at the auction house websites, such as CNG, but I haven't been successful in getting any that I could not find elsewhere, and some issues are missing (like CNG 81 and 82, and Triton IX).
I have not investigated coinarchives.com except to say that it, too, has online catalogs, in html and by lot, like acsearch.info, but this almost always requires a PRO subscription.
I have also not yet checked out sixbid for its auction archive, which I have only now discovered (here) (https://www.sixbid.com/en/auctions/past/page/1/perPage/100?auctioneer=) except to see if they had the Lanz auctions (they do not).
The more I look, the more sites I find. Another site with 'closed Auctions' is biddr (https://www.biddr.com/closed?p=50). Still, I did not find any new BCD catalogs.
I have the hardcopy catalogs for CNG 81 (Peloponessos II), CNG 82 (further Perloponessos), Triton IX (Boiotia) and Triton XV (Thessaly II), should anyone need a reference from those auctions. I wish I had held on to my early nomos catalogs; I had a standard reference without knowing it! :-\
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BCD| Collection (https://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?key=BCD%20Collection) catalogs are listed in NumisWiki, with links to online versions when available.
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Are the Imhoof-Blumer Akarnania and Hedervar Akarnania catalogs available online or in PDF somewhere?
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Here is the Imhoof-Blumer link: https://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?key=Imhoof-Blumer%20Akarnaniens
Pekka K