Looking at Representative Type Collection

[Scott H2]

I am a historian who is easily drawn to many of the cultures and tiny kingdoms of the dark/middle ages and was pleased to score a great price on the Cambridge MEC 14: South Italy, Sicily, and Sardinia. Correct me if I am wrong, but I do not see your typical rarity guide or a suggestion of rarity in the book. I was looking to start a meaningful type set and considering starting with Conradin of the Kingdom of Sicily first since his examples are rather affordable. Is there any sense of how plentiful a given ruler is or should I infer based on the history versus the accounted hoard evidence? I notice prices are all over the place. Simple by typing in a kingdom and/or ruler prices seem reasonable. Add the word "crusader" and it goes for several multiples. I'm encouraged to start with this culture and time period as I have the reference, but could just as easily start with another if I had that book in the Cambridge series. Advice?

[BIRDSOFPREY]

Hi Scott,

When I purchased my MEC 14, I started my southern Italian collection focusing on the issues of Roger II and the subsequent Williams.  I found that a majority of the coins were reasonably priced and the series was of a unique nature.  I found the Norman coinage to be more interesting during that period than the "Latinized" versions minted later under the Hohenstaufens.  Of course I augmented this collection with denaro of the House of Anjou, Crown of Aragon, and later as well as Byzantine folles minted in south Italy.  Have fun with it, as there are many directions you can go from Conradin.

Cheers,
David

[Scott H2]

Great, thank you for sharing your collecting experience. I take it there is no urgency to start with a given example or trying to find a "key" to the series. I think I will just try to purchase a couple of representative examples to get started in a couple of different conditions. These are tiny coins so I may not be as forgiving as I usually am with grade, though I understand that these are rarely legible wholly on their own.