Roman Coins and their values (Sear) 1988 or Millenium ed.?

[dafnis]

I've got the chance of getting David R. Sear's "Roman Coins and their Values" book, both the 1988 single-volume edition, or the Millenium Ed. (book I, Republic & 12 Caesars).

I've read all kind of comments in favour and against both of them.... on the one hand I know the 2000 is more extended, though the 1988 ed. is apparently better organised.

Have you had the chance of comparing both? Which one would you recommend to me?

Thanks!

[PeterD]

It depends how far advanced in your collecting of Romans is. The single volume book gives a good overall view of the common types of the entire Roman period. The Millenium edition, to cover the entire range, consists of 3 (thick) volumes, with more to come. [ADMIN EDIT: Now complete with 5 volumes.] Even so, not every coin variation is included.

Both books include values. The 1988 book is obviously out of date and the Millennium set, in my opinion, undervalues most coins. However, that doesn't really matter if you just use the prices as a comparison.

I started with the single volume book (pre-1988) and used it quite happily for many years.

[maridvnvm]

Peter has described what I what suggest too. If you know what your focus is now and it is covered by a volume of the Milleneius edition then go for that as ti will cover it in more detail than the single volume. If you still have no focus or are very broad in scope then go for the single volume for the time being.
Regards,
Martin

[*Alex]

I have the three Millennium volumes published so far and several other reference books as well but invariably consult my old 1988 Sear volume first. My other books are generally in pristine condition, the 1988 Sear is falling apart. I think that says it all.

Alex.

[Potator II]

Hi,

I personnaly use both, but I will use mostly the millenium edition when it is completed. Prices are not accurate, but they never are a few months after any book is on sale. It would have to be updated regularely. Then, of course cotations are only an indication of rarity or availability on the market. This is true also for the 1988 edition, reason why I still bring it when at a coin show, as it's of easier use.

Regards
Potator

[Ibex-coins]

I like the milenium edition much better simply because there are so many more plates (photos) in these volumes.  Obviously if you have a three edition set you can fit more information, coins and photos in.  I rarely find I need the convienence of  one single book on roman coins to cover all periods.  Because I review only one area of coinage at a time I prefer the millenium editions increased detail.
Ronn

[Gilgamesh]

  I agree generally with the other respondents. However, my philosophy on coin collecting is that you can never have enough books!

If you can afford it, buy both! Not just for the reasons others have expressed; it can also be useful to trace rarity and value over a period of time. I have every edition of Sear and use them all.

If you have to restrict yourself to one because of finances, I'd suggest the 88 Sear. Should be much cheaper, is reasonably comprehensive and, it's much easier to tote around one volume. If you get stuck needing extra help to identify coins; there's always Forum, isn't there.

[Joe Sermarini]

We now have the Sear Roman Coins and Their Values volumes (except SRCV V) at a special price $58 per volume.

https://www.forumancientcoins.com/catalog/roman-and-greek-coins.asp?vpar=1234&pos=0#Popular-Authors

[Anaximander]

Kudos to Forvm for having available in their store both the Sear Roman 1988 edition and Vol. III of the Millenium Edition at bargain prices, even now. I paid twice the Forvm price for my copies.

I used to think the 'Millennium' part was about publishing in the year 2000. Turns out the goal was to publish the five volumes sometime this millennia (OK, it just feels that way, that last volume appearing 15 years after the first). 

I am going to pore through my Roman coin collection, research the references (RIC, RPC, RSC, SRCV and Crawford), photograph, and upload to my Forvm gallery.  I'm constantly surprised by the lack of a table of contents (and sometimes even page numbers) in numismatic references. My solution is to prepare a Table of Contents (TOC), which helps me find the right emperor, plate, or page.

Here is my TOC for SRCV.  Any and all feedback welcomed.

Anaximander

[helvetica]

Very useful. About 10 years ago I was halfway through doing an xls list of Sear GIC (with David Sear's permission, as he thought that would be very helpful), using regions, cities, numbers, basic information, etc. Then my harddisk failed and no matter which recovery software I used it would partout not recover the large xls file. I have since then hooked up that harddisk to an external reader and tried yet more recovery software, but still no luck..

So any kind of contents table for any Sear volumes is very useful.

[JBF]

You might look up the exchange rate for whatever currency your country uses, for whenever the book was published.  Might give a better idea of Sear's price estimates if your country is using different units that British Pounds.  I seem to remember that the exchange rate for Greek Coins and their Values, vol 1 Europe was something like $2/pound, and vol. 2 Asia and Africa, $2.2/pound, but don't trust me on this, if you're interested, do your own homework and look up the exchange rate yourself.

JBF

[Callimachus]

I have the complete Millennium Edition of the Sear book -- 5 volumes.

The introductory material -- 74 pages of it -- is exactly the same in all 5 volumes. That is about 300 pages of duplicate material I don't need. In using volume 1 -- The Republic and the 12 Caesars -- I have never had to consult the section on the "Mints and Mint Marks of the Later Roman Empire." In using volume 4 in studying the coins of the Tetrarchy and Constantinian Era, I have never had the need to consult the section "Countermarks on the AE Coinage of the Early Empire."  I would have preferred extended essays pertinent to the coins listed in each volume -- similar to those in the volumes of RIC.

Anaximander mentions above there is no Table of Contents in these volumes.  The alphabetical Index at the end of each volume is OK for finding individual Emperors,  even though it references catalog numbers rather than page numbers. For example, in vol. 3: Florian is indexed like this: "FLORIAN, AD 276   nos. 10078-533." The rest of the index is poor.  For example, again in vol. 3, the extensive 74 pages of introductory material has only 7 entries in the index. For example: "CONDITIONS OF COINS   page 74."  There are at least 14 or 15 other headings in these 74 pages that should be in the index, such as Mints and Mint Marks. (Yes, these 7 entries are interfiled with the list of names.)

There are page numbers on the top corner of every page. But since 1.) there is no table of contents, 2.) the index references catalog numbers rather than page numbers, and 3.) the 74 pages of introductory material is basically un-indexed, these page numbers are irrelevant, and don't even need to be there. I wish someone had thought through these issues before the books were published. When looking for a specific Emperor, it is much easier to look at the top corner of each page for one page number, than having to scan the left side of each page (which has numerous catalog numbers) looking for a catalog number that is up to 5 digits long.

For an experienced collector this isn't such an issue because we more or less know the order of all the Emperors. But for beginning collectors, this is a serious problem.  Even deciding what volume to look in can be a problem for a beginner. If you want to find Victorinus, for example, what volume do you pick up? Having a comprehensive index to all 5 volumes in each volume would have been more useful than the same 74 pages of introductory material in each volume. (But since the 5 volumes came out over a period of 15 years, I guess this would not have been possible.)

On the plus side: I appreciate that the pages of each volume of the Millennium Edition are sewn into individual signatures. If the glue in the spine ever gets brittle, at least it won't crack and leave you with a handful of individual pages.  That is what happened to my copy of Sear's Greek Imperial Coins.

(The things they teach you in Indexing class about evaluating the usefulness of indexes in books . . .)