Roman Bronze Coins 294-364 AD, from Paganism to Christianity

Images to Accompany:
Roman Bronze Coins 294-364 AD, from Paganism to Christianity
by Victor Failmezger ------- Images by Doug Smith

Index - First Plate The CD ROM disk accompanying this book was made to run automatically when inserted in most Windows operating system computers. A few Windows users and Macintosh users will have to use other techniques to get any value out of the disk. Some Macintosh systems will fail to recognize files on this disk. Those who can not make use of the auto run feature are encouraged to try to run the file index.html in whatever browser is available on your system or to view the JPG image files using your choice of graphics software. Those with sufficient space may want to copy this entire disk to a folder on their hard drive and run the file index.html from this copy rather than using the CD itself.

After selecting a thumbnail page from the index, click on the small images to see enlargements. Use the BACK button on the browser to return to thumbnails. Selected images have larger files for printing. Click larger to see these enlargements. Smaller images appearing on this disk were all photographed at the same scale retaining relative proportions from coin to coin. This same scale was used to reproduce the millimeter scale shown at the top of each plate. Persons interested in printing images to exact size can use this scale to check accuracy which might vary according to the printer and software used. This attempt to maintain consistency of scale resulted in smaller coins being surrounded by quite a bit of excess white space. Many will prefer to use their own software to crop away this excess before printing enlargements of individual coins.

Images on this disk were made to be viewable on most computer systems but obviously will appear (and print) a bit differently on different systems. Brightness and contrast were set to be best on average equipment. Those with state of the art monitors may wish to reduce the contrast a bit. This disk was tested on both Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 and Netscape Navigator 3 in the hope that persons using newer and older versions of both would be able to use the disk. If more than one browser is available on your computer, I feel this disk is best used on IE6. The disk is included as a bonus to the book. While it may work with other equipment and software, no guarantee is made that it will work with any specific computer system.

The coins illustrated are all from private collections including those of the author and several other collectors. Some of the coins photographed better than others. While the disk includes a number of rare coins in presentable condition, it was decided to include common or rare coins in poor condition when no better was available to be photographed. A few coins were included from scans made directly from the coins. These rare coins were not available to the photographer when the images were made. Their inclusion seemed important enough to overlook the fact that these images do not match the style of the others in the book. An attempt was made, however, to resize them to match the scale of the other coins. Directly scanned coins can be recognized by a dark shadow under the coin. It is deeply regretted that these coins are not included in the 'larger' file size.

There is little consistency to the number of coins illustrated for each type. Duplicates to numbers were included when it seemed that the coins were sufficiently different from each other that the reader might benefit from seeing both. Some common coins are represented by only one unexceptional coin while some reasonably scarce types are shown in several varieties. While the author and photographer would have liked to shown all of the types and varieties, this was simply not possible. The numbering system presented in this book allows for quite a bit of variation among specimens numbered the same. This is due to various mints producing similar coins in different styles and obverse portrait varieties beyond the scope of the listings. Still, the disk illustrates several hundred coins not shown in the standard references of the period and should give the viewer a good idea of what is available. The author of the book chose to place relatively little emphasis on mintmarks and officina numbers. The photographer chose to include coins from several mints or workshops when they were available. While this may be considered an inconsistency, it is hoped that most readers will benefit from the inclusion of the extra images. Matters of style that could not be addressed in the text of the book can be studied by reviewing the images.

Images on this disk may also be accessed by most graphics programs that handle JPG files. I use and recommend Paint Shop Pro 7 by JASC which is available widely both in computer stores and online. Graphics programs will allow individual users to manipulate these images to adjust brightness, contrast and other factors to fit their own preferences. While all images on this disk are copyrighted, purchase of this book includes permission for the original book purchaser to use any images for personal projects. If you desire to make framed enlargements for your wall, tee shirts, coffee mugs or tattoos using these images, please feel free. However, persons desiring to sell products made from these images are not covered by this permission and should contact the author and photographer for special permission. Copies of the disk may be made freely and distributed at cost (or for free) to owners of the book who do not have the disk. Special permission is granted to Ancient Coins for Education to distribute copies of this disk to schools and individuals whether or not they are accompanied by a copy of the book.

The plates each show 15 coins and should print out to approximately exact size on most equipment if the margins are set to a minimum value (I use .1 inch). Setting margins larger than this may result in cropping of the edges of some coins. Some may desire to print out a set of the 42 plates. It is strongly recommended that time be taken to test your printer's density settings and paper selections before printing out the plates.

Ordinary images on the plates should produce satisfactory 4x6 inch enlargements which can be printed on your home printer or sent to commercial labs. Prints larger than 4x6 should be made using the 'larger' images which were placed on the disk specifically for this purpose. These 'larger' images should make a satisfactory 20x30 inch prints. If printing larger coins that occupy most of the canvas, be sure to instruct your printer not to crop into the images. If your processor does not accept such instructions, you can enlarge the images to proper (2:3 for 20x30's or 4x6's, 4:5 for 8x10's etc.) proportions (or select a better processor!). Since this proportion is different for other standard photo sizes, each user of this disk will have to consider this matter according to the size wanted and the requirements of the lab making your prints.

Most of these photographs were made using a Nikon Coolpix 990 digital camera with no accessory lenses. Smaller format images were shot at 640x480 resolution for each side of the coin and combined on one 900x500 'canvas'. 'Larger' images were shot at 2048x1536 and combined on one image. 'Larger' images are not necessarily proportional to other images on the disk. While these were included primarily for use in making better prints, some will enjoy examining their microscopic details on the computer screen.