I think this belongs in the book review discussion. I repost it from "The Papal Corner." FF
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THE 7 MOST IMPORTANT REFERENCES FOR PAPAL COINS
THE 7 MOST IMPORTANT REFERENCE WORKS FOR COLLECTING AND RESEARCHING PAPAL COINS, IN MY OPPINION, ARE:
1. J.D.N. Kelly. The
Oxford Dictionary of Popes.
New York,
Oxford University Press, 1986. 347 pages.
Good bios of the 264 popes, 30 or so anti-popes, and one nonexistent female pope. Kelly is
head and shoulders above all other papal bios. For example, Richard P. McBrien treats us to the
legend the
Alexander VI died from poison.
Alexander and
his son, Cesare, exhibited classic malaria symptoms. The poison story ranks with Pope Joan as fiction. So much for "Lives of the Popes," by the author of "Catholicism."
2. Francesco
Muntoni. Le Monete dei
Papi e degli Stati Pontifici. [The Coins of the Popes and of the
Papal States.] P&P Santamaria,
Rome, 1972-1973, 4 [huge] volumes. Forni has reprinted it.
CNI omits the three
French mints. Serifini covers only the [large]
Vatican collection.
Muntoni covers everything, except the earliest coins, which were unknown in 1972/73.
3. Michael D. O’Hara. "A Find of
Byzantine Silver from the
Rome Mint for the Period A.D. 641 – 752." Swiss Numismatic Review.
Vol. 64, 1965, pp. 105 140, 22 plates. A reprint exists.
Covers the earliest papal coins.
4. Allen G.
Berman. Papal Coins. Attic Books, Ltd. South Salem, N.Y., 1991, 255 pages, 77 pages of plates.
If you are going to
price a papal coin, you need this book. The
price structure is solid. The going rate today is 2B, 2.5 B or 0.50 B. B is the
Berman price. Not all papal coins are in this book. Finding a "not in
Berman" is my own greatest coin story.
5.
Thomas F.X. Noble. The Republic of St.
Peter, The Birth of the Papal State, 680 – 825. The University of Pennsylvania Press,
Philadelphia, 1984, 376 pages.
How did the popes, bishops, become civil rulers? Was there really such a state as the Republic of St.
Peter? Mr. Noble tells you how this show got started.
6. Philip
Grierson and Mark Blackburn.
Medieval European Coinage, 1, The Early Middle Ages (5th-10rh Centuries).
Cambridge University Press,
London, 1991, 674 pages.
You can’t get anywhere with the early papal coinage without this book. Just the explanation of
counterfeits changes
Muntoni’s 1972-74 picture.
7.
Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini [Pius II]. Memoirs of a Renaissance Pope." Trans., Florence A Gragg. G.P. Putnam’s Sons,
New York, 1959, 381 pages.
A completely delightful book. Pius is funny. That’s probably why I like him so much.
Cheers,
Follibus Fanaticus
