Hallo,
Ich bin jetzt schon mehrmals dem Buch "Die Münzen der Römischen Republik" von Rainer Albert begegnet (leider ohne die Gelegenheit zu haben, auch mal rein zu schauen).
Kann mir bitte jemand sagen, ob es sich lohnt dieses Buch zu kaufen, wenn man bereits Sear (Roman Coins and their Values) und Seaby (Roman Silver Coins) besitzt? Es geht mir hauptsächlich um historische Informationen zu den Münzmeistern und Münzbildern - weitaus weniger, falls überhaupt, um einen weiteren Katalog im Sinne der oben genannten englischen Bücher oder um bessere Abbildungen.
Besten Dank!
Hi -
Albert is a much better book than
Sear (not difficult) although both have flaws: here is what I say in my review when comparing it with
Sear:
http://andrewmccabe.ancients.info/Introductory.html#handbooks"Die Munzen der Römischen Republik. R.
Albert, 2003
I have almost the
reverse feeling with
Albert’s
catalogue as with
Sear RCV1. It’s a priced
catalogue exactly as I would design it – the coins are presented in chronological order; silver, bronze,
aes grave and gold together, almost all major silver
types including important
rarities are illustrated as well as a large and representative cross-section of the bronzes, the photographs and printing are very high
quality,
as is the
quality of the illustrated coins, all taken from recent high-end
auctions, and there are brief historical notes throughout. The early
denarius coinages and early bronzes, as well as gold, often neglected in introductory handbooks, are particularly well presented. Nevertheless it is let down by several defects of accuracy. Several illustrations are misattributed, mostly from the early Republic involving easily confused coins, for example the
Aes Grave issues with or without the sickle or club marks, or early Luceria issues confused with later ones. I believe this was generally due to mistakes in the original
auction listings, but a handbook made for collectors, who may never own
Crawford, demands accuracy. A further defect is that he applies the chronological order far too literally, for example separating those coins listed in
Crawford as "211 to 209BC", from those listed as "211 to 208BC". This is not helpful as it disrupts the
Crawford series numbering making coins difficult to find, but it also gives a false impression of numismatic accuracy as all these dates have a considerable uncertainty in each direction. Strangely, as with
Sear RCV, I have an almost emotional need for both authors to do a better
catalogue, because these handbooks are the first
face any collector sees to the
Roman Republic, and I want to attract collectors to my abiding interest, through books that are both well laid out and accurate.
German language, but that does not detract from navigation as the pictures tell the story. In print and inexpensive. If you already own RCV1 I do
still recommend you also buy
Albert for a different way of seeing the coins of the Republic."
Here is what I said about
Sear:
http://andrewmccabe.ancients.info/Catalogues.html#HCRI"RCV1:
Roman Coins and their Values, 5th edition Volume 1, David
Sear, 2000
The current
standard collectors reference, I hesitantly list this as essential, but there is no other English language publication that is as accessible or with the coverage of the
Republican series as RCV1. However it has many defects and it does not measure up well against its eminent predecessors. Despite much increased coverage, with 230 pages on the Republic, the story of the coinage is quite unclear due to the separation of silver from bronze, and the bronze coins are sorted by
denomination rather than issuer, which is inefficient on space as well as requiring a lot of leafing back and forward. Whilst RCV1 lists a majority of the
Republican silver coin
types, the anonymous
types from 214-150BC are almost entirely missing at least so far as individual listings are concerned. It bundles them into large undifferentiated buckets, for example
catalogue number 39 includes over 65 entirely separate silver issues made in different decades and many different mints. The early anonymous silver are amongst the most popular
collecting themes in the Republic so this odd arrangement has rendered
RSC1, a 60 year old book,
still indispensible and indeed the latter was recently reprinted to reflect this. In its favour, the comprehensive struck bronzes listings, the
aes grave, as well as comprehensive listings of silver after 150BC should be very useful for collectors who do not yet own
Crawford. Perversely however the bronze listings hit the other extreme of overcoverage. My bronzes
rarity guide shows that as much as half the listed issues are very
rare, with each known in only a handful of examples. It is only dispiriting to a collector to see
rare issues listed at $100
catalogue price in RCV1 yet in practice entirely unobtainable in the market, at any
price. Few bronzes are illustrated and I suspect most readers never open the bronzes pages. The
Republican era would also have greatly benefited from the
type of historic snapshots that are presented throughout the
Imperatorial and Imperial eras of the same book. A pen
portrait of the second Punic war or
Marius or the Gracchi would surely attract readers. The
price indications are very well-judged and the book is extremely accurate, I have owned it for nearly a decade and in that time have only found a single error. As a serious
numismatist it may be a disappointment when compared with what Rainer
Albert or Fiorenzo
Catalli were able to achieve in about the same number of pages, but it is
still essential if English is your main language."
Catalli's handbook is
very good, in some ways better than both
Sear or
Albert although less detailed. If your
Italian is
good consider it as an alternative:
"Fiorenzo
Catalli; La Monetazione Romana Repubblicana; Instituto Poligrafico e Zecca Dello Stato – Libreria Dello Stato;
Rome 2001
Good text,
maps, color photos (generally blown up) of some coins and
aes signatum and a
catalogue of about 900 main coin
types with 70 pages of plates. This is a perfectly acceptable shorter alternative to
Crawford and in fact beats both RCV1 and
Albert in terms of efficient layout - it brings all the coins from an issue into a single paragraph and cites key information from
BMCRR and
Crawford in that paragraph, though that includes dating, a subject on which really
BMCRR should not be quoted. All the bronzes from an issue are listed under a single
catalogue number, somewhat like in
Sydenham. The abbreviated listings do not leave room for varieties, for example he lumps all the complex Luceria
types under a single number that covers
Crawford 97/3 through 97/28 inclusive. But it is clear and accurate within its own rule set, and the efficient layout leaves lots of room for discussion. A further bonus is quite a few original essays scattered throughout the text discussing magistrates, dating of issues, the origin of Roman coinage, various theories on the introduction of the
denarius, the excavations at Cosa and at
Morgantina,
Social war coinage, an excavation at a
mint site with illustratoins etc. Really this is an outstanding book and I see no reason why this might not be used as your sole
catalogue, assuming you don't need pricing. The one significant downside as compared with RCV1 and
Albert is that the lack of detailed listings of course has downsides if you are trying to positively ID a coin you are not familiar with. The plates are excellent
quality and as with
Albert are based on some key
auctions in the late 1990s. If this was in English I might ordinarily use it instead of
Crawford, so if you can read
Italian well you should certainly buy it."