Hi all,
I like hard copy coin references. Lately, my main concern has been getting Hoover's Greek Coin volumes, not inexpensive, but doable, I have three volumes so far and there are a couple more at least that I want, I buy one every month or so. I also have a few other more specialized books, such as van Haaff's Coins of
Elymais. I am just getting into
Roman coins and, to be honest, while I like them, I am not sure how far I will go with them. I tend to buy coins based on what I like that fits my pretty
low budget. Late
Roman bronzes fit my
budget often. And, perhaps unfortunately, my collecting interests are very wide and I have realized that will probably never change, although I do some specializations that I would call minor, but I am actually all over the place in terms of interests. I have come to terms with that.
So, my question here is, for
Roman coins, do I have to have
RIC volumes? Or, is the Sears five volume
work any
good and relevant? Or, do I just rely on online sources like
OCRE, which actually seems not a bad way to go. I have the two
Sear volumes that cover
Roman Empire and
Greek Imperial. I find all the
Sear books, including the Greek ones I have, very lacking in specifics. Maybe the multi-volume
Roman series is better. All I know is I cannot afford
RIC. One volume for me is six months of coin
budget and I am just not willing to sacrifice the coin for the book in this case (and I spend quite a
bit on books). I could see getting the
Sear books, I can't see getting
RIC at this point when I am on a severe
budget for any purchases related to my coin collecting, especially with inflation worse than most people alive today have ever seen and I personally remember such inflation in late 70s-early 80s. It is crazy how much inflation is affecting me, I
had forgotten how bad it could be if you were a wage worker or on a fixed income.
What do you think?