After trying to find this book for a reasonable
price, I bought one at a
shop on a
German coin mart website.
I needed to check through it, in case there were any new
types for the
Lydia book.
But I was astounded by the number of errors in the
catalog of coins.
- Legends are given for coins cited in, for example,
Paris,
BMC,
McClean, M&M
auctions etc. But when you check those sources, the legends and/or descriptions are often different, with, e.g.
- a cited coin actually has KAI, not just K, or
GETAC, not just
GETA.
- Coin 846, with
legend beginning "IERAPOLEITWN CARDIANWN", citing
Paris 1264;
Waddington 6113, both of which have "IERAPOLEITWN K CARDIANWN"
- Coin 341 with
legend which includes "EFECIWN KE CARDIANWN", citing
Mionnet S6, 462 and S7, 485 both of which have "EFECIWN KAI CARDIANWN"
- Changing the minting city on coins - one example being no. 1161, a coin of
Marcus Aurelius from Nysa in
homonoia with Lacedaemon (
Vienna, Lane II, 43). Franke-Nollé changes the city to Laodikeia and greatly shortens the
obverse legend which by no means corresponds with the visible
part of the
legend on the plate coin.
- coins no. 1741 and 1742: the magistrate's name is given as MI :Greek_Delta:A, whereas the cited coins in
Paris and
Berlin (another from a
CNG sale, on
wildwinds) is clearly MI
A.
- the position of the figures described are often different than described, but clear on the
plate coins.
- a
bust is facing left, not facing right
- the "
Type" is incorrect (e.g.
Caracalla coin of
Sardes, no. 1852, should be "Typus IV", not Typus III which is a different
reverse image.
The book is useful, but there are many other similar examples of errors, so wherever possible, check the coins in the sources cited.
