Guide to the Principal Gold and Silver Coins of the Ancients from circa BC 700 to AD 1

by Barclay Head

NEW

The full text of this book now available via Google Print. I will continue hosting the plates here.

Asia &c.Greece &c.The West &c.
Period I: circa BC 700-480 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Period II: circa BC 480-400 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17
Period III: circa BC 400-336 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26
Period IV: circa BC 336-280 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35
Period V: circa BC 280-190 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47
Period VI: circa BC 190-100 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59
Period VII: circa BC 100-1 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70

The first edition of this book was titled A Guide to the Select Greek Coins Exhibited in Electrotype in the Gold Ornament Room. Printed in 1871 (2?), it covered 209 electrotypes then on display. It sold for threepence at the exhibit (and had no illustrations ?) I believe this book (or a version of it) was reprinted in 1884 under the title Guide to Electrotypes exhibited by ANS.

The work was greatly expanded in 1881, and titled Guide to the Principal Gold and Silver Coins of the Ancients from circa BC 700 to AD 1. This 2nd edition convered 792 coins in the British Museum collection. Some copies included 70 Autotype plates but most included only seven. Under this title new editions appeared in 1889, 1895, and 1909. These editions kept the 1881 plates but incorporated the latest research in the text. The 70 plate edition cost a half crown, the 7 plate edition two shillings, sixpence. The 1889 plates were scanned for this web site.

In 1932 George Hill revised the work, retitling it British Museum Guide to Coins of the Greeks, 700 BC to AD 270. The new version removed the Roman coins. A few Greek bronze coins were added, and two plates cover the period AD 1 - AD 270. The 1932 edition published 801 coins on fifty plates. Two plates (35 coins) of recent BM acquisitions were added in the 1959 reprint. The 1965 reprint is identical to the 1959.

Ares Publishers reprinted the 1881 edition in 1967, adding a short bibliography on Greek numismatics. Kessinger reprinted the 1967 edition in 2003 (subtracting the bibliography), with a Print-on-Demand edition that lists for $24.95.

I am providing the plates to supplement the Digital Historia Numorum. I have no plans to provide Head's text online.

Ed Snible, 2004

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