100 Greatest Ancient Coins

Emperors and assassins, owls and turtles, gods and goddesses, brave heroes and villainous rogues—all of these and more await you among the 100 Greatest Ancient Coins. In this beautifully illustrated second edition of his award-winning book, Harlan J. Berk, one of the world’s best-known ancient-coin dealers, takes you on a personal guided tour of the numismatic antiquities of Greece, Rome, the Eastern Roman (so-called Byzantine) empire, and other parts of the ancient world.
The first edition of 100 Greatest Ancient Coins earned the Numismatic Literary Guild’s prestigious award for “Best Specialized Book on World Coins.”

New in the second edition:

• a foreword by British numismatist and author Italo Vecchi, who calls the book “a remarkable catalog of 100 exceptional coins” and “invaluable for all serious ancient-numismatic academics, historians, dealers, and amateurs alike”
• coin-by-coin essays updated with the latest research
• many improved photographs
• new narrative on “How to Collect Ancient Coins, and What to Avoid,” written in Berk’s engaging style, with real-world guidance from his 55-plus years of experience
• a three-page image gallery of denominations of ancient coins, showing 55 Greek, Roman, and Byzantine coins—gold, silver, bronze, and copper—ranging in size from the tiny 4.5 mm obol to the hefty 47 mm silver dodecadrachm

• how to get started
• where to find ancient coins
• how to specialize
• wise long-term decision-making
• storage and insurance
• buying online
• how to authenticate ancient coins
• grading, with illustrations from perfect Fleur de Coin (FDC) to worn Good condition
• assigning value to ancient coins
• the importance of artistic quality
• numismatic organizations
• recommended books, both general and specialized