Roman Coin Price Yearbook, Imperial vol. I

A Review
by
Wayne G. Sayles

First published in The Celator issue 6, Gainesville, Missouri June 1998, p. 35

One of the most frequently lamented voids in the hobby of collecting ancient coins is an accurate and functional price guide.  To be sure, there have been attempts to produce such a tool.  The series of books by David Sear give a new collector some indication of rarities, however as a guide to absolute prices the series has its limitations.  Of course this is to be expected of a work that stays in print for decades.  The Classical Coin Newsletter, of a decade or so ago, tried to present average prices for coins commonly found in the market, but this was a mammoth job and was doomed to extinction. In the early 90s, Numismatic Archives [:Thomas Simmons] started offering bound offprints from an extensive computer database.  These were never mass produced however, and were not very widely marketed.

Now on the market is the first volume of a promised set dealing with auction prices realized for Roman coins sold in 1996 and 1997.  Roman Coin Price Yearbook 1996/97 is produced in handbook form and presents some 10,000 auction prices in a database format. The information is extracted from the auction prices realized of nearly 90 firms and more than 200 sales.  Volume I covers Roman coinage from 31 BC to AD 138.

The information provided is not simply a listing of prices.  Each coin is referenced by full description; RIC, Cohen, BMC and Sear numbers are also, date of issue and rarity.  Entries range from a single offering in the case of a rare specimen to nearly a full page of citations for more common types. Prices are listed in U.S. dollars and are accompanied by grade and preauction estimates. Comments with detractions or expanded information are also included, as are the weights of specimens sold. This information alone is quite useful. In reality, this price guide is a reference work in itself. Of course it is not as comprehensive as RIC, nor as handy as Sear. lt does not include photographs or line drawings of the coins, although those auctions with illustrations are annotated so that the reader can look up the type in an auction catalogue. lt does, however, provide a tremendous amount of information in a single volume.  But the big question is, does it provide useful pricing information?

The vagaries of ancient coin grading, and the emotional nature of auctions themselves, tend to result in wide disparities of pricing. This is immediately apparent to the browser of data in this work.  For example, a Nero denarius (RIC 60, Cohen 314) receives 27 line entries. This fact alone is useful because RIC lists the coin with a rarity of Rl. With 27 appearances in a two year span the type does not seem to be particularly rare.  Conclusion #l: there will be more of this type around if you don't buy the one offered at the moment.

The prices realized for this coin range from $50 in VG to $1,600 in EF.  VF prices ranged from $76 to $1,200.  With this kind of spread it is difficult to come to any meaningful conclusion.  Conclusion #2: prices and/or for ancient coins are wildly erratic. In fact, one can come to a number of meaningful conclusions by sifting through and analyzing the information in this book.

As a standard guide to pricing, this work suffers the same limitations as its forerunners. As a useful database for decision making and understanding the market, it is superb. We highly recommend it to anyone who intends to buy coins at auction.

 


Roman Coin Price Yearbook, Republican vol.

A Review
by
Kerry K. Wetterstrom

First published in The Celator issue 4, Lancaster, Pennsylvania April 2000, pp. 35-36

This handy little price guide is the latest edition in a series by Morten Eske Mortensen of Denmark. It is a compendium of over 9,000 market prices taken from more than 200 international public auctions from 1995 and 1996 (all prices have already been converted to US dollars, a very useful feature for the American collector). It covers the coins of the Roman Republic from 280 BC to 31 BC.

As stated by the author in his preface: "This book is NOT COMPLETE; This book will NEVER BECOME COMPLETE; and it has NOT BEEN ATTEMPTED to make this book complete," but nevertheless, it is still an important tool for the dealer and collector, both advanced and novice. In order to determine the value and hence the price of a coin, it is necessary to know the past values (i.e., the price history) of a coin. This is knowledge that is usually gained from years of experience, and in the case of a dealer, the very knowledge that enables him to function and make a living from his trade.

The normal method to accumulate this type of knowledge (short of having a photographic memory) is to gather as many auction catalogues (with prices realized lists) and fixed price lists as possible. Then you can study the coins or series that are of interest to you and produce your own database of prices realized.

But now, thanks to Mr. Mortensen, he has undertaken this project for the benefit of all. Granted, the prices in the present volume cover only a two year period, but with over 200 public auctions represented, it makes for an excellent source and reference. Even more valuable is the addition of comments other than just a grade.

As most collectors know, grading standards can and do vary from dealer to dealer and auction house to auction house, hence one might suspect the usefulness of price comparison when just comparing raw price data without the benefit of an accompanying photograph. To help alleviate this problem, condition comments describing patinas, flan problems, metal quality, the presence of smoothing or tooling, etcetera are given for almost every entry. This is the key feature that makes this reference work especially useful.

Another important feature is the addition of weights, in grams, to the hundredth place. A collector or researcher that is trying to study a series and maybe even attempt a die-study will find this pricing guide an excellent starting point. The Roman Coin Price Yearbook is like the old "Cliff Notes" that many an American student has made use of during their academic careers (even if some of us will never admit to it). I suggest that the collector, dealer, and scholar think of this "Yearbook Series" as a sort of "Cliff Notes" for the numismatist. An excellent summary and starting point, but still no substitution for taking the time to read the original work ­assuming that you have the luxury to do so !

 


Roman Coin Price Yearbook, Republican vol.

A Review
by
Sam Kazmi

First published in Numismatics International Bulletin issue 1, Dallas, Texas January 2001, pp. 25-26

Since publishing my very first web site on classical numismatics almost six years ago, I have received several hundred eMails asking all sorts of questions about the hobby. “How to determine the current market value of a coin?” is probably the most frequently asked question.

The proper answer to this age old query can often only be given by an experienced dealer who has his/her finger on the pulse of the marketplace. This information is acquired by the dealers’ active participation in numismatic sales around the world and their “inside” exposure to the frequency at which a coin in various grades may make it to the market in a given period of time.

At least for collectors of Roman coinage up to CE 254, this “inside” information is now available in the three volumes of Roman Coin Price Yearbook, edited by Morten Eske Mortensen.

This unique work surveys over 250 public sales from around the world and catalogues them in a unique and easy to use format; providing over 33,000 hammer prices for coins from the Republican period to CE 254.

Additionally and importantly, each coin is fully described; including anything unique or special about the individual specimen on auction – right from the auction catalogue and converted to US dollars – while providing extensive cross-referencing information to most major numismatic references such as Crawford, Babelon, Sydenham, BMC, Cohen, RIC, Sear, Seaby, etc.

I am not aware of any other single work which gives this much information for every coin listed within!

This series does much more than fill the simple need for a “current” market price guide as it also provides some unique information for the wise:

   

1)     It can easily help to determine if a coin listed as "Scarce" or "Rare" in the (mostly outdated) reference works is actually so by observing the frequency at which it may appear on sale.

2)     It can help sellers determine the best venue to auction their coins as one notices the differences in prices realized from country to country, or from one auction house to another.

3)     It can help buyers determine the best venue to look for good buys!

4)     It works as a unique “attribution tool” providing a broader cross-referencing possibility than other works.

 

To better understand what this book offers requires that we compare it to some of the standard works currently used as references. For example, in the Republican series Sydenham, Crawford, and Sear cover approximately 1,700 coins, 2,274 coins, and 469 coins respectively, while Mortensen covers 1,374 with recent hammer prices.

For the Imperial period up to CE 254, Sear lists 2,066 coins and Vagi lists 1,625 coins while Mortensen lists over 6,400 with actual hammer prices.

In other words, for the same period (i.e., Republican to CE 254) Sear has a total of 2,535 coins with prices compared to Mortensen with 7,808 coins and 33,903 prices for the same based on various auction results.

As such, since our acquisition of the Roman Coin Price Yearbook series, we have heavily relied on this extensive research to price coins for sale as well as to acquire for our own collection.

I truly believe that this invaluable work is a must for every dealer library as well as in the library of every serious collector of Roman coinage.

 


Roman Coin Price Yearbook

A Review
by
Joseph T. Sermarini

First published in FORVM Ancient Coins' CATALOG 2000

The Roman Coin Price Yearbooks are the first books I turn to.  Organized like Sear's "Roman Coins and Their Values," but with more listings and more information.  Coins are much easier to find than in RIC.  If I still feel it necessary to refer to RIC, the yearbook identifies the volume and page for rapid look-up.  After Van Meter and Sear, the Roman Coin Price Yearbooks should be your next purchase.  A must have reference.

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