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 !