100 Greatest Ancient Coins

By Harlan J. Berk

Book Overview

With the expanded third edition of his award-winning 100 Greatest Ancient Coins, author, researcher, and one of America's best-known ancient-coin dealers, Harlan J. Berk, takes you on a personal guided tour of the numismatic antiquities of Greece, Rome, the Byzantine Empire, and other parts of the ancient world.

Each coin in this book ranks as one of the greatest relics of antiquity. Individually, they stand out as unique pieces of history, artistry, and human effort. Collectively, they tell the story of civilization from the glory days of the ancient Greeks to Europe's descent into the Dark Ages. Berk's passion for the beauty and workmanship of coins shows through in his writing, which is highly informative, sometimes gossipy, and always thought-provoking. The coins described in the book, he says, "have been collected almost since they were issued. There is evidence that the leaders of some great cities issued wonderful artistic coins made by recognized artists so that future generations would know what heights they reached. . . . Renaissance kings and princes collected coins. Today ancient coins are collected around the globe."

In this expanded and revised edition, Berk has added new information about the earliest surviving forms of human art--ancient cave paintings--and draws a direct line to the earliest examples of coinage. He has given special attention to the first-ranked coin, Brutus's Eid Mar, minted to mark the overthrow of Julius Caesar, and the owl tetradrachms of ancient Athens, one of the mostly widely used coins of the ancient world. New coin rankings, new photographs, recent market information, an illustrated glossary, and other updated contents make the book a visual treat as well as an educational reference.

"I can't think of another person more qualified to have written this popular book than Harlan J. Berk. An impressively entertaining and informative volume . . . a fun book to read for anyone interested in ancient history." -- Author and numismatist David Hendin

"A remarkable catalog of 100 exceptional coins . . . invaluable for all serious ancient-numismatic academics, historians, dealers, and amateurs alike." -- British numismatist and author Italo Vecchi

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0794851401
• ISBN13: 9780794851408
• Release Date: August 2024
• Publisher: Whitman Publishing
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 1.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.3" x 9.4"

Customer Reviews

Superb

Assuming you like ancient coins and the history behind them (and if you don't what are you doing here?) this book is a must-have. Each of the coins gets a full page containing a large picture of the coin, details of the history behind the coin and commentary about the market availability of the coin. Many of the coins are beyond the finances of an average collector and this book may be as close as most people come to owning a example. But the book does not feature rare coins alone, some very common coins were also chosen and these are within the reach of most of us. These is a lot to learn from this book. Did you know that the only known portrait of Hannibal is on a coin? That there is a coin showing Noah's Ark? That the master coin engravers in Syracuse signed their names into their coins? That the first portrait of Christ on an ancient coin used the face of Phidias' famous statue of Zeus as a model? That is only a small taste of what the book contains. Berk hit this one out of the park.

Fabulous collector's item

100 Greatest Ancient Coins is a beautifully written and illustrated book. I have purchased coins from Harlan Berk for over 25 years and he has always maintained the highest quality in coinage and pricing. His expertise and democratic approach to rating the best coins is very satisfying. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in ancient coins and their place in history.

Big and Beautiful

This coffee-table book is a veritable Who's Who of Ancient Numismatics. It depicts the 100 most famous, beautiful or historically significant coins from the beginning of coinage through the Byzantine Empire. Each coin is lusciously illustrated with enlarged, full-color photographs of examples in the finest condition. The significance of each coin is explained in an essay below. You won't find many coins in your own collection represented here--most are museum-quality specimens out of reach for all but the wealthiest collectors. But if you wish to be awed by the numismatic art of the ancient world, the coins in this book are breathtaking. I recommend this book highly to anyone interested in numismatics or in the history and art of the ancient world.

Any interested in early coins will find this a winner

Any library strong in ancient coin history will relish 100 GREATEST ANCIENT COINS, an oversized presentation from one of the country's top ancient-coin researchers who examines the finest coins of antiquity. The oversized presentation allows for full-page, large-sized and close-up images of the front and back of each selected coin, while history provides a lively discourse of their origins. Any interested in early coins will find this a winner. Diane C. Donovan California Bookwatch