Mortensen, Morten Eske - Roman Coin Price Year Book 1996/97

9.000 auctions of coins from

Brutus, Caius Antonius, Cassius, Cleopatra, Cnaeus Pompey jr.,Cornuficius,Fulvia, Julius Caesar, etc.

Containing over 13,000 auction prices realized covering the period from 138 AD - 254AD.. Hammer prices realized from more than 200 international public auctions held world-wide during 1995+ 1996. This pretty much was Coinarchives before Coinarchives existed but with far more coverage, albeit a lack of photos or descriptoin.

Covers: Aemilian, Antoninus Pius, Balbinus, Caracalla, Clodius Albinus, Commodus, Didius Julianus, Elagabalus, Faustina, Geta, Goridan, Hostilian, Maximinus, Pertinax, Philip, Pupienus, Severus, Trajan Decius, Volusian, Uranius, and more

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.

Weight: 0.880 kg (packaging included)

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