100 Greatest Ancient Coins

by Harlan J Berk

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

Collectors will be immersed in the fascinating world of ancient

Coffee-table-size, Hardcover, 144 pages, full color, with enlarged photographs and stories for every coin.

138 pages, Hardcover

Published March 12, 2019

Reviews

[Lindsay · Rating 5 out of 5]

A delightful way to look at history--through the lens of a not-at-all-objective group of the "greatest" 100 ancient coins. This is written for a lay audience w/r/t collecting (thankfully, because I'm no numismatist), but if you come with some knowledge of ancient history, you'll get more out of it.

I appreciate that this book is in chronological order, because it shows not only the evolution in style and type of coin, but the various historical figures and events that pop up, in order. I also appreciate the helpful glossary, so I didn't have to look up the fun new words I learned, such as ampyx, exergue & quadriga (though, strangely, intaglio wasn't listed). And another index at the back shows the coins in comparison at their actual size, some of which appear smaller than crumbs.

This book also contains one of the most entertaining forwards I've ever read, where the author is described as a "modern Renaissance man" who "has not allowed his friendly and hospitable disposition to be corrupted by pessimism." Let's just say if I ever write a book, I will demand someone craft an equally hagiographic forward for me.

[Donald Scarinci · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was reluctant to buy the second edition of a book that is more of a fun, coffee table book of "best of" ancient coins than a serious reference book. After all, what could there be to add to a second edition of a book like this? I was pleasantly surprised. The second edition complements the first and actually includes information I hadn't been aware of previously. This book is well worth getting even for those of us who already have the first edition. The photography is, of course, beautiful as it is for all of the book in this Whitman Publications series of "100 best".