20100102

New General Text for Seleucid Coins



Click the link to go to the CNG page to see a fuller write up regarding this text and to order it if you are interested. I received it a couple weeks ago and find it a good addition to the study particularly in rating the respective rarity (C, S, R1, R2, R3--cf. the June 2008 Celator article by Arthur Houghton and David Hendin if you are interested, though Houghton's portion of the article is reprinted in this text) of the issues described. Granted, this is a general study linked to SC numbers and therefore the text does not describe the rarity of a particular subtype for a common issue for example. There are a few typos such as the mix up of numbers for the bronzes of Timarchus, but overall these are just a distraction from the overall value of the book. A separate website with the catalog number linked value ranges for the described coins is an improvement over now dated catalogues such as Sear's GCV and promises to provide regular updates that should keep this text updated for the forseeable future. I did note that a couple values appear to be in error (specifically a bronze of Antiochus VI for example) but these can be easily corrected in future updates (#1054 in the catalogue =SC 2025 is listed as being $400-$600 in the lowest condition when it should likely be $40-$60 and $3000-$5000 in the best condition when that should likely be $300-$500).