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The original edition of Sear’s Roman Coins and Their Values was published by Seaby thirty-six years ago and has been through four revisions (1970, 1974, 1981 and 1988). However, the publication of the ‘Millennium Edition’ of this popular work makes a radical departure from previous editions. The catalogue entries have been expanded to include a virtually complete listing of the entire Roman Republican series, as well as more comprehensive coverage of the much larger and more complex Imperial series. Greater emphasis is now placed on the precise chronology and place of mintage of each type and extensive coverage is given to the important series of billon and bronze coins struck at Alexandria over a period of more than 300 years. The valuations have been exhaustively researched from recent auction records and fixed price catalogues and many professional numismatists have contributed their valuable opinions on specific series. Prices (both in British pounds and US dollars) are now expressed in either two or three grades of preservation for each entry, usually ‘VF’ and ‘EF’ for precious metal issues, and ‘F’, ‘VF’ and ‘EF’ for Imperial Bronzes. Perhaps most importantly for the collector, the number of photographic illustrations in the text has been increased, and their quality improved. Expansion on this scale has inevitably led to a need to divide the work into more than one volume, but collectors and dealers will now find it of much greater value both as a source of information and as a comprehensive work of reference for this vast and complex series. For Volume II see below. Volume III will be entitled “The Decline and Fall of Rome and the Triumph of Christianity, A.D. 235-491”.

532 pages, more than 1,200 illustrations in the text. Valuations in £ and US$. Hardback. Laminated colour dust jacket.

£45.00 + £6.00 p&p U. K. (Ref: b0262)

Extends the coverage of the Imperial series from Nerva, the 'thirteenth Caesar' and the first of the adoptive emperors, down to the overthrow of the Severan dynasty in 235 and encompasses what may be justifiably be termed the 'golden age' of the Roman imperial coinage.

The number of types included in the listings shows a dramatic increase and the proportion of illustrated coins is much greater than before. Throughout the catalogue the current market valuations are expressed in pounds sterling and US dollars and in at least two grades of preservation - usually 'VF' and 'EF' for precious metal coins, and 'F' and 'VF' for the billon and bronze issues of Roman Egypt. For regular aes denominations (sestertii, dupondi, asses, etc.) valuations are in three grades ('F', 'VF' and 'EF') have normally been provided. Another feature not present in earlier editions is the inclusion of the mint and precise date of each type. The biographical sketches at the commencement of each reign and under certain subsidiary headings have been fully revised.

696 pages; illustrations throughout; valuations in at least two grades; Hardback. Laminated colour dust jacket.

£65.00 + £6.00 p&p U.K. (Ref: b0263)

The Third Century Crisis and Recovery, A.D. 235-285

Volume I covered a period of approximately 375 years, from the origins of the Roman coinage in the Republican period in the opening decades of the 3rd century BC down to the violent end of the second Imperial dynasty, the Flavian, in AD 96. Volume II extended coverage of the Imperial series from the accession of Nerva down to the overthrow of the Severan dynasty in 235.

This third volume continues the comprehensive revision and covers in detail the following half century, a very different period during which the Empire came perilously close to total disintegration under the pressure of foreign invasions and seemingly interminable civil war. The economy also collapsed and with it the Imperial coinage, a desperate situation which was only partially alleviated by the currency reform of Aurelian undertaken late in his reign.

The complexities of the mint attributions in this chaotic period - lacking as they do in almost every instance the name or initial of the responsible mint - have been dealt with in light of recent scholarship. Also included are detailed listings of the Antoninianus coinage not covered in the "Roman Silver Coins" series.  

Valuations in three grades of preservation

536 pages, fully illustrated with new photographs throughout the text . Hardback. Laminated dust jacket.

£45.00 + £6.00 p&p U.K. (Ref: b0264)