NEW BOOK: THE COINAGE OF MAXENTIUS

In the series “Etudes Suisses de Numismatiques”, issued by the Swiss Numismatic Society, a new, important work on Roman coins has recently been published. It is a corpus of the coinage of Maxentius with a detailed commentary that exceeds by far that what the RIC can provide.

Let’s start with the catalog that certainly will attract most interest. This is no die corpus – no one would be able to prepare such a thing given the wealth of material from the 3rd century, but a listing of all types and subtypes, i.e. literally everything Maxentius has to offer. Arranged according to mints, dates, metals, Vincent Drost presents the basis of his work, in which he is much more meticulous than the RIC. All collectors who enjoy the different variants of late Roman coinage will find a marvelous overview here.

As already said, this is the basis, and the catalog being written in French is no obstacle to its comprehensibility for every single type and subtype is illustrated in the plates. Strictly speaking, it is here where the author’s work truly starts, with the material he makes talk at great length.

Don’t worry if your schoolroom French is a bit rusty. As I said before, the Swiss Numismatic Society has published this book, meaning that the author provides a detailed 17-page summary of his results that was being translated into Italian, English and German. Quite a luxury one would wish for, for the sake of spreading knowledge in other countries as well. Additionally, the 17-page summary most likely gets more readers than the actual text that covers 200 pages.

Before I forget: the book comes with a gadget, or a ‘bhaltis’, as it is called in Switzerland (it translates as ‘keep it‘). All those who don’t want to carry a heavy catalog with them on coin fairs but own a tablet, can make use of a CD with a PDF file of the catalog which can easily be fed into the tablet. Hence, even on tour no Maxentius collector has to go without identifying his coins. Should I call it a pity that there isn’t (yet) an interactive column one can mark with a cross?

If you would like to order the new catalog you may do so by writing an email to distributor Paul-Francis Jacquier.

To read the complete article, see: The coinage of Maxentius (www.coinsweekly.com/en/News/4?&id=2143)

Wayne Homren, Editor

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