MORE WEBSITES FOR RESEARCHING ANCIENTS

The recent discussions concerning online resources for researching ancient coins attracted this writer's attention. Gradually, they made him realize the need for a fuller treatment on this very important topic. Numismatic websites in general help bridge the paper page with its digital counterpart, but rarely are these powerful research tools given any attention in either format other than the occasional short note stating that a particular site exists and offers to make the numismatic world a better place in one or more ways.

For ancient coin websites, the long-term plan is to go on an online safari of sorts and scour the four poorly explored corners of the Internet for some big and useful classical numismatic game. This current effort is intended to serve as an eye-opening taste of three websites that have so far eluded the recent discussions. They illustrate what still lies in the digital jungles and why a comprehensive list is badly needed. Let us not forget that websites like the ones under discussion were created by everyone from shy, reclusive collectors to famous, scholarly numismatists and institutions, and contain some very fascinating backstories. This part of our hobby is also a part of our history. If we don't start collecting and preserving it now, we may lose a lot of research gold in the very near future. And this doesn't even take into consideration the databases themselves. Just this year, we lost the original ISEGRIM search engine (possibly the oldest digital ancient coin database in the world) and Asia Minor Coins (which was a great research stop for many ancient coin attributors like this writer). Thankfully, as already noted, there are also some new and innovative online works in progress, two of which form a component of this writer's taste. Okay, time to open wide…

 

1. Roman Provincial Coinage Online (RPC Online): https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/

This is hands down one of the best designed numismatic websites of any kind on the Internet. Not only is this the opinion of this writer, but also of a collector with savvy web development skills. It has been a fixture on the web since October 2006, wrought by a handful of dedicated numismatists from the University of Oxford who, at the time, were just concerned with cataloging the Roman provincial coins struck during the Antonine Period (A.D. 138–192). Consider, from the pair of enclosed screen shots, how the project morphed, from 8th November 2006 to last Sunday. Now, the whole Roman provincial series (from roughly 44 B.C.–AD 297) is not only slated to be booked (in ten volumes) but also webbed.

 

 

For a more thorough understanding on what RPC Online is all about, including what Roman provincials are and the importance of coin submissions from us collectors, this writer shockingly had the foresight to already write an article in support of the hallowed RPC cause, for the August 2015 issue of The Numismatist: https://www.academia.edu/15289195/Not_Built_in_a_Day_RPC_Online_

For a bit of interest, attached is one of the Roman provincials from my own collection that can be found on RPC Online, a bronze of the city of Tyana (in Cappadocia; 17mm, 4.08 g.), struck for Marcus Aurelius (A.D. 161–180). The photos are courtesy of Numismatik Naumann. See if you, the reader, can find the coin in the database!

 

Also, for those who relish the latest news, the following projection was personally provided by Dr. Andrew Burnett back in November of last year:

"The current plan is to try and get the Asia part of V online (V.2) for the Warsaw conference next year; and the rest of VI also sometime in 2022. In terms of printed volumes, next year should see VII.2 (the rest of VII) and after that IV.4 (which is only Alexandria – enormous enough for a volume on its own). So we're gradually getting there...!"

In a follow-up to this, he added:

"Maybe add that [RPC] VIII in print will be next after the others."

2. & 3. Numismatic Auction Database Explorer + Ancient Greek Coin Provenance Explorer

 

 

From an Internet mainstay such as RPC Online, we now focus our attention on two newly realized numismatic ambitions of Dr. Steven Moulding. The projects have been combined together like this since, as the names suggest, they are practically siblings. For this article, Steve was asked what inspired him to create these extremely handy digital tools, and that was all it took to open the floodgates of his enthusiasm! As such, this writer is going to sit back now, perhaps open an old auction catalog with ancient coins of religious and mythological significance that he will never be able to afford, and let Steve do the talking!

rnumis—the 'r' means research—was initially created in 2012, born out of a love for old numismatic auction catalogs and a practical need to be able to easily access the information within them. With existing websites, provenance research—for example—is fairly straightforward, provided the auction is after 1999. For sales before 1999, research gets either expensive or a lot more time consuming. If you have a good library, you can open your catalogs one at a time and start looking. It's fun, but it takes a while. For those catalogs that have been digitized and made publicly available, for example by the ANS, BnF, or the University of Heidelberg, you can do some searching online.

With rnumis, we want the research process to be easier and there are two tools that are under active development. The first is the Numismatic Auctions Database Explorer. While the underlying data is a key foundation of our other projects—such as the Provenance Explorer—we find the tool to be very useful in its own right, serving as a handy date-ordered record of the sales held by an auction house and their focus. Where possible, links are provided to online digital catalogs. While it is by no means complete, there is reasonable coverage for auctions with ancient coins—our main interest.

The second —and possibly more fun—tool is the Ancient Greek Coin Provenance Explorer. The primary aim is to be able to easily check whether a coin in hand has appeared in older auctions using as little information as possible. Weight, geographical region, metal, and issuing authority can be used to get you closer, but even they aren't strictly necessary.  The tool is visual, meaning when you're done filtering, you can look at the results. No machine learning or artificial intelligence, just the good old human eye. With luck, you'll find that a coin in your collection came from an old sale. It's also fairly easy to spot unrecorded provenances. [See, for instance, the attached and impressive provenance chain Steve managed to piece together for a Tarentine half shekel.] Known provenances (from lot descriptions) can also be easily checked and, if necessary, corrected. 

 

Currently, the Provenance Explorer is restricted to Ancient Greek Italy and Sicily. Why? Because, well, that's what we collect. It's also a (just about) manageable size project for one person. However, there is no reason why the databases couldn't be extended and the same ideas applied to Roman Coins or just about anything else. Finally, we should point out that the provenance project is fairly new and so far only a small number of older auctions have been included (coverage is noted on the website). We do plan to add many more sales, but data entry is very time consuming. However, with almost 5,000 different Ancient Greek lots, there is already enough to play around with.

So, as one can see, the variety and quality of online research tools for ancient coins (in addition to those that had been detailed earlier) are quite vast and are constantly changing. However, Fukube from the *Hyouka novel/anime mystery series (with his database memory) will be the first to tell you that databases are only as good as the person using them to solve problems. For him, his Holmesian friend Oreki is a constant, if not painful, reminder of this, which raises the need for yet another article project, this one on the tricks of using databases effectively and flexing our deductive muscles!

*Note: Episode 19 of Hyouka contains one of the most amazing displays of deductive reasoning that this writer has ever seen in any form of media—and it concerns…well, just watch it (preferably subbed rather than dubbed to get the true flavor)!

To read the earlier E-Sylum articles, see:
ROMAN PROVINCIAL COINAGE ONLINE AT ASHMOLEAN MUSEUM (https://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v09n47a14.html)
ROMAN PROVINCIAL COINAGE VII.2 NOW ONLINE (https://www.coinbooks.org/v23/esylum_v23n27a09.html)
ONLINE RESOURCES FOR ANCIENT COINS (https://www.coinbooks.org/v24/esylum_v24n48a09.html)

 

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