CATALOGUING THE BMC GREEK CATALOGUES

 

Numbering the British Museum's Catalogue of Greek Coins (1877-1927) Volumes

The study of numismatics quickly leads toward a pedantic path, and it is unlikely this article will do anything to lift the bar higher (or lower, depending on the reader's viewpoint).

The 29-volume catalog of the British Museum's Greek collection, A Catalogue of the Greek Coins in the British Museum, is one of the most important references ever developed for the study of ancient numismatics. Weighing in at over 10,000 pages, with 952 plates, this is the definitive record of this important collection at the turn of the century. The initials BMC are widely used to refer to the set.

Remarkably, there seems to be no universal standard regarding the numbering of the series. The individual volumes were published unnumbered, although the opening notes in vols. 22-27 and 29 make reference to the twenty-Nth volume in the series. Even this small contribution is confused, with volumes no. 24 and 25 both identifying themselves as the twenty-fifth in the series.

The library catalogs of the British Museum and American Numismatic Society omit volume numbers and do not clarify the matter. The Forni reprint (1963-1965) similarly did not incorporate volume numbers. Wikipedia only adds confusion, counting but 28 volumes and making a series of one-off errors after skipping the volume dedicated to Parthia. The Numismatic Chronicle published a geographical order of the first 12 volumes in 1889, which does little to clarify the chronological order.

The publication years of the individual volumes provide clear, chronological guidance for vols. 1-5, 8-11, 17, and 20-29. However, some years (1883: vols. 6-7, 1889: vols. 12-13, 1892: vols. 14-16, 1897: vols. 18-19) feature multiple volumes, and the precise sequence of these is unclear. To the rescue comes Elvira Clain-Stefanelli, who published a sequence in the 1985 Numismatic Bibliography (entry 1888). Let's look more closely at the years for which there are multiple volumes.

1883: The Numismatic Chronicle notes volumes received from the British Museum in April, for Thessaly and for Egypt, in that order. This agrees with the Clain-Stefanelli sequence.

1889: The Numismatic Chronicle indicates the Corinth volume was received in April 1889, and the Pontus volume in February of the next year. This agrees with the Clain-Stefanelli order.

1892: The Numismatic Chronicle notes receiving the Mysia volume in April, and the Alexandria and Ionia volumes (in that order) in October. Again, this agrees with Clain-Stefanelli.

1897: The Numismatic Chronicle received the Caria volume in February, and the Lycia volume is noted in the June annual meeting minutes. This emission order agrees with that published by Clain-Stefanelli.

Bill Daehn's Annotated Bibliography of Ancient Greek Numismatics (2012) uses the Clain-Stefanelli order, as does David Fanning, when cataloging sets for sale. The recent sale of the BCD Library by Kolbe & Fanning included such a set (February 17, 2024, lot 325). The agreement of the bibliographers three should clarify the matter once and for all.

Link to the Kolbe & Fanning BCD Library catalog:
https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/auctionlots?AucCoId=513111&AuctionId=540294

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